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Since taking over
the running of the family ranch in 1983, the Gillette
Brothers, Guy & Pipp, have
found that diversification is not only a necessity, it keeps things
interesting. Their involvement in the cattle business as well as the
music business - both as performers and music venue operators - proves
challenging.
The revitalization
of cowboy music and poetry in recent years has allowed
the brothers to combine their
life long interest in the history of the west and its music with their
musical experience. They have recorded and released six albums of
traditional cowboy music interspersed with a few originals.
Most
recently they have been exploring the celtic roots,
country
blues, minstrel and medicine
show songs that influenced cowboy music.
They have played at major events and venues around the country including: The 2008 Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC, The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, NV, The Monterey Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival in Monterey, CA, The Santa Clarita Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival in Santa Clarita, CA, The Willow Tree Festival in Gordon, NE, The Arizona Cowboy Poets Gathering in Prescott, AZ; The Cherry Blossom Festival in Macon, GA; The National Arboretum in Washington, DC, The Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, WY, and The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, OK, The Museum of South Texas in Edinburgh Texas.
The Gillette Brothers received the Western Heritage Wrangler Award
for the Best Traditional Western Album of 2010 from
The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum
in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,
for their CD "Cowboys, Minstrels and Medicine Shows".
In October 2008, the Gillette Brothers toured Somerset,
England for two weeks, performing in village halls and the Bridgewater Arts Center.
In August 2005,
the Gillette Brothers traveled to Japan representing the State of
Texas
at the World Expo - Aichi/Nagoya, performing their music at the US
Pavilion.
They were awarded the 2003 and the 1998
Will Rogers Award for
Outstanding Achievement in the
Advancement of Contemporary Cowboy
Music
Best Duo/Group by The
Academy
of
Western
Artists.
The Gillette Brothers have
been profiled with feature articles in:
Texas Highways, Texas Monthly, the Dallas Morning News, Southern
Living and the Houston Chronicle.
They have appeared on television
shows: Texas Country Reporter,
Good Morning Texas, and CMT's Christmas Special "Christmas In
Cowboy Country", hosted by Clint Black.
Their music appears on the
soundtrack to the documentary film, Gathering Remnants.
They have
demonstrated chuckwagon cooking at the Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in
Oklahoma
City; the Ranching Heritage
Museum
in
Lubbock
, Texas; The Museum of South Texas in
Edinburgh Texas;
Dalton
Days in
Longview,
Texas
; and the Cherry Blossom Festival in
Macon
,
Georgia
. Their cooking has been spotlighted in
Persimmon Hill, the magazine of the National Cowboy and
Western
Heritage
Museum
; The National Cowboy Hall of Fame Cookbook by B.
Byron Price; A Taste of Texas Ranching by Tom Bryant and Joel Bernstein;
and the Spirit of the West: Cooking for Ranch House & Range by
Beverly Cox and Martin Jacobs.
They have also received the National Cowboy
Symposium's American Cowboy Culture Chuck Wagon Award.
"I was so moved
when I heard the Gillette Brothers perform at our 150th...
it's rare to
get to hear such a quality performance with so many layers
and it
reminded me how important music is."
Toyia Pointer,
Curator of the A.W.Perry Homestead Museum - Carrollton, TX
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