The Western Writers of America, a guild of 600 professional writers of Western literature, has announced a new category, Best Western Song, and has awarded Hill Country writer and musician Mike Blakely a Spur Award for his song The Last Wild White Buffalo.
“When one thinks of the great American West, one naturally hears great music,” says WWA President Cotton Smith. “Memorable words and music that tell us of this special place in America’s heart. That is an important part of the Western experience and WWA wanted to honor it with the creation of the Songwriting Spur Award.”
Blakely’s winning song, The Last Wild White Buffalo, was created from his short story “The Rarest of the Breed.”
According to Melody Groves, WWA Publicity Chair, “To qualify for Best Western Song, the song had to be released for the first time in 2007 and available to the public with the lyrics dependent in whole or in part on setting, characters, or customs indigenous to the American West or early frontier.”
Blakely recorded The Last Wild White Buffalo as a single in 2007 and almost immediately sold out. His new CD, Rarest of the Breed, will be released June 6 and will include his winning song.
Blakely’s short story, The Rarest of the Breed, upon which the song was modeled is available through Amazon.com as a download for $0.49.
Blakely also won a Spur award in 2001 for his novel Summer of Pearls.
Blakely and Willie Nelson have co-written a novel, A Tale Out of Luck, which is scheduled for release in September. Also in September is Blakely’s “Fandango” book and music festival at Luckenbach in September. Details can be found on Blakely’s web site, http://mikeblakely.com/.
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