Cowboy poetry has had a resurgence lately, with several prominent writers publishing tomes. Still, it seems a phenomenon. You don't hear about miners penning free verse, or farmers indulging in sonnets. I suppose, to be honest with you, there's a tradition among any people who are alone a lot. There's even a book of lumberjack poetry.
People are aware of it, nationally aware of it.
Certainly the Riders have been spreading the word the last two decades. Their stellar half-hour radio program, Riders Radio Theater, ran from 1988 until last year, when WVXU in Cincinnati ran out of money to produce the weekly spectacular. The centerpiece of each show was an episode of radio theater, a slice of a shaggy dog serial that would stretch through a dozen episodes. For this Christmas season, the Riders broadcast an hour-long radio special. Amid warmhearted carols sung in true cowboy style, the boys vanquished the evil mastermind Slocum and his eternal doofus Charlie while jabbing at credit card culture, Newt Gingrich's attack on public radio and conspiracy theories in JFK's assassination.