Activities begin Tuesday, July 7, with a reception for the exhibition “Books and Buckaroos: USU’s Cowboy Poetry Collection” from 6-7 p.m. at the exhibit site, the foyer-lobby area of the Merrill Cazier Library (approximately 570 N. 930 East, Logan). Guests can view the exhibit and visit with the co-curators, Randy Williams and Brad Cole. Refreshments will be served. Then, Cannon is featured in a lecture presentation in conjunction with the exhibit at 7 p.m. in Merrill-Cazier Library, Room 101. Both activities are free, and all are welcome.
“Books and Buckaroos: USU’s Cowboy Poetry Collection” is an exhibit highlighting examples from USU’s extensive cowboy poetry collection held by Special Collections and Archives. The exhibit is sponsored by Merrill-Cazier Library.
Randy Williams, exhibit co-curator, invited Cannon to speak.
“We invited Hal to speak because he’s been at the heart of both USU’s cowboy poetry collection and the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering from the beginning,” Williams said. “He knows the story of both because he was there as it began, he lived it.”
Cannon will recount the history and his involvement during his presentation.
Cannon is heard regularly on National Public Radio’s “Weekend Edition Sunday” with his series “What’s in a Song” and other stories. A television documentary, “Why the Cowboy Sings,” was awarded both an Emmy Award and the Golden Special Judges Prize at the Houston International Film Festival and was broadcast nationally on PBS. The music special, “Red Rock Rondo: A Zion Canyon Song Cycle,” came out in the spring of 2009. Cannon has published a dozen books and recordings on the folk arts of the West, including his best-selling anthology, “Cowboy Poetry, A Gathering.”
He has been awarded three Wrangler Awards from the Cowboy Hall of Fame; the Will Rogers Lifetime Achievement Award; the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Utah communications department; and the Utah Governor’s Awards in both the arts and the humanities.
USU’s “Cowboy Poetry Gathering at the Books and Buckaroos” includes books, images and National Cowboy Poetry Gathering posters and pins. The exhibit runs through September 21 at Merrill-Cazier Library. For more information, call exhibit curator Randy Williams, (435) 797-3493.