Rustling up some darn good music
The Pikes Peak region has attracted visitors for nearly 150 years, and this summer will be no different. Those who seek an authentic slice of Western America come to the Flying W Ranch tucked away in the foothills north of Garden of the Gods. To entertain dinner guests, the singing cowboys – the Wranglers – croon cowboy tunes accompanied by fancy picking and virtuoso fiddling and wrangler humor.
Ronnie Cook, who has been playing at the Flying W for 13 years, invited Pow’r Pickin’ to partake. Musicianship runs in the Cook family, Ronnie points out. He and his two brothers make a living picking at three different chuck wagon operations – Ronnie at the Flying W, Donnie at the Bar J in Jackson Hole and Gary at the Bar D in Durango.
The Flying W Ranch began in 1953, combining musical entertainment with chuck wagon-style steak, beans and biscuits in a rustic setting. An offshoot of Russ and Marian Wolfe’s sizeable cattle operation, it provided an Old West experience for local residents and for families flocking to the Pikes Peak region for summer vacations. The Wolfes expanded the property by bringing in several historic buildings and displaying a collection of ranch and farm implements and items.
Folks gather for the chuck wagon supper, eating outdoors on picnic tables in summer. The rest of the year, dinner is served in the cowboy-deco Winter Steakhouse: reportedly the historic Ute Theater relocated here from downtown Colorado Springs. In both settings, diners are serenaded by cowboy-attired musicians – the Wranglers.
The Wranglers pick, strum, sing and even yodel for as many as 1,200 people a night. When I arrive, the Flying W parking lot has three tour buses amidst scores of cars. The Wranglers have just finished playing for a large group of youths, and the five musicians sit down to talk to me before readying for their dinner performance in the Steakhouse.
The Flying W Wranglers have been entertaining crowds for 59 years at the chuck wagon ranch north of Garden of the Gods. Photos by Cathleen Norman.
Playing six nights a week, the Wranglers put on 275 to 300 shows a year, including festivals and jamborees and traveling as far away as Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. They also have sung the National Anthem at Denver Nuggets basketball games.
A lead guitar, bass guitar, mandolin and fiddle produce a twangy Texas-swing sound – “Some people call it Americana,” grins Ronnie. The Wranglers play simple western standards about cattle drives and tumbleweed and sagebrush, songs like Rawhide and Ghost Riders in the Sky, but they are also accomplished musicians in the bluegrass arena.
Carved form a large cattle ranch and set amidst sculptured scarlet rock formations, the Flying W venue offers a round up of western memorabilia, as well as grub and entertainment.
Senior Wrangler Ronnie Cook came to Midwinter Bluegrass Festival this February, where folks regard him as a highly talented guitar player. Cook learned to play age of 4, gathering with his family after dinner. He plays “anything with strings” yet has never taken a music lesson. Ronnie has attended guitar competitions around the country, and is the only guitarist to be named “Three Time Colorado State Guitar Champion.” He teaches guitar and owns a Colorado Springs-based recording studio, RLC STUDIO.
Tony Ludiker, fiddler, started his musical training at the age of 10. Growing up in Spokane, Wash., he earned the title “Washington State Open Fiddle Champion” 13 times. He also won the Northwestern Regional Fiddle Championship nine times at the National Old-Time Fiddle Championship in Weiser, Idaho. Ludiker has toured with Rod Stewart and Ray Price, and he’s played with the Coeur d’Alene Idaho Symphony. His band mates claim that Tony’s house is full of fiddle-playing trophies and plaques.
“I created my own music family,” said Ludiker, whose progeny are powerhouse fiddlers as well.
Daughter Kinder plays with a Boston-based all-female bluegrass band called Della Mae, while son Dennis lives and plays in Austin, Texas, and has toured with Asleep At The Wheel.
Wayne Humphrey, on the bass guitar, began playing music at age 14. His father and uncle performed as original Flying W Wranglers before branching out to the Bar J in Jackson Hole. Humphrey sings, yodels and plays bass guitar and stand-up bass, but especially makes his mark with his slick stream of comic cowboy humor. He has toured with Freddy Fender, Mark Chestnut and Steve Wariner. Humphrey rode rodeo bulls for seven years, managed rough stock for a local contractor and now works in auto sales.
A Pikes Peak region tradition, the Flying W hosts parties, weddings and small rodeos.
Jayson Jones, playing guitar and mandolin, started music at 8 years old. He and two brothers formed a family band called the Metal Leg Boys.
“I grew up playing bluegrass and touring all over the South,” Jones said.
He earned a music degree from South Plains College in Levelland, Texas. Like the other Wranglers, Jones is no drugstore cowboy. For nearly a decade, he worked on several cattle ranches, and then was foreman of the 200,000-acre Beggs Cattle Company of Texas for 10 years. He learned how to make bits and spurs and belt buckles for the working cowboy, and has turned that craft into his livelihood.
The Flying W Wranglers is the second oldest western singing group in the world, after the Sons of the Pioneers. In 2009, they were inducted into the Western Music Association Hall of Fame. A recording studio at the Flying W Ranch helps the Wranglers preserve and share their music. The Wranglers point out that they support the military and military personnel, of which there is a strong presence in Colorado Springs. If you haven’t yet experienced the Flying W and heard the Wranglers, come on out but reservations are necessary. Next year the venerable chuck wagon outfit celebrates its official 60th anniversary. Visit www.flyingw.com for more information.
