Sun and Saddle Leather

This collection, written by a working cowboy in the early 1900's, ranged in emotion from rejoicing in the free life and the beauty of the desert to lamenting its eventual loss as fences began to appear and old partners settled down to marry. Cowboy Poetry began as a 19th Century Performance Art staged around a crackling campfire, referencing tall tales and personal stories, lost girlfriends, and love of the vast unboundaried West. It was best accompanied by a hot tin cup of boiled coffee, dunked biscuits, and beef jerky. The rhymed couplets were easy to remember, and once the day's drive was done, everybody had a few hours to listen to friends and wonder at the stars. Badger Clark gave voice and record to this unique American folk art, and built on it to express his own creative genius.