Steve Porter is used to getting quizzical looks from his fellow South Carolinians when he introduces himself as a cowboy poet.
“I get mixed reactions,” he says with a laugh. “Some people think it’s cool. Some people ask, ‘What’s a cowboy poet?’”
For you greenhorns, cowboy poetry is a form of story-telling that preserves the tales (both tall and true) of life in the rural West, and Porter is one of its rising stars. Although still largely unknown here in his home state, he’s been featured on national radio programs and performed at cowboy gatherings in Nevada, Idaho and Utah. Last year, he beat out more experienced performers to win first place at the National Cowboy Poetry Rodeo in Colorado.
Porter, a member of Laurens Electric Cooperative, says a lifelong fascination with cowboy culture and a love of horses inspired him to begin performing. He recently recorded his first CD—Forgotten, a collection of 12 classic poems and one original—and between trips out west, he’s blazing a trail for cowboy poetry east of the Mississippi.
“Most people in the East have never heard of it, but when they hear it, they really like it,” he says.
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Steve Porter
AGE: 52
HOMESTEAD: Shares a 7-acre spread near Fountain Inn with wife Kathy, three horses and two dogs
PERFORMANCE ATTIRE: His everyday ensemble of jeans, boots, Western shirt and cowboy hat
LITTLE-KNOW FACT: He nearly failed high school speech class because he froze up, but now performs in front of hundreds of people
SPECIAL PROJECT: Helped found the Happy Trails Cowboy Church near Pelzer