If photography is a custodian of collective memory, then Jessica Brandi Lifland has a high calling.
For two decades, photographer Lifland has documented cowboy poets from Carnegie Hall to their ranches in the American West. Cowboy poets — musicians, writers, and folklorists — are modern-day links to powerful cultural symbols of the American West of the late 19th Century.
“My visual documentary complements the existing rich oral traditions and written stories” of the Cowboy West, says Lifland, who is based in San Francisco.
She is inspired by the work of photographers like Jim Marshall (1936-2010) and Jay Blakesberg to document rock music artists, especially backstage and behind-the-scenes.
“Cowboy poets and musicians are my rock stars,” says Lifland.
Preserving History
Cowboys on long cattle drives in the 1870s shared stories and sang songs about love, family, horses and cattle, and wonders of the open range. Without musical instruments or heavy books, they built on oral traditions rooted in Irish storytelling, Scottish seafaring, and Native American experiences.
An anthology of cowboy poetry (“Songs of the Cowboys”) was published in 1907 and 1921, along with other anthologies. Cowboy poet Baxter Black (1945-2022) joked that cowboy poetry is about wrecks: shipwrecks, train wrecks, financial wrecks, and horse wrecks.
S. Omar Barker (1894-1985) estimated that he wrote and published more than 2,000 poems, mainly about cowboys, cows, and horses. His verses are often recited at cowboy poetry gatherings.
There’s mighty few as tough as when he’s got a bronc to shoe…
Some ponies are such leaners, that I’ve heard ol’ cowboys say
That once they’ve had to shoe ’em, they can tell you what they weigh…
Published in 1906, “A Cowboy’s Prayer” was credited to Badger Clark (1883-1957) and later recorded by Johnny Cash. Its themes of freedom and love of open spaces are hallmarks of cowboy poetry:
That You have made my freedom so complete;
That I’m no slave of whistle, clock or bell,
Nor weak-eyed prisoner of wall and street.
Just let me live my life as I’ve begun
And give me work that’s open to the sky;
Make me a partner of the wind and sun,
And I won’t ask a life that’s soft or high.
More than Nostalgia
The classic cowboy of open ranges and long cattle drives faded due to barbed wire fencing, railroads, and land privatization. Today’s cowboy poets typically are connected to ranching and rural lifestyles.
“Modern-day cowboys still drive cattle over miles and miles,” Lifland says. “Many of these men and women poets and musicians are actually cowboys, ranch hands, and cow punchers. They’re not just nostalgia oriented… many write directly from their own experiences.”
Photographing Cowboy Poets
Cowboy poet/recording artist Andy Hedges says photographing cowboy poets is important for the same reason that cowboy poetry is significant: “It could be the only way for future generations to know what it felt like to be alive in the American West during this place and time. Jessica’s photos make you feel like you are there.”
In 2004, the Polaris Images Photo Agency assigned Lifland to cover the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada. The event manager asked Lifland to return the following year as a staff photographer.
“I have been back every year since,” she says. “The Gathering is like a large annual family reunion.”
Her images are used by the Western Folklife Center in Elko, which has a multi-decade archive supplied by various photographers including Charlie Ekberg. Lifland’s work has been shown in galleries at Western Folklife Center and City College of San Francisco. She is preparing a book with Texas-based poet/songwriter Andy Wilkinson and boutique label Zenchilada Press.
Photography Credentials
“Jessica may be from San Francisco,” says cowboy poet Hedges, “but she has been accepted into our tribe because of the thoughtful way she approaches documenting our culture and art form. The work she has done to capture cowboy poets onstage, backstage, and at home gives a tremendous insight into our community.”
Lifland earned degrees are from Cornell (1991) and Ohio University (2002/masters). She is:
- A freelance photographer for leading brands and nonprofits
- A photojournalist represented by Polaris
- An educator with nearly 20 years experience teaching photojournalism at City College of San Francisco; she also taught at the University of Southern Indiana, San Francisco State University, and University of San Francisco
“I have no background in farming, ranching, music, or poetry,” she says. “I fell into this (documenting cowboy poetry) by way of an assignment that turned into a hire for an annual event, then turned into a personal project.”
Lifland photographs cowboy poets and musicians on stage and backstage; she also visits their ranches and homes that inspire contemporary cowboy poetry and music.
“I am a ‘creative’ like the poets and musicians,” she says. “My images preserve and celebrate their way of life, much like their poetry and music does. Our work becomes symbiotic.”
The Future
Today’s experienced cowboy poets are aging out. Lifland sees musicians like Hedges of Texas as torchbearers to cowboy storytellers of the future.
Born in 1980, Hedges debuted at the Grand Ole Opry in 2023. In 2024 he brought his album Roll On, Cowboys to Carnegie Hall in New York City, along with multi-generational talent. “I was fortunate to go behind the scenes (at Carnegie Hall) to document that event,” says Lifland.
Lifland’s backstage photos at Carnegie Hall provide a peek into the future of cowboy poetry: the next generation of cowboy and cowgirl storytellers.
About the author: Ken Klein lives in Silver Spring, Maryland; he is retired after a career in politics, lobbying, and media including The Associated Press and Gannett in Florida. Klein is an alumnus of Ohio University and a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council of the Scripps College of Communication. Professionally, he has worked for Fort Myers News-Press (Gannett), The Associated Press (Tallahassee), Senator Bob Graham, and the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA).
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