True Tales of a Cowboy Poet
Raised on a ranch 60 miles outside the nearest town, 33 miles of dirt road separated young Waddie Mitchell from the main road that led to the nearest city. Growing up with no electricity, TV or modern refrigerator and living 14 miles away from the closest neighbors, the old-fashioned ranch life helped Waddie develop his current trade. It was natural, and even expected for everyone to jump in and tell a piece of the stories that were told at night on the ranch. For Waddie Mitchell, storytelling was social interaction with his family and the cowboys that worked for his father.
Little did he know that after 26 years working as a cowboy himself he would end up storytelling for his profession! It all began 20 years ago when he received an invite to the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee. Now Mitchell has recordings for Warner Bros. Records as well as the Western Jubilee Recording Company; he has performed for audiences around the world and appeared on national television several times. Waddie Mitchell even founded in 1994 the Working Ranch Cowboy Association to create scholarships and crisis funds for working cowboys and their families.
Mitchell was in Pigeon Forge this past weekend for the Smoky Mountain Storytelling Festival. Did you have the chance to listen?