From Elko to The Autry, We're Cowboy Poetry L.A.
Storytelling. Community. American Folk Art — Alive.
Cowboy Poetry L.A. is not a theme.
We are not a costume.
We are not the word “cowboy” placed in front of poetry to create a Western commodity.
We are a living community of writers, musicians, artists, and creatives who steward one of America’s oldest storytelling traditions — and bring it into the present.
A Living American Folk Tradition
Cowboy Poetry L.A. exists to steward and reawaken a form of American folk art that predates stages, microphones, and marketing.
Cowboy poetry was never meant to be a costume or a commercial aesthetic. It emerged from working people — ranch hands, laborers, migrants, families on the move — telling the truth about their lives in rhythm and story. It was practical, communal, oral. It traveled by memory long before it traveled by print.
We are a living, working community of writers, musicians, and artists who gather offline — regularly — to write, workshop, and perform. We treat this tradition as something alive, not archived.
And we bring it into rooms that don’t expect it.
Our performances blend original music, traditional cowboy poetry, and contemporary narrative writing. Each event is crafted for the space and audience — whether that’s:
- Corporate gatherings
- City Events through Chamber of Commerce
- Cultural institutions
- Music and Cultural festivals
- Private celebrations and weddings
We hosted our "Type Like a Cowboy Poet" workshop and performed at the 40th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering and have been invited to perform and host our infamous Cowboy Poetry Crawl at The Autry Museum of the American West since 2024 — institutions that honor both the history and evolution of Western art forms.
Our performances are intimate, intelligent, and accessible. They resonate with people who grew up rural, urban, immigrant, multigenerational — because the themes are universal:
Land. Labor. Memory. Belonging. Work. Resilience. Love. And of course, the West.
We create performances and participatory workshops that connect audiences to a cultural history they may not even realize they are part of.
This is American folk art — not preserved in glass, but spoken aloud.
We invite you to participate in the great revival of American Folk Art, in Los Angeles and beyond.
Our Renown Typewriter Workshops & Open Mic
We don’t just perform.
We create entry points.
Our workshops — including our vintage typewriter activations — invite people to move from spectator to participant. Guests are guided through simple, welcoming prompts that make storytelling feel accessible rather than intimidating.
Using analog tools like vintage typewriters, we slow the room down. We create space for reflection. We give people a tactile way to connect with their own voice.
How it works:
We pair folks up with a vintage typewriter.
We place writing prompts in an old cowboy hat.
Folks type their own poems while enjoying live performance examples by Amir and Zane.
An open mic is held for people to share their poems and stories.
We give out participation prizes, open mic highlight prize and when requested, best dressed contest.
Everyone enjoys an intimate meaningful experience, first time readers will never forget.
Amir and Zane perform their grand finale of live music and Cowboy Poetry.
These experiences are powerful for:
- Corporate retreats and leadership gatherings
- Community-building initiatives
- Conferences
- Cultural programming
- Weddings seeking meaningful guest engagement
- Creating unforgettable moments tied to your event
We believe American folk art should not be observed from a distance.
It should be entered.
Our workshops — often centered around vintage typewriters — create a tactile and psychological access point to the tradition. The typewriter is not nostalgia; it is a tool. It slows the pace. It removes digital distraction. It equalizes the room.
Participants are guided through simple but profound prompts that explore:
- Personal history
- Work and identity
- Place and belonging
- Inherited stories
The result is not polished poetry. It is engagement.
For corporate retreats, this becomes a leadership exercise in narrative clarity.
For chambers and civic organizations, it becomes a community-building mechanism.
For weddings, it becomes a collective memory archive created in real time.
People leave not just entertained — but altered. They have contributed.
They have entered the tradition.
Participants leave not just entertained, but connected — to themselves, to others, and to a lineage of American storytelling that predates modern media.
What We Offer Your Event
A Living American Folk Tradition through Activations for Event Partners
When you book Cowboy Poetry L.A., you are not hiring themed entertainment.
You are commissioning:
- A cultural bridge between past and present
- An interactive storytelling experience
- A rare participatory folk art activation
- A program that feels authentic, unexpected, and deeply human
We are uniquely positioned at the intersection of rural tradition and urban cultural life.
There is nothing derivative about what we do.
It is lived. It is practiced. It is shared.
Let’s Create Something Worth Remembering
Whether for a corporate gathering, civic event, museum program, or wedding, we design experiences that restore storytelling to its rightful place: communal, participatory, and alive.
