A special one-hour program on the Old West with guitar, banjo, harmonica, autoharp singing and yodeling. The cowboy has long been the great mythical character of American folklore, an image shaped mostly by popular fiction and the "silver screen." The real cowboy's job was difficult, dirty and dangerous.
In this show you'll hear his songs of work and tragedy as well as sampling his wit and frivolity. Songs about bad horses, outlaws, trail drives and love affairs will be spiced with old time tunes from ranch dances and stories of the mountains and plains. This is a program that brings the history and fun of the Old West to the entire family.
Since 1971 Bob has traveled the country taking old time music to audiences of all ages at festivals, fairs, concerts, dances, schools, libraries, music camps, radio and TV programs. This is rural music as played in homes, at dances and for earlier entertainments such as minstrel shows and country radio.
Along with a repertoire including dance tunes, ballads, cowboy songs, humorous and sentimental numbers, blues and rags, he spices their shows with stories, history and folklore. Bob sings (yodels, too) and plays guitar, harmonica, banjo and autoharp
— QUOTES —
"No one handles old-time cowboy and humorous songs better than Bob. His vocals are hauntingly rough. His guitar and harmonica are as good as you will ever hear." Don Stevens, All Music Guide
" You are a national treasure!" David McLaughlin, Johnson Mountain Boys
". . . taste and sensitivity to repertoire, arrangement and execution are unimpeachable." Bill Hinckley, Buzz Magazine
". . . bitingly authentic, without ever sounding imitative." Paul Stamler, Come For To Sing
"I've long felt that Bob is one of the great singers of cowboy song alive today." Kerry Blech, The Old Time Herald
"Have you heard those real old recordings of a cowboy singing a traditional song? The songs have an 'old' quality about them, and the singers' voices seem to belong to a dried up old puncher just in from off the trail. Well, intentional or not, that is exactly how Bob Bovee sounds. His voice isn't pretty, but it's darn sure true to the genre . . . he renders these songs with authenticity and affection. It seems as though he belongs to this music and it to him." Cowboy Magazine