Rex Rideout & Mark Lee Gardner

Music and Ballads of the Old West

Musicians and historians Mark Lee Gardner and Rex Rideout first met at

Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site some forty years ago. They’ve

been performing the historic music of the American West together ever

since. Their carefully-crafted recordings can be heard in television

documentaries, National Park Service films, and museum exhibits. In

addition to his music, Mark is a bestselling author and an authority

on the American West. His recent YouTube video for WIRED’s Tech Support,

where Mark answers questions from the Internet about the Wild West, has

received several million views. His most recent book is the critically

acclaimed Brothers of the Gun: Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and a Reckoning

in Tombstone (Dutton). Rex, a long-time student of the fur trade of the

American Southwest, has served as an interpreter and instructor for

numerous living history events from Fort Laramie, Wyoming, to Santa Fe,

New Mexico. Rex appeared as "Fiddler" in the blockbuster Dreamworks film,

Cowboys & Aliens. He can also be seen in the PBS film Badger Clark: Poet

Among the Pines. Rex was Associate Music Producer for the PBS documentary

Law for a Lawless Land. His writings have appeared in The Western Way,

Fiddler Magazine and Wagon Tracks. Both musicians call the Rocky Mountains

of Colorado their home, Mark hailing from the small town of Cascade and

Rex from the cool thin air of Conifer.

https://songofthewest.com/