WINDOW TO HEAVEN

                      I CONCEIVE THAT THE GREAT PART OF THE
                            MISERIES OF MANKIND ARE BROUGHT
                                  UPON THEM BY FALSE ESTIMATES THEY
                                          HAVE MADE OF THE VALUE
                                                     OF THINGS.
                                                              Benjamin Franklin

     By the time you are reading this I will either be at or coming from my annual visit that I refer to as looking into the window of Heaven.  It is not being there but experiencing a lot of what I expect it to be like.  Wonderful music with hundreds of artists and fans.  The sound and fellowship that we just don't have in huge numbers in our daily lives.
     I am referring to the Western Music Association 25th Convention, Showcase, and Awards in Albuquerque New Mexico.   You have heard the style of music here and there and it used to be on the radio in Wichita until KFDI (KFTI) AM 1070 changed format after the retirement of Johnny Western.
     Those of you who get their music only from radio or television have been denied the music that once was an important part of COUNTRY AND WESTERN.  Of course that was in the days of American owned and controlled music companies.  What passes today as your 'favorite' music is a narrow view from corporate offices that do not consider artist merit but just the 'comercial viability' of the artist and music.
      A WMA member in the UK heard a comment from a Disk Jockey one day that it was such a shame that Western Music had died.  Well he was soon corrected.  The Western Music industry with all its various genre' is still very much alive in today's world.  It celebrates the past of traditional cowboy, to the Silver Screen cowboy, the poetry of the cowboy, and the still growing world of the new west.
     I will be in a crowd that celebrates the work of Lloyd Nolan, to Johnny Cash, the song of the trail drive cowboys to Roy Rogers Jr., from Tin Pan Alley to Hollywood.  Music of the Sons of the Pioneers, Roy Rogers, Johnny Western, RW Hampton, Bing Crosby, Tex Ritter, Marty Robbins, Tim Spencer, Wesley Tuttle, Michael Martin Murphy, Rex Allen Jr. Red Steagall, Vaughn Monroe, all part of the Hall of Fame.
     Also with the artists of today Barry Ward, Diamond W Wranglers, Belinda Gail, Judy Coder, Fred Hargrove, Open Range, Trails and Rails, Gary Allegretto, Lynn Anderson, Bill Barwick, Les Buffam, Call of the West, Patty Clayton, Miss Devon Dawson (yes Jesse the Yodeling Cowgirl), Don Edwards, Juni Fisher, Kerry Grohmbacher, and many many more.
     What excites me most is the young people who are the future of the music, the Hanson Family, Kristyn Harris, Ball Family Singers, Chelsea Beck, Naomi Bristow, Mikki Daniel, Mathew Maccravy, and Austin O'Dell.  Every year we have some new you artists show up and blow our hats off.
     Where do you find this great music?  The best way is to go to the website www.westernmusic.org for information on the artists and how to get there music.  You can attend one of the dozens of festivals all over the western half of the country.  For those of you lucky enough to have a radio station that plays our artists let them know you appreciate it.
     What can you do to be a part of this music?  The WESTERN MUSIC ASSOCIATION is a FAN as well as artist based organization.  You can be a part of the music industry you love and be on an equal footing with those performing it.