(VINTON) – This year on April 28th and 29th, after three years of delay, Sierra Valley Grange #466 will finally present their 35th annual Cowboy Poetry and Music Show at the historic Grange Hall in Vinton, California. This event has been delayed not once, not twice, but thrice by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the excitement among the organization is almost palpable as we look forward to opening our doors for this delightful celebration of the arts and Western heritage once more.
First up on our all-star music and poetry lineup is singer and harmonica player Gary Allegretto, the 2019 winner of the International Western Music Association’s Male Performer of the Year award. Allegretto comes from a colorful and storied background, having previously been a ranch hand, bouncer and wildland firefighter in various parts of the West before pursuing his childhood dream of music and becoming perhaps the finest blues and western harmonica player alive today. His talents have earned him a variety of music and poetry accolades and landed his music in a few spots on the silver screen; it’s more likely than not that even the least musically inclined among us will enjoy his performance.
Richard Elloyan is a singer and songwriter hailing from the historic Silver Rush town of Virginia City, Nevada and - much like Allegretto - has been recognized by the IWMA, having won their award for Songwriter of the Year in 2018. A longstanding regular of the cowboy poet circuit in the Western United States, Elloyan joined up with his lifelong friend, fellow Nevadan and brother-in-poetry Steve Wade in 2015 to release their first album together, Forty Miles of Famous, and have since collaborated two more times in the studio for Up For Adoption (2019) and Once Upon a Desert Night (2021). You won’t have to scour the vistas and byways to epitomize the vaquero way, because two of the best Western musicians you can find anywhere will be playing right here in Sierra Valley this April.
Last, but certainly not least, Larry Maurice is another highly decorated cowpoke and cowboy poet; when not out on the open range, this man moonlights as a poet so heartfelt and so authentically Western than in 2000 the Academy of Western Artists honored him with the prestigious Will Rogers Cowboy Poet of the Year award. Maurice’s poetry has taken him all across the west, from Lubbock to Los Angeles, and now this Reno native will be darkening the doors of the Sierra Valley Grange to perform at our own smalltown show.
This year’s Cowboy Poetry and Music Show will run twice on the evenings of April 28th and 29th, and once in a Saturday afternoon matinee on the 29th. Show tickets are $30 for adults and $15 for children 12 and under while meal tickets will run $20 and $12, respectively; these will be available soon at select locations and on our website, www.sierravalleygrange.org. The Grange will serve house-made lasagna on Friday night and country-style pork ribs on Saturday – and yes, there will be a full bar too. To learn more, email us at [email protected], visit our website or contact Crystal Munoz at (510) 219-1082.
The Sierra Valley Grange, located in historic Vinton, is a fraternal agrarian non-profit organization dedicated to rural living and self-improvement that has been serving eastern Plumas and Sierra counties since 1931. Proceeds from the Cowboy Poetry Event will be used to meet the yearly operation costs and further maintenance needs of our building; if you are interested in joining, please visit our website, or better yet, come visit us for some music and cowboy poetry this April.
We hope you enjoy the show!
