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Yodeling vs. Cowboy Crooning |
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Written by Keith Sheffield/Tahoe World
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Saturday, 05 August 2006 |
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 Want to know the secrect to sustained yodeling?
Just ask Sourdough Slim and the answer is “practice, practice, practice.”
He should know, he performed at Carnegie Hall to a crowd of enthralled citified New Yorkers. He did the same at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
But before he yodeled in front of big city crowds, he yodeled at nursing homes, says Rick Crowder, the man behind the accordion playing, yodeling, cowboy crooning character of Sourdough Slim.
Crowder as Sourdough Slim is a third of the trifecta of high-powered cowboy entertainment performing Tuesday, Aug. 8 at McIver Memorial Arena in Truckee, which also features Grammy-nominated singer and guitarist Don Edwards, and renowned Cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell. Local professional cowboy musicians and poets Sierry Pete, Fiddlin’ Jenni and Dan Seaborg round out the night’s ticket.
Crowder this summer has been touring throughout the country supporting his latest CD “Vaudeville Cowboy,” a tribute to such cowboy heroes as Jimmie Rodgers, Buffalo Bill Cody, Will Rogers, Tim McCoy and Tom Mix, who directly or indirectly inspired the character of Sourdough Slim.
“I’m really inspired by that aspect of cowboy music,” Crowder said in a phone interview. “Few people touch on that (the old cowboy entertainers of the 1920s).”
“It’s hard to say why I’m fascinated (with the 1920s cowboy entertainers),” Crowder mused. “It could be that contradiction of the wide open space of the cowboy confined to the circus stage.”
The best way to picture the look of Sourdough Slim is to imagine the quintessential dimestore cowboy from the 1920s to the 1940s — 10-gallon hat, oversized bandana secured around the neck, vintage trousers tucked into flashy custom boots. Of course, the getup isn’t complete without the accordion strapped around Crowder’s chest.
Crowder, a self-proclaimed ham, developed Sourdough Slim after playing with western bands in the 1970s and 80s. In 1988, Sourdough Slim was born — and he played to audiences in nursing homes, Crowder said.
 When he first started playing as Slim, he didn’t know how to play the accordion. As he perfected the act, he got a gig at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nev., widely known as the mecca of cowboy poetry and music.
“When I started, I didn’t know this whole renaissance thing was going on,” he said. “When I played Elko in 1990, there was this whole new world. What I was doing fit right in.”
What he was doing was giving audiences fits of side-splitting guffaws as he hit his victims with deadpan humor punctuated by Crowder’s rubbery expressions. And of course, yodels that seemed they’d never end.
“Most of the comedy is just ad libbing on stage,” Crowder said.
One of his bits — the one where Slim unstraps his accordion, sets it down behind him, feigns a little fatigue, and then explains how his next song will be performed on a unique instrument some of us may have heard before. Slim looks behind him in search of said instrument, scours the stage unable to locate it, then in a moment of clarity — that “Eureka, I’ve found it” expression of body language — he picks up the accordion to roll into his next tune.
“That thing about the accordion, that happened in Puyallup (Wash.) about five years ago,” Crowder said. “I seriously turned around to find another instrument (which wasn’t there).”
Crowder’s ad libbing worked to great aplomb and the bit has been used on almost every stage ever since.
And it’s funny every time.
Catch Sourdough Slim as well as Grammy-nominated singer and guitarist Don Edwards, and renowned Cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell on Tuesday, Aug. 8 for Cowboy Poetry & Music night at McIver Memorial Arena, Truckee. The show also features Local cowboy musicians and poets Sierry Pete, Fiddlin’ Jenni and Dan Seaborg. Show starts at 7 p.m. Gates open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased online at www.truckeerodeo.com.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 02 August 2006 )
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