Dev WFC

In this digital age, music is ubiquitous. You can burn a CD or download a track in seconds. I Pods carry thousands of songs and satellite radio stations broadcast hundreds of music channels. As a result, “we don’t listen to music carefully anymore,” says Hal Cannon, Western Folklife Center Founding Director. The Western Folklife Center has pledged to preserve “rare and endangered sound,” on its Deep West Records label, with CDs combining music and spoken word, developed from extensive fieldwork, research, and careful production.

Red Rock Rondo: Zion Canyon Song Cycle
Deep West Recordings
CD:   $16.99
DVD:  $20.00

The Zion Canyon Song Cycle visits ghosts in Grafton, stolen quilts in Rockville and moonlight sonatas in Springdale in a new Americana song cycle by Phillip Bimstein celebrating the history and contemporary life of Zion National Park and its neighboring communities. Commissioned by the American Composers Forum, recorded with the support of the Zion Natural History Association and the Utah Arts Council, and a signature project of Zion National Park's 2009 Centennial, "A Century of Sanctuary."

Read more of the included performances and buy the CD and DVD in our online gift shop, and  read more about Red Rock Rondo.

Premiering at the 25th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, this CD is a unique double set - there is one CD of cowboy poetry and one CD of western music. This collection includes 50 performances - 25 poems and 25 songs that were recorded during a Gathering, one from every year.

Read more of the included performances and buy the CD in our online gift shop.

Capturing the irrepressible spirit of the 10th Cowboy Poetry Gathering in 1994, this DVD features the performances of such poets as Waddie Mitchell and Wallace McRae, and the western music of Don Edwards, Ian Tyson, Michael Martin Murphey and more.

Buy the DVD in our online gift shop.

A Cowboy Christmas

First airing in 1995, A Cowboy Christmas has a timeless quality and is regularly broadcast on public radio stations across the country each Christmas season. Bronze medal winner at the New York International Radio Awards. The CD - an hour long radio documentary featuring Baxter Black, Waddie Mitchell, Gene Autry, Vincent Craig and others - has been reissued for the 25th Anniversary of the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Buy the CD in our online gift shop.

A tribute to one of the hottest honky-tonk bands in the Northwest during the early 1950s. Live every Saturday night from the Sunshine Bar on the corner of Woody and Alder in Missoula, Montana, the Snake River Outlaws were heard over KXLL radio. The CD includes rare digitally-remastered live radio broadcasts that create a sound capsule of a time when cowboys, railroaders, college students, society ladies and vagabonds all hoisted mugs of beer to fine music and western sociability. Read more and buy the CD in our online gift shop.

Songs of Yellowstone and the Tetons

Based on a simple premise that America’s greatest places should be accompanied by great songs, the Western Folklife Center CD features the winning songs from our Yellowstone and the Tetons Songwriting contest and more!  Read more and buy the CD in our online gift shop.

Songs and Stories from Sheepherding
Deep West Records - $15.00

This CD is a groundbreaking glimpse at the music and poetry of the "other" ranching tradition. Hear the songs, verse and stories of shepherds who came to the United States to pursue the American dream, including Scots, Scandinavians, Basques, Greeks, Irish, Mexicans and Peruvians. This historic collection is based on the expressive arts of sheep ranching and is bound to be a collector's item. The CD includes extensive notes, photos and translations to the songs and poems. Buy the CD in our online gift shop.

Why The Cowboy Sings

This CD premiered at the 2007 National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, and is a recording of the extraordinary songs from the Western Folklife Center's high definition production, Why the Cowboy Sings. Included are songs by Tom Russell, Ian Tyson, Buck Ramsey, Stephanie Davis, Sourdough Slim and others. Buy the CD in our online gift shop.

Stories From Native America

Deep West Records– DW001 $15

These stories are contemporary and are all about warriors, visionaries, and true humanists, people who put it all on the line to make life better through the traditions and history of their tribes. The forces fighting against their efforts, both within their tribes and outside, are immense. The heart of this CD comes from stories produced for National Public Radio. Hal Cannon and Henry Real Bird narrate. Buy the CD in our online gift shop.

Songs and Stories from Grand Canyon
Smithsonian Folkways Records – SFW CD 40167 - $15

This CD features the "real folks" who call this extraordinary place their home. An Indian tribe sings of its birth out of the canyon in ancient times; mulepackers tell tales of their daily descents; boatmen brave the Colorado’s rapids. A mosaic of local songs and stories by local people, all resonating with the deep meaning of this deep place, this is an insider’s soundtrack to the Grand Canyon, which also includes a never-before-released track by Roy Rogers. Extensive notes and photographs; 58 minutes. Read more here and buy the CD in our online gift shop.