Zen Cowboy

[Andrew Evans]

Is anyone familiar with singer-songwriter Chuck Pyle. He has been labeled by a reviewer as "the Zen Cowboy" for his delightful but seemingly at-odds mix of upbeat New Age humor and straight-from-the-saddle poetry. A lot of his music touches on spirituality. He is also a Tai Chi practitioner. You can check out him out at www.ChuckPyle.com

 

[Cruentus]

Heard of him, but never really read any of his stuff.

I'll have to get reading I guess...



Paul

 

[Andrew Evans]

My favorite song by him is "Here Comes the Water" about Sergeant Hugh Purdy.

Sergeant Purdy was a hero of the 1976 Big Thompson Flood in Estes Park, Colorado. He had just finished his shift when dispatchers informed him of flood conditions. Purdy drove into the low level area of Big Thompson Canyon and ordered an evacuation. He saved hundreds of lives except his own.

Purdy's last words to dispatch at 9:15 p.m. were "I'm stuck, I'm right in the middle of it, I can't get out... here comes the water."

Purdy's body was found miles from where he was last seen. His patrol car was found elsewhere at the bottom of a pile of cars.

Another favorite is "Lover on the Other Side of the Hill." You probably heard the song in the version entitled "Cadillac Cowboy" that was made popular by Chris LeDoux.

 

[Andrew Evans]

I messed up the story above. What happened was the Sgt. Purdy had just finished his shift when dispatchers advised him to seek higher ground due to flood conditions. Instead he raced into the canyon using the speaker on the siren to tell folks to evacuate.

Anyway, back to Zen.

Chuck has a page entitled "Chuck's Thoughts on Religion and Spirituality"
at http://www.chuckpyle.com/spiritthoughts.html

Check it out.

 

[DuneViking]

Zen Cowboy just sounds wrong, I kinda like it!