Performer Information

The entertainment career of Red Steagall has covered a period of 35 years and has spanned the globe from Australia to the Middle East, to South America and to the Far East. He has performed for heads of state, including a special party for President Reagan at the White House in 1983, and has completed three overseas tours for the United States Information Agency to the Middle East, the Far East, and South America.

As a native Texas, Red Steagall enjoyed a career in Agricultural Chemistry after graduating from West Texas State University with a degree in Animal Science and Agronomy. He then spent eight years as a music industry executive in Hollywood, California, and has spent the last thirty years as a recording artist, songwriter, and television and motion picture personality. He currently has offices outside of Fort Worth, Texas, where, in addition to his entertainment activities, he is currently involved in the production of motion pictures and television shows.

Although Red Steagall is best known for his wonder Texas swing music and such songs as “Here We Go Again,” “Party Dolls and Wine,” “Freckles Brown,” and “Lone Star Beer and Bob Wills Music,’ Red is beloved by Texas cowboys for the quiet times they have spent with him around chuck wagon campfires. In their opinion Red Steagall’s best music has never been heard by the public. And, if you ask Red where his favorite place to play music is, he might say some famous stage in Nashville, California, Spain or Germany – or he might say some lonesome cow camp in West Texas.

The Texas State Legislature named Red Steagall “The Official Cowboy Poet of Texas” in April of 1991. He is also the official Cowboy Poet Laureate of the City of San Juan Capistrano, California.

In March of 1993, Texas Christian University Press published Red’s first book, “Ride for the Brand,” a 168-page collection of poetry and songs embracing the Western lifestyle that Red loves and lives. The book includes lead sheets and is illustrated by Cowboy Artists of America members Bill Owen, Fred Fellows, Joe Beeler, and Howard Terpning. Red released is second book, “The Fence That Me and Shorty Built,” in April of 2001. This book of poetry and songs is a 142-page collection of all new poems and songs, including lead sheets, all written since his first book was published. In September of 2003, Texas Tech University Press published a joint effort between Red Steagall and Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Skeeter Hagler. This beautiful book contains Hagler’s striking black and white study of contemporary ranching, graced by the dramatic lines of Steagall’s award-winning poetry. The Academy of Western Artists named “Born To This Land” as recipient of the Will Rogers Award for the best book of 2003. Red’s latest book, “Cowboy Corner Conversations,” is a collection of some of his favorite interviews from his highly acclaimed radio show including personal stories from Roy Rogers, Rex Allen, Reba McEntire, Richard Farnsworth, Ben Johnson, Jim Shoulders, John Justin, Buster Welch, Wilford Brimley, and many more.

Red has five times won the Wrangler Award for original music from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. The first time in 1993 for his Warner Western album “Born To This Land,” next in 1995 for the Warner Western album “Faith and Values – Red Steagall and the Boys in the Bunkhouse,” the third time in 1997 for his Warner Western album “Dear Mama, I’m a Cowboy,” and his fourth project with Warner Western, “Love of the West” in August of 1999. In the fall of 2002, Red released his 20th album, “Wagon Tracks,” a multi-generational journey from the shores of Ireland across frontier America, as told in story in song. This latest album also won the Wrangler Award from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.

Since 1991, Red has hosted “The Red Steagall Cowboy Gathering” in the Stockyards National Historic District of Fort Worth, Texas. This authentic Western event, which draws thousands each year, features a ranch rodeo, chuck wagon cook-off, children’s poetry contest, Western swing dances, cowboy music and poetry, a trappings show, and horsemanship clinics.

In April of 1994, Red launched his one-hour syndicated radio show “Cowboy Corner” on 170 stations in 43 states. “Cowboy Corner” celebrates the lifestyle of the American West through poems, songs and stories of the American cowboy. It features guest artists as well as ranching and agricultural notables.