{"id":26801,"date":"2024-07-06T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/bar-d-wranglers-gary-cook-performs-following-triple-bypass-surgery-in-june\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T23:45:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:45:58","slug":"bar-d-wranglers-gary-cook-performs-following-triple-bypass-surgery-in-june","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/bar-d-wranglers-gary-cook-performs-following-triple-bypass-surgery-in-june\/","title":{"rendered":"Bar-D Wranglers\u2019 Gary Cook performs following triple bypass surgery in June"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Gary
Gary Cook (second from left) performs with the other members of the Bar-D Wranglers mere weeks after a triple bypass surgery. (Courtesy Photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Despite missing three weeks, musician didn\u2019t wait long before returning to stage with Durango band<\/div>\n

Bar D Chuckwagon guitarist and vocalist Gary Cook and his family were preparing to go to dinner for quality time together before the Bar-D Wranglers\u2019 music season started.<\/p>\n

He then began feeling ill.<\/p>\n

After his wife Brigette asked if he needed to get checked out, Cook headed to the hospital, fully expecting to be sent home. Once his blood results came back, however, Cook was being prepped to be flown out of Durango\u2019s Mercy Medical Center for surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of thought they would have sent me back home until the blood work came back. They went from thinking about sending me home to prepping me for surgery,\u201d Cook said. \u201cIt was quite a shock to all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cook was having a cardiovascular event. Medical staff tried to do a stint procedure, but it was unsuccessful. Cook required triple bypass surgery to save his life.<\/p>\n

After being flown to the Penrose Center in Colorado Springs, Cook met with the surgeon in just under five hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven the surgeon said, \u2018I\u2019ve never seen this happen that quickly.\u2019 It happened very fast \u2026 It was pretty amazing how seamless it all went,\u201d Cook said.<\/p>\n

Before his surgery could take place, Cook had to wait for five days to ensure no other problems developed. Once the surgery took place, it was successful.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrigette and I have been married for 27 years now, and one day I spoke to all of the guys that actually stood up at our wedding. Two of them showed up at the hospital and the others called me that day,\u201d Cook said.<\/p>\n

Another friend named Jim Jordan came to visit him right after his surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first day that I got up to go for a walk down the hallway, I came around the corner and he was standing at my door. So pretty amazing friends and family \u2026 Brigette and the girls have just been wonderful. I feel really fortunate,\u201d Cook said.<\/p>\n

The surgery and subsequent recovery took place during the Bar-D Wranglers\u2019 opening weeks, something Cook had never missed in his 34 years with the band.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Bar D Wranglers. From left to right: Danny Rogers, Matt Palmer, David Bradley, Gary Cook and Joel Racheff. (Courtesy of Bar-D Wranglers\u2019 website)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This year commemorates his 35th year as the band\u2019s guitarist and harmony vocalist.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had never missed a show up there, and here it is, the night before we open and we found this out,\u201d Cook said.<\/p>\n

Despite missing three weeks because of his surgery, Cook didn\u2019t wait long before making it back to the Bar-D stage.<\/p>\n

Just three weeks after surgery, Cook performed again with the Bar-D Wranglers. Although he is performing, he isn\u2019t cleared yet to help with the food service or other Chuckwagon responsibilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not doing the entire evening there, but what I\u2019ve been doing while I\u2019m just regaining my strength basically is just going up for the show itself,\u201d Cook said. \u201cI went back in my third week, actually, and it\u2019s worked out pretty well.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his absence, some of Cook\u2019s musician friends \u2013 including a group from Texas and Ignacio resident Chuck Glass \u2013 filled in for the award-winning guitarist while he recuperated.<\/p>\n

Cook said the band has been supportive and encouraging while he was recovering. His co-workers at the railroad and its bus company, where he is the transportation manager, have also supported him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been great,\u201d Cook said. \u201cNow when I go out on stage, it feels really good to be back. And even though I\u2019m still not 100%, it\u2019s coming, and I can feel it, and I think they\u2019re happy that I\u2019m there and I\u2019m certainly glad to be back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Music has been part of Cook\u2019s life since early childhood.<\/p>\n

When Cook was 4 years old, he and his siblings did a weekly radio show in Denver \u2013 the Rocky Mountain Jamboree on KLAK-Radio. This exposure gave him the desire to make music a career.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would go in and play on the weekly show and play,\u201d Cook said. \u201cSince this surgery, I\u2019ve been visiting with my siblings a lot, and we\u2019ve gone over a lot of the memories from that, and it\u2019s been enjoyable just getting to spend time with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cook\u2019s love for music has taken him to some of the biggest stages, including a performance at the Grand Ole Opry with the Bar-D Wranglers. He was also named two-time flat pick champion guitar player at both the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and the Walnut Valley Bluegrass Festival in Winfield, Kansas.<\/p>\n

He joined the Bar-D Wranglers after one of the members died.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on his music career so far and while recovering from his bypass surgery, Cook\u2019s favorite part about being part of the Bar-D Wranglers is being able to pursue his love of music and being an entertainer while staying close to home and those who matter the most.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many people that actually pursue that for their career wind up being out on the road, going up and down the road in a bus,\u201d Cook said.<\/p>\n

Before heading up to the Chuckwagon to perform for another evening, Cook expressed his gratitude for everyone who has supported him and his family during his recovery.<\/p>\n

For more information on the band\u2019s performance times for the summer season, visit bardchuckwagon.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cook (second from left) performs with the other members of the Bar-D Wranglers mere weeks after a triple bypass surgery. (Courtesy Photo) Despite missing three weeks, musician didn\u2019t wait long before returning to stage with Durango band Bar D Chuckwagon guitarist and vocalist Gary Cook and his family were preparing to go to dinner […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[950,902,28,61,559,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-26801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-durango","tag-entertainment-general","tag-headlines","tag-health","tag-music","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26801"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79482,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26801\/revisions\/79482"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26801"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=26801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}