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Don Edwards continues to build a
recorded legacy enriching our vision of the American West. In
its tales of the day-to-day lives and emotions of those who
lived it, his ballads paint a sweeping landscape of both the
mind and heart, keeping alive the sights, sounds and feelings of
this most American contribution to culture and art.
The quality of this cowboy
balladeer's music stems from the fact that he is so much more
than a singer. Bobby Weaver of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame
in Oklahoma City, summed Edwards's importance as "...the best
purveyor of cowboy music in America today."
A historian, author and
musicologist, someone well-versed in cowboy lore and musical
traditions, Don brings a rare complement of knowledge of and
love for his craft. Mostly though, there is the soul of a poet;
a man who has never succumbed to any temptation to present a
glamorized or romanticized version of the West. Edwards deals
with the bad weather and petty motivation, with sadness,
nostalgia and longing as parts of the landscape like any other.
The son of a vaudeville
magician, Don was exposed as a child to a vast cross-section of
music from classical to jazz, and blues to western-swing. Many
of the those influences enter his own music as they did some of
the music of the West. Edwards was drawn to the cowboy life by
the books of Will James and B Westerns of the silver screen,
particularly those featuring "'sure-' nuff cowboys" like Tom Mix
and Ken Maynard. He taught himself guitar starting at age ten,
and chased the rodeo and worked ranches in Texas and New Mexico
during his teens. In 1961, he got a job as an
actor/.singer/stuntman at Six Flags Over Texas and he was to
stick with music from then on. He made his first record in
1964.
Don became part owner of the
White Elephant Saloon in the Fort Worth stockyards and would
play acoustic sets on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and with a band
on weekends. "Esquire" magazine has named the White Elephant
one of America's 100 best bars. Edwards also began playing
throughout out Oklahoma and Texas, and with the inception of the
Cowboy poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada achieved widespread
recognition. He has now entertained throughout the United
States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, New Zealand, Europe and
the Far East.
Don Edwards has two albums,
Guitars & Saddle Songs and Songs of the Cowboy,
included in the Folklore Archives of the Library of Congress.
These anthologies have been re-recorded and expanded as the
32-song double CD/cassette called Saddle Songs. This
project took first place the Best Folk/Traditional Album of the
year at the annual AFIM INDIE Awards Ceremony held in May of
1998. The collection is on the Western Jubilee Recording
Company's label. He has twice received the National Cowboy Hall
of Fame's "Wrangler Award" for Outstanding Traditional Western
Music, one for his recording Chant of the Wanderer in
1992 and for the second time in 1996 for West of Yesterday.
Other projects include a book release by the Gibbs Smith
Publishing Co. entitled Classic Cowboy Songs; performing
on Nanci Griffith's Grammy-winning video and recording. Other
Voices, Other Rooms; co-presenter along with Waddie Mitchell
on the network-televised Academy of Country Music Awards and
featured performer for the prestigious "Golden Boot Awards".
Don has presented educational
services at Yale, Rice, Texas Christian and many other
Universities. His recordings under the Warner Western label,
Goin' Back to Texas, Songs of the Trail and The Bard &
the Balladeer have spawned a new audience for his craft.
His Warner recording, West of Yesterday (1996) was
produced by Jim Rooney and features Don's long-time Ft.
Worth-based band, the 7-Bar Cowboys. The summer of 1997 found
Don in Livingston, Montana portraying the role of "Smokey" in
Robert Redford's film The Horse Whisperer. In addition
to this acting/singing role, Don is featured on the MCA
soundtrack. In May of 1998, to coincide with The Horse Whisper
theater release, Warner Western compiled and released "The Best
of Don Edwards" while Western Jubilee offered Don's newest
recording "My Hero Gene Autry" recorded live at Mr. Autry's 90th
birthday.
The richness of Don's voice
coupled with his magical stage presentation makes Don Edwards
America's number one western singer and concert attraction. The
accolades though, have been simply added bonuses for Edwards,
who sings what he does out of love and respect for the genre.
Don's career continues to blossom, and luckily for all who care
about it, he has because of his sincere approach, added much to
the literature and music of the West, passing on to the rest of
us a legacy rich for his efforts.
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