The Cowboy King

Years ago, Kris wrote a traditional cowboy poem called The Cowboy King as a gift to the Lander climbing community. It features 120 route names from climbs in the Lander area. He has performed it live at the International Climbers Festival several times over the years, but only recently recorded and scored the poem. In today's episode, Kris plays the new recording for Lander local, Leif Gasch, and then the two of them chat about the making of the poem.

THE COWBOY KING

This here's a story about the Cowboy King,
and the Two Kinds of Justice the Western Front brings.
He wore an Atomic Stetson, a Heart Full of Ghosts,
in love with an Arizona Cowgirl named Wind River Rose.
He had a strong Addiction to Burnt Beans and Coffee,
Horse Whipped and Hogtied, anybody that crossed him.
They say The Devil Wears Spurs and Spurs Equal Velocity,
and he'd never been caught by a posse, so possibly,
he was of The Devil's Herd; Whips, Chaps, and Chains,
or maybe his skills were just Honed on the Range.

He rode an Iron Horse with Twisted Heart and snarled lip,
and the Guns of Diablo were holstered at his hip.
Sat on a Hand-Tooled Saddle, Mr. Majestyk on The Throne,
Hellbent for the Horizon, for he had no home sweet home.
Kept a Saucerful of Secrets, a Mask Without a Face,
his only friends in this forsaken land were Wind and Rattlesnakes.
He'd galloped Full Tilt through a month-long Losing Streak,
on a Busload of Faith that the next would be his week.
Till he came upon a table; Buckskin Billy, Pistol Pete,
Nine Horse Johnson, Poker Face Alice, and the Brave Cowboy took a seat.

This seemed to be The Gathering of The Righteous and the Wicked,
where the Last Man Standing would have the chance to punch his ticket.
In this game, you Never Sit with your Back to the Door,
but he relied on Bobcat Logic, took A Slug of the Old What-For.
Ante'd up and drew his hand from the Stacked Deck that held his fate,
but he knew his victory would be Bittersweet, for he stared at Aces and Eights.
"You Ain't Bill Hickok," he told himself inside his head,
"and there's two types of people here - The Quick and the Dead."

They had awakened Sleeping Thunder, the dealer Sweating Bullets,
Pocket Derringer in his boot, but he had no chance to pull it.
Now Only the Good Die Young, Lord Have Mercy on the rest,
and this table of Genetic Drifters put his Hair Trigger to the test.
He raised his Nickel Winchester, the Suicide King collected his pot.
This was The Day the Earth Died Screaming from the Rapid Fire Shots.
The King of Fools fell to his knees, Throwin' the Houlihan toward the light.
The Smoke Shapes rose up behind him, The Hangman in the night.
He whispered, "Give My Love to Rose," as he made his Exodus from this land.
Standing over him was The Shootist, Winchester Pump in her trembling hands.
Every Gun Sings its Own Song and this one sang of wealth,
for the Last Man Standing, the Cowboy Killer, was Wind River Rose herself.

Beneath the Harvest Moon in a cold October Sky,
the Winds of War were blowing, Storm Bringer on the ride.
This Ghost Rider was a Slave to History, carried a Vision of a Kiss,
rode with whip and spur and Wild Horses, his steed painted Orange for Anguish.
Lonesome Cowboy, Back in the Saddle, Outlaws on the Run,
there were No Seats in Hell and Heaven Can Wait till vengeance is done.
You see, he wasn't Merely Mortal, no slave to the Stronghold of Decay,
Cloud Walker, The Great Deceiver, and now he stalks his Tender Prey.
She's an American Beauty, seemed to be Waiting on a Friend,
regret for a long ago Black Sunday, A Beautiful Life left to the wind.

Now Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, and Some Like Another Chance,
maybe in the next world, for in this life, she's doomed to Ghost Dance. 
She had the World on a String, but she went off half-cocked,
the Crooked Darlin' now hears A Cry for Help in the memory of the shots.
As she sits in the Wicked Garden, No More Heroes, no more joy,
thinking, "When I Was a Young Girl, I Had Me a Cowboy".
Tilts her head back for the Moonshine, already Whiskey Drunk, it slurred her speech.
The Bravery of Being Out of Range has vanished, she's within the dead man's reach.

Storm of the Century is upon her, the Claim Jumper lies Unforgiven,
Lonely Are the Brave, especially those who are still living.
As she climbed The Hanging Tree, a Wave of Mutilation hit her.
“Say Hello to Geronimo,” he whispered, as he gently squeezed the trigger.
Vengeance was swift and Painless. In this game, the dealer calls.
Saddled Up on White Lightning, as he watched his One Love fall.
We all know there lies a thin line between Heroes and Ghosts,
as he rode away, the Cowboy King said for the last time, "Adi-Goddang-Yos."

