Entertainer Bios hEADLINERS
ThE GaTlIn bROThERS. Over 50 years ago, Larry, Steve and Rudy Gatlin started singing in their little hometown of Abilene, Texas, and from there they went on to make music history. Larry, Steve and Rudy love to sing together. Raised on Gospel music, the brothers first began entertaining audiences in churches. They went on to score over a dozen top 40 hits, including, I Don’t Want to Cry, What are We Doing Lonesome, The Lady Takes the Cowboy Every Time, and others. Throughout the 70’s and 80’s the Gatlin Brothers packed concert halls across America. In 1992 they made the decision to stop touring. Then a promoter in Delaware persuaded them to return and do some selected dates. Today the Friday Gatlins have the best of both worlds, 7:00 p.m. families and fans, as well as plenty of Ray Reed Stage work as individuals and together.
ASlEEP AT THE WHEEl. “Western Swing ain’t dead, it’s just asleep at the wheel,” is a famous line from one of the group’s live albums. This isn’t your typical dance band; they’re an institution, an ever-shifting lineup (more than 80 members to date), of like-minded musicians Saturday 9:00 p.m. united under the leadership of Ray Benson of Philadelphia for the past 40 Ray Reed Stage years. The band calls Austin home when they’re not on the road. These Grammy winners have sold millions of albums which includes their 1999 release of Ride with Bob, a tribute to Bob Wills. Asleep at the Wheel first played at the Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium in 1998 and again in 2008. With Leon Rausch, the Wheel was awarded the American Western Artists 2011 award for Western Swing Song, It’s a Good Day.
PERFORMERS TOMMy AllSuP has been an ongoing fixture at every Cowboy Symposium since its beginnings in 1989. His contribution to the music industry is legendary, having played in more than 9,000 Nashville recording sessions for artists of every genre. Born in Owasso, Oklahoma, Sunday, his career began nearly 60 years ago as a 9:00 a.m. guitarist with the Oklahoma SwingbilRay Reed Stage lies. In 1958, he met Buddy Holly during a recording session at Norman Petty’s, Clovis, New Mexico, studio. Tommy will always be known for losing a coin flip with Ritchie Valens that “day the music died” in 1959.
recorded a tope of Friday & Saturday his original cowboy 10:00 a.m. and poetry titled, Last 3:00 p.m., Larry of a Breed. He is McWhorter Stage single, has one son, 11:00 a.m. and is a profesTuffy Cooper Stage sional bull rider and equine massage therapist.
bOb bOZE bEll bought True West magazine in 1999 and moved editorial offices to Arizona. He has published and illustrated groundbreaking books on the west. Among the subjects are Wyatt Earp, Billy the Kid and Doc Holliday. His series of western gunfights is titled Classic Gunfights. In addition to his efforts for True West, Boze’s work has appeared in Arizona Highways, Playboy and National Lampoon. He has illustrated numerFriday ous book covers and 4:00 p.m. appears as a guest Saturday speaker on the History JW bEESOn was born in Texas and raised in Oklahoma. 11:00 a.m. Channel, Discovery He was a natural ranch cowboy, saddlemaker and cowboy Cowboy USA Channel and the poet. He works for the Heart Ranch in Lipscomb, Texas, Roundup Tent Westerns Channel. and entertains at cowboy shows around the country. He had 12 | 2012 Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium