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A Cowboy’s Life

Mike Puhallo sounds a bit weary this morning as we chat over the phone.

Who: Mike Puhallo

What: 4 th Annual Pemberton Country Jamboree

When: Friday, July 23- Sunday, July 25

One imagines his trademark Lanny MacDonald-style moustache to be a bit droopier than normal, his gait a little bit laboured.

That’s what cross-continental travel will do to an old cowhand, I suppose.

Puhallo has just come back from a trip down south that took him to the Red River Festival in Shreveport, Louisiana and to this year’s Academy awards.

That’s the other Academy – the Academy of Western Artists awards held this year in Fort Worth, Texas where Puhallo, one of North America’s premier cowboy poets, was a featured entertainer.

He’s a familiar face to the Academy, who awarded him their Will Rogers medallion for excellence in cowboy poetry in 2002, making him the first Canadian in the organization’s history to receive the honour.

It’s not just the Academy that knows Puhallo, who counts five books to his name and a sixth recently sent to the publisher. His works have been read in the Canadian House of Commons, the B.C. Legislature and, he’s proud to mention, into the official record at a NASA launch in 1994.

But Puhallo’s still as much about the hand-held sparklers as he is the bombs bursting in air. Small, grassroots venues suit his unassuming style and honest words just fine.

Pemberton’s 4 th Annual Country Jamboree, which launches tonight, is one such occasion. Puhallo has been a part of our neighbour to the north’s celebration of country living since the beginning – as a consultant, based on his experience as an organizer for the Kamloops Cowboy Festival, and of course, as a performer.

He’ll keep the tradition going this year, performing throughout the weekend at the Jamboree’s new site on the grounds of the Pemberton Heritage Museum alongside musicians Misty Rivers, Jim Reader, Kraig Jodrey, Tammy Gislason, and Bud Webb, and fellow cowboy poet David Longworth.

The Jamboree is attempting to stay true to its country roots, going as far as to separate itself from the more mainstream Copperdome Barn Dance event, which takes place the following weekend on July 31, and replacing it with the Saturday night Jamboree hoedown.

If it’s authenticity they’re after then they’re doing right by bringing back Puhallo and keeping poetry on the bill. Authenticity is the cornerstone of true cowboy poetry, its defining characteristic.

"It’s written by working ranch people and people with a background in agriculture," Puhallo explains. "It’s grassroots poetry. The real folk stories of the West put to rhyme."

It goes deeper than simply reciting country music lyrics, says Puhallo, taking the opportunity to poke fun at the sister art form.

"Most of us are a little better centred. We don’t have to spend all our time sniveling about cold beer and bad relationships," he says chuckling. "We get to keep our dogs. Keep our trucks. Most of us have been married to the same person all our lives."

As co-owner and operator of the Kamloops-area Twilight Ranch, he’s earned his place at the cowboy poetry table. It’s important, however, not to confuse the importance of being the genuine article with rigidity.

Like any art form cowboy poetry is multi-faceted, displaying both strong traditions and bold new directions. The majority follows the ballad-style standard, Puhallo says, but there is also a dynamic new school out on the range writing free verse, exploring new tangents and pushing the envelope.

Puhallo remembers picking up the pen as young as seven years old but it’s in the last 12 years that he’s really become serious about making a career of his poetry.

His own work generally takes after the traditional form – steady, lilting narrative ballads that mimic the easy gait of a well-mannered horse mid cattle drive.

A huge influence has been Canadian Gold Rush-era poet Robert Service, one of the reasons Puhallo says he prefers the title of "western folklife poet" to cowboy poet.

"Service wrote about everybody in the West," he elaborates, "not just the miners, but the gamblers, the ‘faded doves’ – everybody in the West in his time."

As a voice of the West and for the cowboy life Puhallo says his goal is to keep his work accessible to a broad audience. While it seems inconceivable that such an easy going œvre could ever be interpreted as elitist he admits he makes an effort to curtail his use of rancher’s vernacular, which can alienate city folk.

"I’m not into snob art, into leaving the public on the sidelines," says Puhallo. "You don’t want to be slamming doors in people’s faces when you’re trying to reach out to them with your art."

His outreach tactics are proving effective. He’s managed to gain some crossover into the vast pop culture landscape with his books and speaking gigs.

High culture, however, is a bit of a pricklier pear.

"The Canadian League of Poets hasn’t invited me to join their organization yet. They seem to regard cowboy poetry as not being serious poetry," he admits. "But that’s not a big deal. I’ve been very lucky in the exposure and the opportunities that have been presented to me as a poet."

The reality is that the stereotypically refined nature of poetry (with the in-your-face exception of beat and slam poetry), regardless of whether it was written on or off the range, will always make it a more obscure art form within our increasingly bombastic blockbuster society. Cowboy poetry will always be more Pemberton Jamboree than Calgary Stampede.

Puhallo harbours no illusions.

"Tourists that come to a big rodeo are usually not as interested in the heritage and culture of the West as much as the action and the glitz," he concedes. Even if it was possible to fill a hockey rink with poetry enthusiasts, he adds, a coffee house or library, places where the poet is able to connect "eyeball to eyeball" with the audience, will always be better.

It’s a romantic notion – as romantic as the very idea of cowboy poetry.

It must be a great way to impress women.

Puhallo’s blush is practically audible in the pause before he humbly dismisses the very notion.

"Oh, I don’t know about that," he says. "It doesn’t impress my wife too much at times."

Had I been in the room, it’s certain he would have taken the opportunity to tip his hat and excuse himself with a polite "ma’am."

Mike Puhallo performs throughout the weekend at the 4 th Annual Pemberton Country Jamboree.

Jamboree festivities kick off this evening (Friday, July 23) at 6 p.m. with the Pony Espresso ride for all the cappucino cowpokes. Opening ceremonies are on site at the Pemberton Heritage Museum at 7 p.m. For more information on Jamboree events throughout the weekend check Pique’s entertainment listings beginning on page 58 or call 604-894-6175.

Sidebar

Advice

By Mike Puhallo

Just scoot down in your saddle

And screw your hat down tight

Any job is easier

If you hold your mouth just right.

They told me "turn your toes out

Watch his head and lift your rein

Arch your back and nod your noodle

Now spur ’im in the main!"

Well it was too much to remember

for a simple young cowhand

’Sides you can’t see if your toes are out

With your head stuck in the sand.

Well as time went on I rode a few

And seemed to learn a bit

But as for all that good advice

It just didn’t always fit.

I learned to ride the ranked ones

And it seemed easy for awhile

’Til Father Time sneaked up on me

And sort of cramped my style.

My advice to you young twisters

Who crave to ride them broncs

Is to dodge them barrel racers

And stay out of honky-tonks.

And when you’re gettin’ ready

Remember what I said:

Blow the B.S. out your ears

And try to clear your head.

Cause all you really gotta do

Is screw your hat down tight

Scoot down in that saddle

And hold your mouth just right.