Bring the tradition into the room.
Let people hear it.
Let them enter it.
Contact Cowboy Poetry L.A. to collaborate.
Celebrate Los Angeles
We're dedicated to telling the whole story of Los Angeles and all it's diverse groups that make up the story of the West. We invite you to participate in this preservation of history and tell your story.
Cowboy Poetry L.A. Community
Our Community
Cowboy Poetry L.A. is built on an offline creative ecosystem. Writers, musicians, visual artists, and working professionals gather regularly to share work, refine craft, and sustain this tradition collectively.
This is why our programming carries weight. It is not event-based branding. It is sustained practice.
The authenticity is structural.
Why This Matters Now
In an era of algorithmic content and surface-level experiences, people are hungry for something grounded.
Cowboy poetry is one of the few American art forms born entirely from ordinary people speaking their lives aloud. It carries immigrant histories, agricultural histories, labor histories, and frontier mythologies — not as fantasy, but as testimony.
Many of the audiences we serve — especially in urban environments — are only a few generations removed from land-based work, migration, and building something from nothing. They may not identify with the word “cowboy.” But they recognize the themes immediately.
Our work reveals that connection.
Celebrate Los Angeles
We're dedicated to telling the whole story of Los Angeles and all it's diverse groups that make up the story of the West. We invite you to participate in this preservation of history and tell your story.
The Cowboy Poetry Experience
We invite you to experience the preservation of Western History through the endangered art form of Cowboy Poetry. We cover Los Angeles and beyond.
What is Cowboy Poetry L.A.?
Authentic Western Experience
Cowboy poetry was never meant to be a costume or a commercial aesthetic. It emerged from working people — ranch hands, laborers, migrants, families on the move — telling the truth about their lives in rhythm and story. It was practical, communal, oral. It traveled by memory long before it traveled by print.
The Art of Storytelling and American Folk Art
Cowboy Poetry thrives in Western settings but we pride ourselves on thriving in novel environments that have never experienced Cowboy Poetry. We often find the people who’ve never heard about Cowboy Poetry are the one’s who enjoy it most. The West is often shrouded by Hollywood’s depiction of the traditional[sic] Cowboy, we
unveil the true West and believe diversity and representation are necessary to save this endangered art form.
Cowboy Poetry thrives in a setting full of active listeners.
Variety shows, city and state entertainment events, music venues and poetry venues across the USA have welcomed Cowboy Poetry L.A. to provide their listeners with a one-of-a-kind experience. In an entertainment industry full of music and other live performances, the niche of cowboy poetry with all its unique elements, offers your event a truly unforgettable showcase that your patrons will be excited to share with friends and family for years to come.
The West Meets in Los Angeles
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The Los Angeles Opportunity
Los Angeles is a key cultural intersection of Cowboy Culture and History but also makes up one of the largest market shares in the world for events.
Los Angeles Folks
With over 13 million people in 6 counties to make up the greater Los Angeles area, cities like Santa Clarita, San Bernardino, Riverside and Norco have a rich Western and cowboy culture. Additionally, the city of Los Angeles has a natural affinity for western enthusiasm and celebrating western musicians, artists and writers in everyday social culture.
The L.A. Market
Los Angeles as a market is ready to attend the Cowboy Poetry L.A events to participate in this authentic one-of-a-kind experience with a much larger and diverse demographic than cities like Elko, Nevada.
Film & Television
From 1930 – 1954 Hollywood turned out 2,700 western films alone. Western films from 2000-2009 were just 23 but jumped from 2010-2019 to 49. Today, the highest rated T.V. series is Paramount Network’s Yellowstone, a modern-day Western drama starring Kevin Costner that drew 14.7 million viewers for its season premiere.
Los Angeles & Western Music
Venues like the Hollywood Bowl, The Troubadour and the Whiskey Go Go have housed nearly every iconic Western musician from Johnny Cash to Tom Petty. Legendary icons of the west like Gene Autry, Will Rogers, the Byrds, Eagles, and Emmylou Harris are embedded in Los Angeles western music.
Los Angeles' Infinite Potential
In addition to being one of the largest and most diverse cities with a Cowboy History, this legendary city of the West is responsible for the modern-day cowboy caricature from radio, film and television. With key figures like Gene Autry and Will Rogers making up the fabric of Los Angeles, creating a Western and Cowboy film presence is a unique privilege to the City of Los Angeles and Cowboy Poetry L.A.