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Jon Messenger
Photograph by Angel Rutherford
An accomplished songwriter, Jon’s original Western tunes have been well
received by audiences at festivals and gatherings throughout the West, and
these songs reflect Jon’s love of the West and the American Cowboy. Jon’s
writing has been favorably compared to the works of such notable Western
artists as Bob Wagoner, Don Edwards, Jack Hannah, Michael Fleming, Rusty
Richards, and Douglas Green of Riders in the Sky.
Seeking the essence of the Western Music experience, Jon worked with Lance
Gray several times a year at the MacDonald Cattle Company, east of Douglas,
between 1995 and 2003. The experience was just enough to come to appreciate
gentle horses over high-headed smart-alecky horses…fence work, packing salt
blocks, bucking hay, fixing broken stuff, the fine art of persuading
critters that they’d rather be where you want ‘em than where they are…drew
wages in the capacity over this period of time…learned just enough to know
the difference between a singer who cowboys and a cowboy who sings… in the
process…learned to rope, and to brand, and to chop ears and oysters…no more
a cowboy than some, more than others…but the love and appreciation of the
Western way of life is in every tune he writes….
Jon has been playing at gatherings, festivals, churches, and jails for a
long time…almost exclusively performing Western Music around the southwest
and points east, west and north of Sierra Vista, Arizona, for a dozen years
with a smattering of bluegrass and western swing in the between spots. An
ongoing collaboration with Jeanne Cahill and Jerome Campbell … they of
Oklahoma’s Call of the West, recently produced the recording Ponydance…the
recording features ten original tunes and and two treatments of old and new
classics… Jon served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Western Music Association for four years; three years of which were served as the President of the Board of Directors. He is currently a member of the Advisory Board of that organization.
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Jon Messenger brings a unique approach to today’s Cowboy and Western Music.
His vocal and acoustic guitar styling blend together to bring to all his
audiences a haunting and authentic portrait of cowboy life, past and
present. Interspersed with the fine Western Music are some wonderful
selections of Cowboy Poetry, some by traditional authors, and some original
poems from Jon’s pen.