Ian Tyson
Ian Tyson – The Legend Sings On - 2013
Ian Tyson is one of the great cowboy singers and songwriters in Canada and the United States. He is one of a kind — authentic and durable. He writes and sings about a group of people few others write or sing about. Many of his songs are about cattle, horses and authentic cowboys and buckaroos.
Ian has had two distinctly brilliant carriers, spanning several decades. His first started with his part in the legendary folk duo of Ian & Silvia in the 1960s. Since the early 1990s, he has enjoyed great success at western song writing and singing. During recent years, Ian has endured voice problems and reinvented himself with his new “raven” voice. Now once again, he is creating a new voice after having surgery on his vocal cords to remove polyps. After not speaking for six weeks to protect his voice, he started taking voice lessons in Calgary, Alberta. The outcome is he now has a strong voice and is back singing in concerts around the west. This man is tougher than a Nevada mountain mahogany tree. Vickie Mullen, Ian’s US CD and book distributer and owner of Hitching Post Supply, says, “He sounds wonderful on the phone. His voice sounds strong and he is excited to get back on the road. Seemed a little tired of fighting ice, snow and cold at home in Alberta. Thanks to everyone who has supported him through all of the ‘new voices.’ We are coming up on number three! http://www.iantyson.com/ The Master's single: Ian Tyson - Saddle Bronc Girl Look for Ian's new book The Long Trail, his CDs, his new EP "Songs From The Stone House" and other items available from Vickie Mullen at http://hitchingpostsupply.com/. Ian Tyson – The Legend
Ian Tyson is one of the great cowboy singers and songwriters in Canada and the United States. He is one of a kind — authentic and durable. He writes and sings about a group of people few others write or sing about. Many of his songs are about cattle, horses and authentic cowboys and buckaroos. Ian has had two distinctly brilliant carriers, spanning three decades. His first started with his part in the legendary folk duo of Ian & Silvia in the 1960s. Since the early 1990s, he has enjoyed great success at western song writing and singing. We caught up with Ian after one of his concerts at the famed Hamley’s Slick Fork Saloon in Pendleton Oregon, during the 2008 Pendleton PRCA Rodeo Roundup. Ian said, “I always wanted to be a cowboy, not a song writer or a singer, a cowboy. I just got lucky in the music business.” We asked how long Ian has been singing real cowboy songs and he explained, “When I was a kid growing up in British Columbia, Canada, we used to listen to Wilf Carter, sometimes called ‘Montana Slim,’ on the radio. Wilf was a big deal in Canadian western music in those days. At that time, I did not know how to play a guitar nor did I understand that those songs we listened to were western folk songs. When I was 19 years old, I caught the “rodeo fever” and tried my hand at riding bareback horses. I acquired an old “Dixon” bareback rigging and cracked out in the Canadian rodeo circuit. Going down the rodeo road several months later, a bareback horse threw me off and stepped on my ankle, shattering the anklebone. I spent some time in the hospital recovering from the accident. While in the hospital, I borrowed a guitar from a kid who was in the room a couple of beds away from me and I started trying to learn to play.” Ian believes real cowboys and buckaroos are interesting to write songs about because they are members of a different mysterious culture. They are furiously independent and live a different life style. They live in a closed horseback society. This has always fascinated him. Around 1981, Ian met photographer and writer Kurt Markus and they became friends. Ian had cowboyed some in Canada but where Kurt took him, in the Great Basin, into Oregon and Nevada ranches, cowboying was a whole different deal. This country was huge with few people and the buckaroos camped with their horses and cattle, out on the range. They ate at a chuck wagon and slept in tepee tents. They packed pistols and trotted out each morning 15 to 20 miles to work cattle. This experience just blew him away. When Ian was invited to the Elko Poetry Gathering, which started in 1984, he met some of the first authentic cowboys there that were singing and reciting cowboy poetry. It was a natural progression. Ian thought, “I can write that way.” and he put out his album “Cowboyography,” his first seamless view of modern contemporary cowboy life. This album went gold in Canada and is closing in on platinum. This is an astonishing feat for an album that is really only understood by perhaps no more than 1,000 “real” working cowboys throughout Canada and the United States. This points out how important the cowboy image is to us and how many people wish to identify with the cowboy even if, as Ian says, “they do not know which end of the cow gets up first.” Ian explained why real cowboys and buckaroos related to his music. He says, “They respected where I’d been and knew, I’d ‘been there.’ These working cowboys and buckaroos can spot a ‘wanna be’ a long way off. I understood their way of life. I had fed cattle in a blizzard and doctored sick calves in the spring on the feed ground.” He wanted to be the voice for the working cowboy because they couldn’t relate to the Nashville “urban cowboys.” Soon his music had a huge cult following in the ranching world. Perhaps William Matthews, noted Western Artist, summed up best what Ian means to the ranching community and cowboys and buckaroos in Canada and the United States. Matthews said at the 2008 Elko Poetry Gathering, “What all of us in this room, who have come from all over the country, have in common is that we all have Ian Tyson CDs in our pickups, feed trucks, and horse trailers. His songs are part of our daily life.” Ian says, “The reason that I write western music is that I live in the country. There is very little difference between working cowboys in Arizona or Canada. The international border does not