Local country music legend Larry Krause is teaming up with one of Saskatchewan’s top cowboy poets for an evening of western entertainment at the Prince Albert Public Library Theatre.
Meadow Lake’s Linda Nadon will join Krause for ‘Cowboy Campfire Evenin’ on Sunday, Feb. 11. Krause said he’s crossed paths with Nadon at numerous shows across Western Canada, but they’ve never performed together until this string of performances.
“We just figured this would be a good opportunity—it’s just before calving season for her—and gives us a chance to get out there, put our heads together, and put together a kind of mini-cowboy poetry event that not only will satisfy the wants of the people who enjoy that type of stuff in our area, but also possibly create some interest and possibly get some new people roped into hearing what in fact it is,” Krause said.
“We’ve threatened to do it for years. We’ve been good friends for years, but her being in Meadow Lake and me being down here, we weren’t quite sure how we could put the whole thing together. Earlier this winter, we decided, why don’t we go out, put together a package, find some places to put it on, and just see whether in fact it will get up and go.”
Nadon is an award-winning poet who has performed in New Mexico, Nevada, and across Western Canada. Her work reflects all aspects of the ranching lifestyle, and is inspired by her work as a horse breeder with her husband in Meadow Lake.
“This is the real thing…. We know the lifestyle inside and out,” Krause said.
“Sometimes things are happy and sometimes not so much, but it’s a very accurate description of what goes on and she does it incredibly well. She paints a picture that almost feels like you’re sitting on the horse next to her.”
Krause said poetry and song have been major parts of the cowboy lifestyle since it began. He said cowboys would sing and recite verses to help stay awake while on watch, settle restless cattle, or just entertain themselves while on a trail ride.
Krause and Nadon performed ‘Cowboy Campfire Evenin’ in Big River and Rapid View before stopping in Prince Albert. Krause said the style of entertainment is very popular in southern Saskatchewan, and so far, it’s been well received up north too.
For his own musical performance, Krause plans to return to dip into a part of his repertoire he doesn’t regularly use.
“It’s songs that most people won’t normally hear me do when they come to my regular concerts,” he said. “I’m very much shifting back into the cowboy and the western type of genre. It’s storytelling songs, and the singing cowboy, that goes back to as early as they were recording.”
‘Cowboy Campfire Evenin’ begins at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 11 at the Prince Albert Public Library Theatre. Tickets are $20 at the door for adults and $5 for children under 12.