Kris working on a verse of the poem back in 2011, with his daughter Kaitlynn standing by. | Photo: Becca Skinner

Find Leif online at: https://www.substr8climbing.com/

Guitar in today's episode by LesFM: http://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/

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FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Leif Gasch  00:09

I started climbing in 1994 and came down here the following year. 1995 was my first summer down here for, I think it was one day, during the climbers festival. Because we had, my dad and I were both into climbing, and we had heard that there was this gathering and we were like, "Well, we should go, you know, maybe we can meet some people," and whatever. And then I started spending summers - as much time as I could, you know, in between school - summers up through, I guess about 2002 here, almost every summer here. There were, there was a couple of summers where I was here more than I was back up in Cody. And then I moved here full time in like 2003, I guess. Yeah, something like that. And then lived here up until 2008. And then Lindsay and I traveled, landed in Salt Lake. We were in Salt Lake for 10 years.

Kris Hampton  01:03

That's my friend Leif Gasch. And if you're new around here, I'm Kris Hampton. I'm a climber, climbing coach, father, artist, and one of the co-founders here at Plug tone Outdoors. When I first came to Lander, Leif was one of the people that I met, and I would come here for a couple of weeks every summer, and Leif and his wife, Lindsay, were two of the people I most wanted to see. It was one of those two week summer trips when I met the woman who would become my wife, I eventually moved here to Lander, and just recently, Leif and Lindsay moved back as well.

Leif Gasch  01:44

And then we came back during COVID, just as fate would have it. It just kind of pushed us here. And we've been here. Yeah, moved here, essentially, spring of 2020 and built the house. And now here we are. So...

Kris Hampton  01:57

Yeah, I, you know, I feel like a lot of us have like our formative climbing area. Mine was certainly the Red River Gorge. 

Leif Gasch  02:06

Yeah, sure. 

Kris Hampton  02:08

Is, is the Lander area climbing your, like, formative climbing time?

Leif Gasch  02:14

Yeah, absolutely. You know, I remember talking with BJ one time, and I think, I mean, this was years ago, I think we figured we'd done "The Devil Wore Spurs" over 1,000 times at that point, you know. Yeah, so yes, I would most certainly akin, like Lander - I mean, just, I'll say Lander being Sinks and Iris - as being my formative. I mean, that's really where I cut my teeth and where I actually got excited about becoming better at the sport, you know.

Leif Gasch  02:39

I, I assume, but I don't know for sure, that you were here the first year I ever read this cowboy poem at the bar? 

Leif Gasch  02:49

Yes, yes. 

Kris Hampton  02:50

See, I invited Leif over today because I recently recorded and scored this poem, "The Cowboy King", and I wanted to get his reaction to it. It's in the style of a traditional cowboy poem, and I was inspired to write it after that first trip to Lander. Verse one, anyway. Verse two came a year or two later, as a gift for the local climbing community who had accepted me in and made me feel so at home here. When I was a teenager, I heard that Dr. Seuss was given a list of words that were acceptable for children and told to write a book with them. Riffing off of that list, he wrote "The Cat in the Hat". I loved the idea of having constraints in place to shape creativity. And so when considering a gift for the Lander community, I made a list of about 150 Lander area route names - the names given to a climbing path when it's first done - and to tell this story, I used 120 of them. 

Leif Gasch  03:54

That's it? I totally thought it was more. 

Kris Hampton  03:59

And the funny thing is, when I set out to do it, I was like, "I'm not gonna tell anybody I'm trying to do this, because this might just be a Herculean task that I can't figure out how to do."

Leif Gasch  04:11

Right.

Kris Hampton  04:11

But because Todd and Paul and Frank Dusl, and everybody who put routes up here, Heidi and Amy, they all sort of stuck to this western theme with the route names, it was so easy to put this poem together. And the first year when I performed it at the bar, I was a little nervous, you know? Lander Bar's like half-cowboy, half-climber bar.

Leif Gasch  04:23

Certainly at that time, yeah. 

Kris Hampton  04:44

Yeah. And there were all these old little old cowboy men sitting on the patio. And here I am rapping, you know, and, and then I'm about to read this cowboy poem, and I'm like, "What are these guys gonna think of this?" Like, here I am taking their like traditional poetry style and turning it into something of my own. And I read the poem, and I'll never forget, this one little, little grizzled old cowboy comes up to me afterward and he's like, "You write that poem?" I was like, "Yeah." "That was amazing." And I'm like, "Really?" Like this dude has no idea that there were rock climb names all through here. He just heard it as a cowboy poem.

Leif Gasch  05:28

I was gonna say, the vernacular of just, you know, the material you used is, just resonates, you know. I mean, it's very specific, you know, to the, I mean, certainly the area, but just like the Western culture.

Kris Hampton  05:39

Yeah. I love it. It's, it was a lot of fun to write. But I'm gonna play this version for you. And then there's a couple things I want to talk about.

Leif Gasch  05:47

Okay.

