Ramblin' Ralph"The World's Oldest Living Cowboy" |
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Ramblin'
Ralph
was born at an early age and a long, long time ago, in
the
mountains of Kentucky. He personally
experienced much of the
history of the American West, and knew a number
of famous Westerners
including Coronado, Pope, Lewis and Clark,
Sacajawea, Davy Crockett,
Kit Carson, Geronimo, Buffalo Bill, Billy the
Kid, Cochise, Wyatt Earp,
Calamity Jane,
Wild Bill Hickok, John Wayne - well, maybe not
John Wayne.
~~~~~~~ He tells and sings all about it with tunes and tales, true history blended with humor and song, accompanied by autoharp and guitar. Click here for aone-page flyer |
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Ramblin has performed at the Lincoln State Monument Old Lincoln Days, Ruidoso's Hubbard Museum of the American West, Ghost Ranch, Albuquerque Folk Festival, Red River Days of 1895, Albuquerque Museum, University of New Mexico, the Western Music Association International Music Festival, various state parks & monuments ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Some of Ramblin's programs:
sample of "The West" |
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Programs of story and song
"The West: Singing Its Story" - Take a trip through a thousand years of the American West, from Anasazi Indians to the Atomic Age. Like the Indians and cowboys, the trappers and traders, we'll sing as we go because their songs tell a big part of the story. We'll visit the ancient ones in their cliff dwellings and pueblos, see Coronado with his padres and conquistadores clanking up the Rio Grande searching for the Seven Cities of Gold. Lewis and Clark, on their way to the Pacific guided by young Sacagawea. The Alamo, Wild Bill Hickok, OK Corral, Santa Fe Trail and Chisholm Trail, Belle Starr, forty-niners, Billy the Kid, stagecoaches, Geronimo, Pony Express, cowboys and Indians, Jesse James. Experience the beauty, danger, excitement, violence, lyricism, and landscape of the West - as it was then, as it is today.
“Me and Billy” - As the world's oldest living cowboy, born the same year as Billy the Kid in 1859, Ramblin' Ralph sings and tells of his days with the real Billy the Kid. Not the Billy you've read about, heard songs about, seen movies (61 of them) about. The real Billy, the boy Ralph rode with, camped with, fought beside in the Lincoln County War. The Billy who loved to dance, loved to sing, sang in Sunday School and, at the age of 12, starred in a musical revue in his school - and never "at the age of twelve years killed his first man." The Billy who, with his compadres, took on the crooked powers of Lincoln County. The Billy who was sentenced to hang by a kangaroo court, escaped from the tightest security Pat Garrett could devise, roamed Lincoln County befriended by all except those in power. The boy who died in Pete Maxwell's darkened bedroom of a bullet from Pat Garrett's 44.
"My Life As a Cowboy" - Saddle up and ride with Ramblin' Ralph as he tells the story of a cowboy in the wild, wild West of the 1870s. And sing along with the tunes real cowboys sang, in exuberance on the open prairie or to quiet the cattle at night. Experience the roundup of wild longhorns, driving 'em up the Chisholm Trail, riding night herd, meeting Comanches, heading a stampede, fighting rustlers. Dodge City with its saloons, gunfights, and dance-hall girls, meeting Wyatt Earp and Calamity Jane. Feel the sun and the sweat, exuberance and danger of life in the saddle. For just an hour we can all be a cowboy again.
"Cowboy Campfire
Singalong" -
Songs that take us back to our youth, the western
movies, radio serials
- or brand new treats for those too young to have
experienced this
music firsthand. We'll all sing great old numbers
like "Don't
Fence Me In," "Cool Water," I'm An Old Cowhand," and
"Back In the
Saddle Again." Variable length as appropriate.
"Appalachian Music
and the Autoharp" - The autoharp,
developed in the 1870s, quickly achieved
enormous popularity, outselling pianos to become
labeled "the
nation's favorite music instrument." Through the Sears
catalog it
penetrated the backwoods, hollows, and country churches
of Appalachia -
but elsewhere became relatively uncommon. In this
program
Ramblin' Ralph provides an entertaining
discourse on the
autoharp and the Appalachian music of his
childhood,
illustrated through the seminal music of the Carter
Family. Audience is
encouraged to sing along with familiar songs such as
"Will the Circle
be Unbroken," "Wildwood Flower," "Worried Man Blues,"
and "I Am
Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes."
Ramblin' can provide a personal sound system suitable for most indoor and outdoor venues. Programs will also work well in venues in which amplification is not required. Question and answer or simple conversation sessions between audience and Ramblin’ are usual, and enhance the educational value of the programs. Ralph's home is in Corrales, New Mexico.
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about Ramblin' than you would ever want to know
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Contact information:
ramblin@ralphestes.com
(505) 980-3280