Show Notes
Old-time cowboy and fiddler JM Cates was born in 1936. This interview was recorded on August 22nd, just 8 days before his 89th birthday and a little over a month before he passed away on October 2nd. On this episode, JM talks about learning how to work from his father, his early cowboyin' jobs, playing music on ranches and at the Western Cowpunchers Association, and shares cowboy stories and wisdom from a lifetime of experience.
This episode was sponsored by Flint Custom Hats. Check them out online at www.flinthat.com
Thank you to my friends at the Western Cowpunchers Association for arranging this interview. Check them out online at www.westerncowpunchers.com
Learn more about Cowboy Crossroads at www.andyhedges.com
Become a Patron at www.patreon.com/cowboycrossroads
More from Cowboy Crossroads
Red Steagall returns to Cowboy Crossroads to talk about passing down our ranching culture and values, his songwriting and cowboy poetry mentors, and his vision for the Red Steagall Institute for Traditional Western Arts.
Texas cowboy, musician, and pastor Bunk Skelton talks about cowboyin' on ranches in the Texas panhandle, horses and cattle, making a good horse, dallying vs tying on, changes on ranches over the last 40 years, what makes a good hand, and the cowboyin' legacy of his father and brother.
Rancher and westerner Benny Romero talks about growing up in northern New Mexico, managing ranches in California and Nevada, serving on agricultural boards, and the values of the ranching lifestyle. Don't miss the story and song about Benny from Brenn Hill.
Ranch wife, cowboy poetry reciter, and the matriarch of the historic Hunewill Ranch talks about growing up in a Navy family, marrying into the Hunewill family, the history of the ranch, guest ranching, and her love for poetry.
Cowboy conservationist, photographer, and packer Kent Reeves joins the show to talk about photographing cowboy poets, his decades long work in rangeland conservation, and the 30th anniversary of his landmark book with Anne Heath Widmark Between Earth and Sky: Poets of the Cowboy West.