***Kris Hampton Performs The Cowboy King - see above.  06:03 ***

Kris Hampton  12:53

You've got some routes in there. At least one.

Leif Gasch  12:56

Yeah, I think just the one, but yeah. Thanks.

Kris Hampton  12:59

In a, like, in a great moment, too. The reveal.

Leif Gasch  13:03

I mean, yeah. For me, it's very special.

Kris Hampton  13:06

You know, I love watching climbers who are familiar with the area listen to it. And I can never tell whether they're like listening for the story or listening for the route names. I think it's hard to do both at the same time. And so you've heard it a few times, and you can sort of hear them all combined, but do you remember what your thoughts were the first time you heard it?

Leif Gasch  13:36

Yeah, of course. I remember being blown away because I'm like, "Oh!" I mean, you know, there's some routes that I'm like, "Okay, of course, obviously, that's, you know, that's a no brainer." But then there were some other ones where I'm like, "Wait a minute," you know. Like "Vision of a Kiss". "Wait a minute, I think I know that." you know. And I think you did a really good job of filling in, like, with some routes, where it's like, you know, they might be a bit off the beaten path, you know, "Black Sunday". You know, there's a bunch of them that are like, they're maybe not in the main zones. And if you, if you, unless you're like a guidebook nerd like myself, or you've been here for a long time, you might very well skip over a lot of that, you know. But yeah, the first time I heard, at least you know, at least Verse One, I was like, I was... there were so many things that were like jumping out at me, because I was trying to listen for the story, but I'm like... and I kept hearing these things, I'm like, "Wait a minute, I know that one. Oh, my gosh, there's another one right after it." And I just thought the way you blended them was so cool. And then of course, you know, after listening to it a couple of times, then I'm like, then I'm into the story at that point, you know, so, yeah.

Kris Hampton  14:35

Yeah, it's one of these things that like, you know... I have this complicated relationship with history as of late. I've just been thinking about how history can serve to both inspire us, but it can also hold us back when we're like too attached to the way things used to be, you know? 

Leif Gasch  14:57

Yeah, for sure. 

Kris Hampton  14:58

And it doesn't allow us to move forward. And this is one of the ways that I feel like I can look back, but then also take what was created back then and move it forward into my own creation, my own thing, you know? Remodel it into something else. 

Leif Gasch  15:18

Yeah, for sure. 

Kris Hampton  15:20

And I feel like that's a, that's a thing that climbing in general is, is struggling with right now, you know? Ethically and just, just people deciding, like, what does climbing mean, you know? We're, we're looking back at history but then we also have to keep moving forward, so... 

Leif Gasch  15:38

Yeah, of course. Yeah. 

Kris Hampton  15:39

There's one line in the whole entire poem, both verses, that has no route names. And it's actually one of my favorite lines. It's, "He'd never been caught by a posse, so possibly," and what I want to do, like one of my future plans, is to bolt a route and name it "He'd Never Been Caught by a Posse"... 

Leif Gasch  16:00

I love it.

Kris Hampton  16:01

...just so, this line in the poem. And that's, that's another way that I feel like it's going full circle with history is: sure, you know, I'm pulling from all these guys' route names. And they pulled from old songs and books and poems. And then I'm going to take my own poem and make a new route.

Leif Gasch  16:20

Dude, I love it. I love it. I will, I will block for you if anybody tries to bolt a route and name it that, alright? "Nope, nope, like that's, that's spoken for." 

Kris Hampton  16:28

Yeah, I've got a whole list of little phrases inside the poem that could become route names.

Leif Gasch  16:33

I think that's a great idea. I think that's, I think that's a wonderful way to like, you know... because I was just listening to this now - it's really cool. I mean, you know, I've certainly listened to them back-to-back, you know, in the past, but like, it's cool to hear it all put together. Especially with the little bit, you know, some of the sound effects in the back. And yeah, I mean, I think that'd be a really cool way to build off of that now, today, with something new. That's, that's super cool. I like that.

Kris Hampton  16:58

Yeah. And to put it out there as a thing that other people are then going to interact with. And maybe they use that to build off of in the future.

Leif Gasch  17:07

In whatever way, yeah. Just make sure it's a good one. Yeah. Don't, you know, don't bolt some garbage.

Kris Hampton  17:12

Can't, can't do that. Alright, thanks, man. I appreciate you.

Leif Gasch  17:17

Yeah, this is fun. I really dug that. That was great. I enjoyed that. Thank you.

Kris Hampton  17:21

Leif - thanks again for coming over and recording this despite the fact that it felt like 120 degrees in the studio. You are absolutely one of the people that this poem was written for, so I really appreciate being able to share it with you. And I'm glad that I get to see your face more often. For the rest of you - thanks for listening to my art project here. There are more coming from myself as well as the other members of the Plug Tone Audio Collective. You can learn more about us at: plugtoneaudio.com