With his ten-gallon hat, seated on horseback with lasso in hand, the fictitious cowboy has captured the popular imagination as a strong, silent type. A group of Western folklorists set about to change that stereotype.

"The image of a cowboy has strayed so far from reality through negative images in the media and in movies, the cowboys felt they didn't have a forum for the expression of their true selves," said folklorist Hal Cannon. "Cowboy poetry is a way to connect and to express a way of life that's valued."

With Arts Endowment support, Cannon and his colleagues began by surveying ranchers to identify and study contemporary cowboy poetry. Its ballad style has roots that stretch back at least to the 1860s. Since then, cowboys had been entertaining each other in bunkhouses and on trail drives with poems they'd memorized as well as with rhymes they'd made up on the spot

The next step was to produce an event that would showcase the talent they'd unearthed. It wasn't an idea that had commercial appeal. "I approached 50 corporations and other organizations that were identified as using cowboys in their marketing and they all turned me down. Poetry wasn't something they saw as being part of the cowboy image," said Cannon. "The Cowboy Poetry Gatherings would never have happened without the Endowment. The NEA support was a very important indicator of trust and helped us to get cowboy poetry off the ground."

The first gathering in 1985, held in Elko, Nevada, drew five times the expected audience. Enthusiasm has continued to build and the gathering, presented by the Western Folklife Center, has grown into a week-long annual celebration of American cattle culture, attracting thousands of enthusiasts and adding more than $6 million to Elko's economy. Cowboy poetry's popularity in general has also multiplied, breeding books, radio programs, and more than 200 other gatherings across the country. Rancher-turned-cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell, who performed at the original gathering, recalled his initial surprise at the tremendous audience response. "I hadn't thought anyone else would be interested in cowboy poetry. It was just how we used to entertain each other, telling stories around the campfire or in the barn. I think it's found its way into the American psyche because it's pure—it touches people's hearts and imaginations."

In 2000, the U.S. Senate recognized the cultural value of this tradition and the event responsible for its renaissance when it passed a resolution renaming the Elko gathering the “National Cowboy Poetry Gathering.”