GREENSBORO – Singer-songwriter Dave Stamey came all the way from California to give a concert of country western music at the Highland Center for the Arts in Greensboro Saturday evening, performing more authentic evocations of the life of a cowboy than is usually depicted in Hollywood movies.
The program was opened by a local group of impressive musicians, the Kingdom Trio, consisting of Alice Perron and Jess O’Brien on guitar and Randy Bulpin on guitar and dobro, with shared vocals.
Their first number was a song made popular by Judy Collins, “Someday Soon”, which O’Brien sang with a strong expressive voice, for the fine melody and lyrics about hoping to find love. Bulpin got in more imaginative improvisations on the theme with the unique sound of his dobro. Perron gave a lovely rendition of a piece from an aunt’s old song book, about herding cattle.
Bulpin switched to guitar and Perron to an accordion in a song about someone looking forward to a relationship after wandering for a while, which Bulpin sang with feeling, containing some humorous verses.
Changing back to their original instruments, Bulpin and Perron joined O’Brien in a delightful number giving the advice of “Don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys”, saying “They never stay home and they’re always alone, even with someone they love.”
Yodeling was featured by Perron in their last song about wanting to become a cowboy, again with engaging improvisations on the dobro by Bulpin.
Dave Stamey was born in Montana and presently lives in the Central Valley of California. Over the years of his long career he has received many accolades for his live music from significant country western related institutions. He accompanied himself on his guitar masterfully and his voice had a natural warmth and color. He immediately connected to the audience with real stage presence and he was able to be continuously entertaining for a good two hours with his amusing stories and original songs.
His first selection celebrated the landscape of the west, with its powerful mountains and beautiful deserts, but mixed with the “broken dreams” of some human involvement.
The next piece recounted “the trouble cowboys can get into when they have too much time on their hands”, in this case a somewhat improbable venture into skydiving, with humorous results. Another comic song had the refrain, “I’m not old, just been used up,” about some regrets of reckless things he did when he was young.
He began writing his own songs about cowboys to contradict the often cliché idealistic images, instead painting the reality, like “cold fingers still in the morning.” The following song continued this theme, referring to working conditions and pay that weren’t that good. Cowboys are not known for being romantic, but the “mountains of the heart”, a deep love of the land, are a compelling motivation to seek this way of life. This was a particularly well developed number with poetic lyrics.
A piece with an historical background in the 1870s and 1880s when Texas cattle got pushed up into Montana grazing areas had drama, including a murder.
A song about his dumb dog was endearing, especially how it loved to go in his truck with his head out the window and the wind in his face. A curious song was about his late wife wanting a buckskin colored horse. The following one was a humorous account of trying to feed goat milk to young heifers, rather than the powdered variety. His trip to Steelhead Lake on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada inspired a song about trusting a hose to find his way back after he got lost. His last number of the concert suggested that, judging from the horse show in Stockdale, Ariz., the life of a horse was quite nice; just standing around all day in an air-conditioned barn being groomed by young girls who fed them carrots.
Altogether Dave Stamey gave a straightforward appreciation of cowboy life combined with a deep attachment to the Western landscape in a very positive, upbeat manner to which the enthusiastic audience showed their gratitude with a standing ovation.
David K. Rodgers
David K. Rodgers is a writer, mason and card carrying dilettante, who dabbles and babbles in art. He has lived in East Craftsbury for the past 40 years.
