Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry, nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American actor, musician, singer, composer, rodeo performer, and baseball team owner, who largely gained fame by singing in a crooning style on radio, in films, and on television for more than three decades, beginning in the early 1930s. During that time, he personified the straight-shooting hero — honest, brave, and true.
Yodeling is a form of singing which involves repeated and rapid changes of pitch between the low-pitch chest register and the high-pitch head register or falsetto. The English word yodel is derived from the German word jodeln, meaning "to utter the syllable jo". This vocal technique is used in many cultures worldwide. Recent scientific research concerning yodeling and non-Western cultures suggests that music and speech may have evolved from a common prosodic precursor.
Charles Marion Russell, also known as C. M. Russell, Charlie Russell, and "Kid" Russell, was an American artist of the American Old West. He created more than 2,000 paintings of cowboys, Native Americans, and landscapes set in the western United States and in Alberta, Canada, in addition to bronze sculptures. He is known as "the cowboy artist" and was also a storyteller and author. He became an advocate for Native Americans in the west, supporting the bid by landless Chippewa to have a reservation established for them in Montana. In 1916, Congress passed legislation to create the Rocky Boy Reservation.
Willie M. Pickett was an African American cowboy, rodeo performer, and actor. In 1989, Pickett was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.
Wilfred Arthur Charles Carter, professionally known as Wilf Carter in his native Canada and also as Montana Slim in the United States, was a Canadian Country and Western singer, songwriter, guitarist, and yodeller. He wrote over 500 songs.
Edmund Richard "Hoot" Gibson was an American rodeo champion, film actor, film director, and producer. While acting and stunt work began as a sideline to Gibson's focus on rodeo, he successfully transitioned from silent films to become a leading performer in Hollywood's growing cowboy film industry.
Cowboy culture is the set of behaviors, preferences, and appearances associated with the attitudes, ethics, and history of the American cowboy. The term can describe the content or stylistic appearance of an artistic representation, often built on romanticized impressions of the wild west, or certain aspects of people's lifestyle, such as their choices in recreation, apparel, and western or southwestern cuisine.
Earl Wesley Bascom was an American-Canadian painter, printmaker, sculptor, cowboy, rodeo performer, inventor, and Hollywood actor. Raised in Canada, he portrayed in works of fine art his own experiences of cowboying and rodeoing across the American and Canadian West. Bascom was awarded the Pioneer Award by the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 2016 and inducted into several halls of fame including the Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1984. Bascom was called the "Cowboy of Cowboy Artists," the "Dean of Rodeo Cowboy Sculpture" and the "Father of Modern Rodeo." He was a participant member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
History of rodeo tracks the lineage of modern Western rodeo.
Benny Reynolds was an American rodeo champion. Born in Twin Bridges, Montana, he was of English descent. Both his mother and father rode saddle broncs and his brothers also competed in rodeo.
John Van "Tex" Austin was an American rodeo promoter, known as the "King of the Rodeo" or "Daddy of the Rodeo" because of his efforts to popularize the rodeo outside of its core American West demographic.
Reg Kesler began his rodeo career at the age of 14 at the Raymond Stampede, competing in the boys steer riding. At the time, it was common for cowboys to compete in many or even all the rodeo events, and Kesler was no exception as he grew into his rodeo career. He participated in all five major rodeo events of the time: saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, bull riding, tie-down roping and steer decorating, a precursor to steer wrestling. Kesler especially excelled in the roughstock events, namely saddle bronc riding and bareback riding, appearing in the top four in the Canadian standings in those events six times. He was also a successful competitor in the wild cow milking and wild horse racing, an outrider in the chuckwagon racing, and a well-known pick-up man. Kesler was a ProRodeo Hall of Fame and Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame inductee.
Paul Zarzyski is a cowboy poet and educator. He is a former bareback bronc rider.
Fannie Sperry Steele, born Fannie Sperry, was an American bronc rider and rodeo performer from Montana. She was one of the first women inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1975, and the first Montana native in the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1978.
Stanley Beresford "Donn" Reynolds was a Canadian country music singer and yodeler most widely known for his Bavarian style of yodeling. Often referred to as Canada's "king of the yodelers", Reynolds established two yodeling world records. He recorded 38 singles and six albums throughout a performing career spanning over 40 years.
Vera McGinnis was a champion American rodeo rider. She was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 1979, and into the Rodeo Hall of Fame of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1985.
Midnight (1916–1936) was a bucking horse who in 1979 was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.
Fallon Taylor is an American professional rodeo cowgirl who specializes in barrel racing. She is the 2014 Women's Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) Barrel Racing World Champion. She qualified for the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) seven times between 1995–1998 and 2013–2015. She made her first NFR debut when she was 13 years old in 1995. Her horse BabyFlo was named the Women's Professional Rodeo Association/American Quarter Horse Association WPRA/AQHA Barrel Racing Horse of the Year in 2013.
Margie Greenough Henson was a 1978 National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame inductee.
Alice Greenough Orr, was an internationally known rodeo performer and rodeo organizer who was inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame, the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, and the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame. She has been described as "hands down the first rodeo queen."
