Our very first featured Cowboy Poet is Duane Nelson. He was one of the first poets to answer my Q & A sheet that I sent out to many cowboy poets, musicians, artists and chuckwagons.
Mare: So tell us all about your self Duane!
Duane: Well, grew up in a farming family in North Dakota, moved to Oregon at 15. After high school worked at logging, farming, on an oil rig…just about anything to make a little money.
Ran a feed mill, a grain elevator, and seed cleaning plant. Had a small fence building company. Worked at, and ran, a three man CENEX store. Last twenty plus years, worked as Field Rep and Outside Sales for an Ag co-op in Hood River OR. Retired from that. Have trained colts, worked on some ranches, did a lot of cowboying.
Mare: When did you start writing poetry?
Duane: Started writing and reciting Cowboy Poetry in about 2000 or thereabouts. Been reciting at shows and Gathering, both little and big, ever since. Brandings, BBQs, Rodeo Queen and Cattleman’s banquets…just about anywhere you can think of.
Which cowboy poets have had the biggest influence on you?
Duane: Heck, just about all of them….but Waddie Mitchell…Will Ogilvie, Sunny Hancock; I guess those are the main ones. But, basically, the poet/reciter I MOST want to be is Duane Nelson…..
Mare: That is so true! We all can’t be a Waddie or Sunny, because we aren’t being true ourselves. It is hard starting out writing poetry, we all try to imitate, we can’t duplicate, so defining ourselves and refining our writing shows who we are!
Mare: What do you like best about Poetry Gatherings?
Duane: I love Cowboy Gatherings!!! Performing is a hoot, but I really enjoy meeting new people and reconnecting with old friends. Can’t tell you how many good friends I have now that I met a Gatherings and only see a few times a year!! The camaraderie, the BS sessions, jams sessions….and watching my friends and compatriots perform!!
Mare: I totally agree. There is nothing like spending time with kindred spirits! It is like you are already friends before you meet each other. It is a bond of people who understand you best and feel the way you feel. Which is one of the reasons this website has been set up, so we can network and find out about our friends we didn’t know we have!
Mare: Duane, do you have any books published or CD’s recorded? If so, how can they be ordered?
Duane: I have recorded three CDs, but only one, “EARLY MORNIN’ RISING” is currently available. They can be ordered by contacting me direct: either on FB, email, or calling me (text please!!)
Mare: Do you have any gatherings or performances scheduled for 2023? If so, when and where are they?
Duane: Right now, I am closing on a deal for September that will bring Dave Stamey to the historic GRANADA THEATER in The Dalles OR, and will include many members of the Columbia Chapter of the IWMA. I will be performing with some good friends in Sweet Home OR in June, and have been hired on for the Colorado Cowboy Poetry Gathering next winter.
Duane’s contact information if you would like to order a CD or have him perform is: loriandduane@hotmail.com Phone: 541-980-8875
Duchess of the Prairie 