"Cowboy Jack," alias Jack Lamb, is a collector and archiver of the American cowboy's oral tradition, known in its various forms as "cowboy poetry" or "the liar's hour."

    From zig-zagging across the west in search of old cowboys who still remember their old days, I earned the moniker "Cowboy Jack" from Mary Fleener, a comic book artist and downright good friend of mine.

    Since 1989, I've been attending cowboy poetry gatherings, interviewing old stove-up punchers, and written a few academic papers on the oral tradition of the American cowboy.

    My book Cowboy Poetry: Verse from the Heart of the West was published by Angel City Press, and is a compilation of poems written by love struck, wobbly-kneed cowboys (dating back to the 1880s).

    In 1995, I finished The Last of the Old-Time Cowboys, a documentary video which featured Buster Holt - who at 85 years of age was still astraddle for the Spring round-up in Skull Valley, Arizona.

    Which brings me to biscuits & gravy... -- let me sum up this lurid tale with insightful title of a recent essay: "A Soul Satisfying Search for Biscuits & Gravy," which was featured in The Adventure of Food: True Stories of Eating Everything, published by Traveler's Tales in January of 2001.

    Here's to the search for the best biscuits and gravy in America (not to mention good vittles and clean silverware).

    Happy Trails,
    Cowboy Jack