When award-winning singer-songwriter Kristyn Harris takes the stage with Hailey Sandoz tonight at the DoubleTree Hotel as part of the long list of entertainers scheduled for this year’s Durango Cowboy Gathering, she wasn’t just a performer; she’s also led – and continues to lead – a cowgirl life.
Harris grew up on a small ranch in Texas, where she said she fell in love with horses and cattle. Not from a particularly musical household, the music found her nonetheless.
“I actually initially got inspired by watching old Westerns with Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. And seeing them play guitars and hearing the cowboy songs they sang, I just really got swept up with it,” she said. “I borrowed a guitar and started teaching myself chords out of a book. I was actually really super shy, introverted. I mean, that’s still kind of my personality, so I never expected to get into entertaining or music, but God had a plan, I guess, because and I wound up with some wonderful mentors. When I discovered Western music and the Western music community, the Western Music Association, everyone was so encouraging.”
She began sharing her music at open mics, and started getting more comfortable on stage.
“One thing led to another, and I really just never looked back,” she said. “I had picked up that guitar and just enjoyed it so much that I pushed past all my shyness and nervousness.”
Harris has been performing for 15 years now, and she said she spends most of the year on the road, taking part in a variety of cowboy gatherings. And along the way, she’s accumulated quite the résumé: According to her website, she “has been named IWMA Entertainer of the Year five times and is the youngest person to ever receive this award. In addition, she has been named IWMA Female Performer of the Year seven times, and her latest recording was honored by the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City for “Outstanding Western Album.” She has received recognition for her music from the CMA of Texas and the International Red Carpet Awards in the Netherlands two years in a row.”
She’s also been writing songs and working on recording a couple of new albums – on top of traveling, performing and keeping up with her ranch: “It’s been a blessing,” she said.
And as she continues to lead a cowgirl life in Texas, where, according to her website, she trains horses, raises a herd of black angus cattle and “even does professional trick riding – aka, gymnastics/stunts on a galloping horse – as a side hobby,” along with her music, she said she finds great value participating in cowboy gatherings, which offer more than just a venue for her music.
“When I go to these cowboy gatherings, it’s truly like a family reunion every time,” she said. “The community of performers doing cowboy music and cowboy poetry, and the people that put them on and the types of people that support it are just salt of the earth; truly the best community. And I feel like I just have family and adopted family all over the country because of it. (What) these gatherings do, it’s preserving the oral traditions, the songs and the poetry that preserve that way of life. It’s just so cool that it’s still being done.”