Bar U Ranch is adding a new face to its annual celebration of cowboy songs, poetry and storytelling.
The ranch’s annual Roundup of Memories goes July 10 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and will feature Eli Barsi, a country music artist well versed in singing songs celebrating traditional life on the open range.
Barsi said she’s long had an affinity for classic cowboys songs.
“It’s music that appeals to me because it’s actually my roots,” she said. “I grew up on a farm and ranch in southeastern Saskatchewan. I grew up riding horses, working outside with my dad and working with cattle. I couldn’t get enough of it. It only seemed natural as I got older that I would lean towards that kind of music.”
The entertainer resides in the small community of Moosomin, Saskatchewan not far from the Manitoba border and has been a professional musician for about 25 years. Barsi said she had already been performing for several years when she decided to pick up a time-honoured cowboy craft.
“I started yodeling because I was a fan of Patsy Montana, Elton Britt, Wilf Carter and some of the other great old time yodelers,” she said. “It wasn’t something I was hearing live. I was only hearing it on the old recordings. The odd person I did hear yodel fascinated me. It’s such a great sound and people really enjoy it.”
The musician recounted learning the importance of keeping the yodeling in old time western tunes from her mother’s experiences as a country singer.
“She would perform a song called ‘I Want to be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart’ by Pasty Montana,” Barsi said. “She would leave out the yodeling because she didn’t learn how to do it. So she’d leave that part out and people would get mad at her.”
With her leanings toward old style country music and her yodeling skills, Barsi is a perfect fit for the Bar U’s Roundup of Memories. She will perform at the event, being held at the ranch’s Roundup Camp, with her musician husband John Cunningham.
Parks Canada interpreter Myriam Wilson, who is coordinating the event, said it’s all about honouring tradition.
“The whole idea is to bring people together with western culture as it’s been through human history,” she said. “Historically speaking, cowboy music, storytelling and poetry came out of the open range era. We’ll be talking about that at Roundup Camp. We’re bringing in local ranchers and artists to give a little bit of history through their own experiences or their gift so people can draw closer to who the real horse women and women of that era were.”
Other notables who will be on site at Roundup Camp are musician and cowboy poet Perry Jacobsen, cowboy poet Buddy Gale and historian Sarah Carter, who will do some storytelling on Native people who worked on the Bar U. Authentic cowboy coffee will be available for those who want to know what kind of brew it took to get plainsmen up and into the saddle at the break of dawn.
For more information on the Bar U Ranch National Historic site including driving directions to its location southwest of Okotoks go to www.friendsofthebaru.com.
