The Jack Maddox Distinguished Lecture Series, hosted by University of the Southwest, presents cowboy poet, Waddie Mitchell, October 7, 2008
Twenty five years as a working cowboy on some of the most desolate spreads in Nevada will give a man time to think. Such is the case with Waddie Mitchell. His common sense approach to life and the art of Cowboy Poetry have delighted and inspired audiences across the country.
"All the time I was growing up we had these old cowboys around," he says. "When you live in close proximity like that with the same folks month after month, one of your duties is to entertain each other, and I suppose that's where the whole tradition of cowboy poetry started."
When the Tonight Show first called with an invitation to share his stories with a national audience, they reached a neighbor who subsequently drove 40 miles to the remotely based cowboy with the good news. But Waddie said "No," as it was calving time and he had never heard of Johnny Carson.
"We didn't have electricity and that meant we didn't have TV. We had darn poor radio too. So that meant we did the strangest things at night...we talked to each other!"
The Tonight Show persisted, and many appearances later, along with Larry King Live, Good Morning America, TBS, PBS and CMT, found Mitchell out of the saddle and on the road as a Warner Brothers recording artist.
Whether at the banquet table for Super Bowl XXX VIP's or around the campfire, Waddie Mitchell reminds us that it's the simple moments in life that are the most important.
Mitchell will perform at Tyding Auditorium on October 7, 2008. The performance begins at 7:30 p.m. and tickets will be available beginning in August. For more information, call Laurie Ekaitis at 575-392-6565, extension 1014.