“The “Old West” in America captures the imagination of people around the world,” musician and historian Rex Rideout says when asked about why the setting continues to capture our collective fascination. “It was a time of exploration and freedom and it seems that everyone can relate to that.”
On Sunday, September 20, Rex and his musical partner Mark Lee Gardner will bring a bit of that mystique to life in Tuft Theatre as they present Music and Ballads of The Old West. We caught up with Rex over email to learn more about the concert, read on and we’ll see you on September 20th at Swallow Hill!
TICKETS: Rex Rideout & Mark Lee Gardner: Music and Ballads of The Old West
Hi Rex, I know you are well known to our students and BanjoFest attendees, but your concert with Mark Lee Gardner – billed as Music and Ballads of the Old West – might be a little new to our audience. What can they expect at your concert?
We will present songs and stories of the Old West, the explorers, the mountain men, the Santa Fe Trail and the early cowboy songs.
Getting a little more specific, what is a song you’ll be playing at the concert? Can you use that as an example as to how you select songs for Music and Ballads of the Old West?
“Home on the Range” is one of the most beloved of the western songs. It was originally written as a poem by Brewster Higley in 1871. Later it became a song and got around. Few know it was picked up by some miners outside of Leadville in 1885 and rewritten as “Colorado Home.” I will sing “Colorado Home” and tell the tale of how it was written right here in our own state. Q&A continues below the video.
Is this a new program? Have you and Mark collaborated in the past? How did the two of you get together?
Mark and I have been performing together for over forty years. We often are asked to do shows for museums, National Parks, and historic sites.
One of our best known collaborations is a book on the work of Jack Thorp, the first collector of cowboy songs, printed and published by the Museum of New Mexico Press. We toured throughout New Mexico as a celebration of the book. True West Magazine honored us with the Best Musical Tour of the West of 2009.
More recently our music was featured, Mark was interviewed and I was Associate Music Producer for the New Mexico PBS documentary, Law for a Lawless Land which was released in September 2025. We will be performing for the Santa Fe Trail Symposium in Trinidad in a couple weeks. Mark and I met at Bent’s Old Fort down on the Arkansas River. Bent’s Fort is a good place to meet.
You’ve created a career as a historian and musician with a focus on American Western history. Thinking back, what drew you into that? When did you realize you wanted to dedicate your life to this field of study and culture?
As a kid, I met Lloyd Weddell who taught me to blacksmith, build timber frame buildings, carve wood and play fiddle. Lloyd taught me the old Civil War tunes and my interest carried on from there.
You can find Rex Ridout and Mark Lee Gardner’s music online and streaming on Spotify and YouTube. To learn more about Rex, visit his website here. You can find Mark’s website here.
TICKETS: Rex Rideout & Mark Lee Gardner: Music and Ballads of The Old West