by Stephen Knapp

Evergreen's own O'Brien Family Band is no stranger to the stage, but last Sunday's gig at the 16th Annual Colorado Cowboy Poetry Gathering was special.

For starters, the talented quartet was chosen to provide the grand musical finale of the four-day event held Jan. 13 through 16 at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities. "It's a real honor," said Janette, who is, by turns, wife, mother, bass player and booking agent for the group. "The Sunday concert is big."

Dan O'Brien, a retired educator and award-winning composer of Western music, plays rhythm guitar and drives the band's 40-foot, semi-posh touring vehicle. "We've participated in the round-table sessions for the last two years," he says, "but this is the first time they asked us to play in the auditorium."

To hear Ma and Pa tell it, young'uns, Kyle and Maura, together equal about 75 percent of the O'Brien Family Band, and it would be hard to disagree with their math. Superb on guitar, fiddle and mandolin, Kyle, 14, is quickly becoming proficient on dobro and banjo, as well. Maura, 11, can fiddle with the best and provides the group with strong vocals and an energetic stage presence. Both children are expert yodelers, an important component of true Western music.

Western music, Dan cautions, should not be mistaken for Country music. "Gene Autrey and the Sons of the Pioneers are Western music. Country has a whole different sound." The family's play-list, much of it original, includes Western, Bluegrass and Gospel numbers, depending on the engagement.

Coinciding nicely with the Great Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver, the Colorado Cowboy Poetry Gathering brings Western poets and musicians together each year to socialize, share ideas and present their engaging works to the public. About 40 of the world's best Western entertainers took part in this year's event, including some who rode in from as far away as Australia.

The program features two days of public round-table sessions for which performers assemble in small groups to spin yarns, recite home-spun doggerel and sing their favorite ditties in an informal setting. These relatively intimate gatherings are accented by five concert performances in the Arvada Center's auditorium, culminating in the popular Sunday matinee.

Sunday's line-up was a fine mix of comical, thoughtful and romantic verse and music, all of it evoking the wide vistas and ruggedly unique character of the West. First out of the gate, Master of Ceremonies Liz Masterson recited "Betty and the Bear," a cautionary tale about the importance of marital communication.

Next up, Buckshot Dot, a veteran poet and singer from Payson, Ariz., delighted the audience with a humorous song about that most Western of icons, Kokopelli, finishing her set with verse.

Cowboy Poet John Nelson, a Gunnison, Colo. outfitter, followed with several original poems including one that explains - in uncomfortable detail — why one should never accept food prepared by a hunting guide. Sid Hausman, of Tesque, N.M., rounded out Act I with several classic Western tunes sung to ukulele, banjo and guitar. Masterson was roped in to provide enchantingly understated vocal harmony to Hausman's crowd-pleasing rendition of Will Rogers' favorite "Navajo Trail."

Act II began with a bang from down-under. Melanie Hall, a native of Townville, Queensland, Australia who recently captured the ladies division of the Waltzing Matilda Cowboy Poetry Contest, launched into the first of three lyrical epics that had the audience alternately dabbing at tears of laughter and compassion. Hall's active presentation, peppered with colorful outback lingo delivered in broad, Aussie inflections, was both rootin' and tootin'.

Choosing the O'Briens to cap such a diverse assortment of entertainers was a masterstroke. The family's set, consisting of four original songs and a couple classics, was fun, lively and a huge hit with the audience.

"That's Texas for Ya'," combined a memorable, creative melody with clever lyrics and lots of room to showcase the younger O'Briens' abilities. An O'Brien family staple, "I Love to Yodel" forced listeners to reconcile the impossibility of yodeling in two-part harmony with Kyle and Maura's seemingly effortless achievement of same. They wound up the show with a rousing treatment of "The Battle of New Orleans" featuring a rollicking fiddle duet by the kids. The audience was floored.

Within 24 hours of their triumph in Arvada, the O'Briens were on their way to Tucson, easily done because Kyle and Maura are home-schooled. After a couple of months playing Western music festivals, watching the Rockies train and enjoying the fine weather, the family will return to their mountain home tanned and relaxed.

Traveling the nation's highways and byways, seeing new places and faces, is a big part of the O'Brien's life these days. Living together in tight, mobile quarters has been surprisingly trouble-free, Janette says. "We've become incredibly close as a family." Yeh, howdy.

O'Briens hit reality TV

The O'Brien Family Band is scheduled to appear in an upcoming reality television show. Contractual obligations prohibit them from providing details at this time. When permitted — probably about a week before airing — the time, date and network will be posted at www.obrienfamilyband.com. The site also contains information about the band and its performance schedule.