Yondering: Songs of the American West sung by Rich Flanders

Awards for Yondering

Listen to Blue Prairie, Winner of the Will Rogers Cowboy Award for 2008

A Letter from Rich Flanders...

Dear Friends,

Rich Flanders accepts Will Rogers Cowboy Award for Best Song of 2008 I want to celebrate with you the news that the 2008 Will Rogers Cowboy Award from the Academy of Western Artists for the "Best Song" was awarded to Blue Prairie, from our album, YONDERING - Songs of the American West. My deepest thanks to all Yondering fans! Your enthusiasm is deeply cherished.

The award was presented at the Granville Theatre in Garland, Texas, Tuesday evening, September 23 in a gala ceremony featuring top entertainers from the western music industry. To have a first album nominated in two categories - Best Western Album of the Year and Best Song - seemed honor enough. That the award is named after someone I've always admired, Will Rogers, makes it all the more meaningful to me. I can't think of much finer company to be in.

I share the statue with my friend, Ken DeAngelis - producer, engineer, mixing & mastering honcho, guitarist, accordionist, and fellow arranger extraordinaire - and Julie Ziavras of JAZ Music Productions, Inc., as well as with bassist Barry Wiesenfeld and violinist Rachel Handman, and I am eternally grateful for the love and support I've received from friends and fans and family. In my acceptance remarks I mentioned my bride, Amy, my late, great father-in-law, Norman Ober - Yondering's greatest fan - Wayne White, official "president of the fan club" who drove almost 3 hours to be there, our Lakota friends on the Pine Ridge Reservation, and the Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, striving to bring healing to our Earth.

One of the most memorable experiences of the evening was the jam session after the ceremonies. Award winners, together with many of the runners up, gathered in the hotel lobby and played and sang together into the wee hours. Any guests wandering through got the show of a lifetime. I've seldom heard such musicianship or sung with such a stunning assembly of talented, versatile, open-hearted performers, who included Eli Barsi, Joyce Woodson (If I Hadn't Seen the West), Judy Coder (Pride of the Prairie), Jean Prescott (Sweethearts & Carharts), Devin Dawson, Carolyn Martin, Joe Green, Jim Jones and others. Amy and I made some wonderful new friends and flew home with a stack of their terrific cd's.

Thanks again for your love of this music. There's more in the works!

Rich