Cowboy poetry entertains with stories from past

The Montana of old will be on display this week during the Cowboy Poetry and Songs of the West performance.

Hosted by Kirk Gentry and Gene Gordner, the program will feature a mix of original and passed-down poems and songs relating to the way life used to be in the American West.

The program is Saturday, July 14 at 7 p.m. at the O’Shaughnessy Center downtown.

Gentry and Gordner have been performing their songs for visitors to Montana for years. The exciting part now, Gentry said, is sharing them with the locals.

“I used to own Spotted Bear Ranch, and I would do cowboy poetry over the years during the summer with the guests. [Gene Gordner] has been performing for the Flathead Lake Lodge, the Hargrave Cattle and Guest Ranch and other guest ranches for 20-some years, but locals just hardly ever get to hear us,” he said. “I guess you’d say we’re local talent, but locals don’t get to hear us. So we’re used to doing our stuff for people out of state and this is one way we can do it where people in Whitefish can get a glimpse of the past. It’s cowboy ways and gold rush days.”

Some of the songs and poems performed are as old as 100 years, Gentry said, giving the audience a taste of what life used to be like.

In many cases, older audience members will recognize a few familiar tunes.

“They really resonate with anybody who’s 50 and older, because a lot of them have heard these poems back when they were 20 or 30, or as a kid they heard their parents read these poems,” he said. “It’s a reminder, it gives them a glimpse of the past and a reminder of their youth and where they came from.”

In Gordner’s performances, a story about the origins of each piece helps set the stage for the songs.

Gentry said he started writing the poems with life as his muse.

His father bought and sold eight cattle ranches in Colorado, he said, and on the last day of the last ranch, inspiration struck, and he wrote “The Last Drive.”

“I wrote that poem when he sold his last cattle ranch, and I thought, ‘What’s it gotta be like to be on 50 to 60 years of cattle driving, and be on your last drive?’” Gentry said. “A lot of the inspiration just came from real life experiences.”

Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

For more information, call 406-862-7740.