BACK IN THE SADDLE
Michael Martin Murphey’s WestFest returning to Red River
Michael Martin Murphey is bringing his American WestFest back to Red River after a five-year hiatus.
And the cowboy singer couldn’t be happier.
“We’ve been working on getting it back to Red River for years,” he says. “It all began in earnest in November, and getting all of the logistics together is probably the most difficult task. We also thought if we were going to revive WestFest, we wanted to do it when there were a lot of people in Red River. So we planned it for the Fourth of July.”
Murphey founded American WestFest in 1986 as a way to preserve memories and images of the Old West.
What he ended up creating was a family-friendly extravaganza complete with not only top-shelf country and Western music, but loads of booths featuring the works of Western artists and craftsmen, vintage clothing, and authentic chuck wagon fare.
The festival has been presented in many states since 1986. Musicians who have performed in earlier American WestFests include Patty Loveless, Clint Black, Don Edwards, Bill Miller, Pam Tillis, John McEuen and Red Steagall.
This year’s lineup includes Gareth Laffely, Carin Mari, Brennan Murphey, KR Wood, Ryan Murphey, Michael Hearne, Max Gomez, Robert Mirabal, Bruce Robinson and Kelly Willis, Mikki Daniel and R.W. Hampton.
Murphey, who will perform each night of American WestFest, is a genre-busting recording artist known for his smash pop, country, bluegrass and Western hits including “Wildfire,” “Carolina in the Pines,” “Long Line of Love,” “What’s Forever For” and “Cowboy Logic.”
“I’m excited to be performing each day,” the 73-year-old performer says. “We have a good number of Native Americans represented. I start and end every day with Native American performers. That’s the way I’ve done it. If we’re telling the story of the American West, we have to remember that they were here first, and I want to respect their culture every day. New Mexico is a perfect place for us to do this festival because of the close proximity to the Native American pueblos.”