matter. Sure there is different horse gear used in different parts of the country but they are all cowboys at heart. This whole cowboy deal is all about the horse. Horses came to the new world from Spain 600 years ago, and cowboys have been riding them ever since. Without the horse, cowboying would be just tractor driving.” Ian’s music succeeded because it also was sophisticated. He had to be able to play to a non-western audience in Canada and the United States, and entertain them as well, even though they didn’t know what he was singing about. They could feel the spiritual connection with the earth and sky and the horse you’re riding. The music holds an appealing melancholy sadness that reflects the aspect of the cowboy culture that is slowly fading in our modern world. Ian still does a number of concerts throughout Canada and the United States. When asked how long he planned to keep doing concerts, he replied, “I tour because I can. A lot of musicians would like to tour, but they can’t fill those concert seats. If the people stop coming to my concerts I’ll hang it up.” Ian has recently cut a new album that was available by fall 2008. Ian says, “The title of my new album will be ‘Yellowhead to Yellowstone and Other Love Stories.’ Watch for it. Beyond that, I don’t have a clue. We will just see what tomorrow brings.” The traveling “bedroll cowboy” may be slowly disappearing from the western landscape but Ian’s songs will live forever. For more information and appearance-dates, visit Ian Tyson’s official Web site www.iantyson.com. For information on the Elko Poetry Gathering contact: The Western Folklife Center www.westernfolklife.org Story by Mike Laughlin, Photos by Lee Raine Ian Tyson- Saddle Bronc Girl |
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Just when you think that the legendary Canadian cowboy, singer and songwriter Ian Tyson has no more new songs left in his war bag, he comes up with this gem. Ian has written and produced a new single titled “Saddle Bronc Girl.” This song is about a real-life lady saddle bronc rider by the name of Kaila Mussell and the music and lyrics rival those of any of Tyson’s classic hit songs. The lyrics tell her unique story in a quick picturesque style- “She’s a saddle bronc girl/ She is one of a kind/ Drives a beat-up Chevy hatchback/ and it moves her down the line. Big bronc awaitin’ in a town just up ahead/ Better hold on tight/ Get tapped off just right/ Saddle Bronc Girl.”
Ian drove to Kamloops, B.C from his ranch south of Calgary, Alberta to interview Kaila last spring. Tyson said, “This is the farthest I ever drove to interview someone for a song, but it was worth the drive.”
Kaila is a 33-year old professional saddle bronc rider who is reportedly the only female to ride broncs professionally on the Pro Rodeo circuit in North America. She comes from the Chilliwack B.C. country and grew up on the Skwah Indian Reserve. Her family has always been involved in the sport of rodeo. Kaila has been riding broncs professionally for the past 11 years. This lady has been through the wringer on the pro circuit going from one injury to another. Kaila said, “I have been through a lot in my sport and it has been challenging but it has been worth the effort.” Most people would be surprised to know that Kailia bankrolled her own rodeo expenses with no sponsor to help. She made 50 rodeos last year. Kaila says, “Rodeoing for a living is realistically like an expensive hobby. It is not a piece of cake going down the rodeo road and I have learned a lot about myself along the way.”
The 33 year old is at the crossroads of her life, deciding which way to head in the future. One of the lines from the song seems an echo of where she is in her rodeo career. “Hey Kaila! Hey Kaila, whatcha gonna do? How far are you gonna go to make the dream come true?”
Ian Tyson is doing a concert in her hometown of Chilliwack B.C. on Nov 14th and you can be sure that Kaila and Tyson’s fans will fill the auditorium.
This “Saddle Bronc Girl” single can be purchased from
Hitching Post Supply
10312 210th ST SE
Snohomish, WA 98296
https://www.hitchingpostsupply.com/
Ian Tyson can be reached through his Web site http://www.iantyson.com/
Articles by
Mike Laughlin
mikelaughlin@hotmail.com
Photos by Lee Raine
Ian drove to Kamloops, B.C from his ranch south of Calgary, Alberta to interview Kaila last spring. Tyson said, “This is the farthest I ever drove to interview someone for a song, but it was worth the drive.”
Kaila is a 33-year old professional saddle bronc rider who is reportedly the only female to ride broncs professionally on the Pro Rodeo circuit in North America. She comes from the Chilliwack B.C. country and grew up on the Skwah Indian Reserve. Her family has always been involved in the sport of rodeo. Kaila has been riding broncs professionally for the past 11 years. This lady has been through the wringer on the pro circuit going from one injury to another. Kaila said, “I have been through a lot in my sport and it has been challenging but it has been worth the effort.” Most people would be surprised to know that Kailia bankrolled her own rodeo expenses with no sponsor to help. She made 50 rodeos last year. Kaila says, “Rodeoing for a living is realistically like an expensive hobby. It is not a piece of cake going down the rodeo road and I have learned a lot about myself along the way.”
The 33 year old is at the crossroads of her life, deciding which way to head in the future. One of the lines from the song seems an echo of where she is in her rodeo career. “Hey Kaila! Hey Kaila, whatcha gonna do? How far are you gonna go to make the dream come true?”
Ian Tyson is doing a concert in her hometown of Chilliwack B.C. on Nov 14th and you can be sure that Kaila and Tyson’s fans will fill the auditorium.
This “Saddle Bronc Girl” single can be purchased from
Hitching Post Supply
10312 210th ST SE
Snohomish, WA 98296
https://www.hitchingpostsupply.com/
Ian Tyson can be reached through his Web site http://www.iantyson.com/
Articles by
Mike Laughlin
mikelaughlin@hotmail.com
Photos by Lee Raine
