The Big Roundup

From its start on the range to its newest home on the internet, Cowboy Poetry celebrates three centuries as a genuine American folk form in "The Big Roundup," a new book from New West Library and CowboyPoetry.com. The book includes over 140 of the best classic and contemporary poems from CowboyPoetry.com -- the world's largest repository of Cowboy Poetry -- and a Best of the West appendix of Cowboy Poetry gatherings and organizations, Western publications, and Western heritage and museum sites.

"The Big Roundup" includes some of the earliest tunes and poetry of the working cowboys, whose numbers were the greatest in the last part of the 1800s, decreasing as the range was fenced. The anthology includes the original poem that became "Home on the Range," familiar songs such as "Whoopee-Ti-Yi-Yo, Git Along Little Dogies," and Arthur Chapman's classic "Out Where the West Begins," a poem that in its time was known throughout America, quoted in Congress, and hung in the office of the Secretary of the Interior.

Selections reflect the face of the American West and beyond: Popular entertainer and Texas rancher Red Steagall writes about his love of the land; 12-year old Arizonan Jesus Cervantes, immigrant descendant of a proud Mexican vaquero family who excels in school while also working in the fields and as a dishwasher, honors the silver screen cowboy; Australian Jack Sammon writes about his droving days; Utah rancher and teacher Jo Lynne Kirkwood describes the ranching seasons; and octogenarian Flavis Bertrand writes about his family's South Dakota homesteading days.

"An entertaining and heartwarming collection of modern and classic Cowboy Poetry. A wonderful treasury, including many of my favorites." Don Edwards

In his foreword, Tom Mayo, poetry reviewer of the Dallas Morning News says "These selections illustrate and celebrate the diverse, vibrant state of Cowboy Poetry. That they were gathered in a most modern virtual gathering on the internet is proof of the enduring popularity and relevance of the genre in this new millennium."