Interest in cowboy culture is strong in Monterey County, with two annual cowboy poetry events running for three decades now. California Rodeo Salinas’ annual Cowboy Poetry Gathering has been around since 1992, while its younger neighbor, Monterey Cowboy Festival (until recently the Monterey Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival) dates to 1999.
This year, keeping the traditional partnership with Monterey County Free Libraries, the 30th Salinas gathering is getting ready to pay respect to the cowboy poet who has been for years involved with the event: Salinas-born legendary entertainer Clem Albertoni, who died in February 2021. Fortunately, he left many lines of poetry behind, including this gem:
When I was just a youngster,
I wanted to be a cowboy.
So my pa gave me a milking stool and a bucket
And said: “There’s that cow, boy.”
Albertoni was born in 1938 to Swiss immigrant dairy farmers and spent his first 35 years as a dairy farmer, being active in the Soledad area as a 4-H leader, knowledgeable about agriculture and hard work. But it was his talent for entertaining and spoken word that made him a legend in the Salinas Valley, often acting as MC of “Cowboys, Cocktails, Rhythm and Rhymes” gatherings, and a popular wedding officiant.
The two cowboy poets who will perform on March 26 are Dave Stamey and special guest Ed Montana. Stamey is a known cowboy entertainer in rural California, especially Nipomo, where he has lived many years.
Both Stamey and Montana combine poetry with music, which makes them singer-songwriters, as well as poets. Montana is from Texas and in addition to praising cowboy life and culture, he doesn’t shy away from expressing his political views. In 2021, he recorded “The Ballad of Rush” to thank late far-right political commentator Rush Limbaugh for “being the voice for all us Americans.”
While – as the example of Albertoni shows – music is optional in cowboy poetry, intense rhymes seem to be obligatory, while inventive poetics to make them work is encouraged. While cowboy poetry can be nostalgic or political, it has its own humor rooted in rich oral tradition. It is full of bears, mules, trucks and rifles, but also dark rivers, open landscapes and stars at night.
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