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Home > Archive > May 31, 2007

Just a Rhymin' Cowboy
By Cami Cox
Staff Writer
St. George residents will saddle up June 4 for a free evening with world-renowned cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell. The buckaroo bard, a native of Elko County, Nev., has recited his rhymes for audiences across the United States and all over the world – from “Zurich to Melbourne, and all points in between,” according to his bio. He will make Southern Utah his next stopping-off place, performing at 7:30 p.m. in Centennial Park, 301 N. 2200 E. in St. George.
“I think this will be the second show I've ever done in St. George,” Mitchell said. “I'm excited to be there.”
Mitchell's poems (there are over 200 in his repertoire to date), deal with life as a cowboy, and most of his lyrical tales are taken directly from his own experiences or the experiences of friends.
“Oftentimes, I'll incorporate some stories or anecdotes, things like that, but my show is poetry,” he said. “But it's very entertaining poetry, if I say so myself. ... I try to take people through a full gamut of emotion.”
Mitchell's poems can be found in many books written by the rhymester and on many of his CDs, distributed by Warner Bros. Records and Western Jubilee Recordings. He said the CDs are for the benefit of those who find it hard to sit down to a book of poetry.
“There's poetry for the page, and then there's poetry for the oral interpretation. This is really what I'm doin' is carrying on that oral tradition,” he said. “Oftentimes, you can't get people to read poetry, but it's not hard to get people to listen to poetry.”
The word wrangler has had little trouble getting folks to listen to his rhymes, though, as evidenced by the extensive media coverage he has received for his poetry and performances over the years. During his lyrical career, he has been featured in People magazine, USA Today, Life, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and National Geographic, and he has appeared on “Good Morning America,” “Larry King Live,” The History Channel, TNN, PBS, the BBC, and was four times a guest on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson.
Being a down-home cowboy from Nevada, Mitchell took his fame in stride. When he was first contacted to appear on Carson's show, according to information from his talent agency, the poet politely declined –  it was calving season and he'd never heard of Johnny Carson.
“I'd lived without TV, and then being a rancher, I was in bed long before he would come on, anyway,” Mitchell said. “So I didn't have an idea of what a big deal TV was and what a big deal Johnny Carson was. ... But by the time I (had been on “The Tonight Show”) the fourth time, I'd kinda waken up and realized what a big deal this was.”
While he has grown in fame over the past 18 years since writing and performing his poetry professionally, this rancher-turned-rhymer is no greenhorn.
“I spent 26 years as a cowboy,” he said. “I made my livin' on horseback.”
Mitchell grew up on his father's ranch in remote Lee-Jiggs, Nev. – 60 miles from the nearest town and connected to neighbors by dirt roads. He attended school with 11 other students, grades first through eighth, in a building with only one “schoolmarm.” He had to board in town in order to go to school, he said, and it wasn't long before town living grew tiresome and the open prairie began calling his name.
“When I was 16, I decided I was way too smart to go to school anymore,” he joked. “I had a chance to go (to work) with the 7-S Ranch, which still pulled a horse-drawn chuckwagon. ... I just didn't like livin' in town. I kinda felt out of place. I felt removed from everything I knew. I just had become a pretty good cowboy by then, had an opportunity to work for one of the most prestigious cowboy outfits in the world, and I took it.”
That began many professional years on horseback for Mitchell. But in addition to his saddle and lariat, the cowboy carried with him a love for poetry and literature wherever he went – a love that began early in life during his days on the family ranch.
“We didn't have electricity. Of course, that means we didn't have TV, and so when ya live like that, ya do the strangest things at night – ya talk to each other,” he said. “Some of the cowboys my dad would hire there at the ranch would, now and again, recite poetry. ... I thought everybody did that. By the time I was 6 or 7, I was recitin' some fairly lengthy poems. ... 'Specially when you're young, words are new and exciting to ya, and then with the rhyme and the meter – all kids love that, and I just always loved it.”
He didn't begin writing his own poetry until he was an adult, but when words by Waddie Mitchell did start taking shape, listeners to the cowboy poet's recitations sat up and took notice. Word spread about the eloquent cowpoke from Elko, and Mitchell's fame grew.
“I was being asked to go speak at after-suppers and for cattlemen's associations and Kiwanis clubs and things like that,” he said.
Demand for his poetry shows continued to increase, and when health problems arose for Mitchell in the late 1980s, he decided, with his wife’s encouragement, to pursue his talent professionally.
“Like most fellers, I thought I was bulletproof,” he said. “I'd hurt my back several times and never taken care of it. And it just got to where the doctor said, 'You're gonna have to find somethin' else to do – your back is shot.'”
So Mitchell traded in his bedroll for a ballpoint pen.
“I've never had to look back yet,” he said.
The cowboy has made quite a good living as a lyricist – more than he ever did on the open range, though life as a cowboy is what inspires his poetry. Mitchell and his wife, Lisa, are currently moving into a new ranch home in his birthplace of Elko County – a dream fulfilled for the poet, who has always wanted to own his own ranch.
“I was a hired man on horseback for 26 years, then I did the poetry and it actually gave me the opportunity to get into the ranching business,” he said. “I'll be more or less a gentleman rancher.”
But though he's realized this dream as a result of his poetry, the 57-year-old has no intention of giving up his rhyming ways.
“I can't imagine retiring. What would a feller do?” Mitchell said.

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