By Saria Kraft kraft@theacorn.com

ADAM DAVIS/Simi Valley Acorn HOME SPUN-Local poet Gary Robertson recites some of his work during the Cowboy Poetry and Western Music Fest at the Conejo Players Theatre in Thousand Oaks last weekend.

Somebody ought to write a book, "Cowboy Poetry and Western Music for Dummies." City slickers who don’t know a saddle from a stirrup might get a better handle on the Cowboy Way.

But the 200 folks who attended the cowboy festival at the Conejo Players Theatre in Thousand Oaks last Friday didn’t need a primer. Mostly 50- and 60-year-olds, they grew up watching westerns on TV.

One audience member blamed the love of the West on Roy Rogers.

"With his gleaming gun holster, carved silver conchos, decorated tack and Palomino stallion, Rogers made a stunning visual that sparked an early passion for the West in generations of cowpokes," said Joe Phillips of Camarillo.

"But the true West has a reverence for things that continue to get better with age—leather, jeans, people," he said. "Its spirit embodies the best of what America is about."

The two-night poetry and music fest, a fundraiser for the nonprofit theater, captured that spirit with a fine, down-home flavor.

Ventura County Fire Capt. Ed Spafford brought his ladder crew from Station No. 30. The uniformed firefighters were about the only "young’ns" in the house.

"We came to support the music and stories of a bygone era," Spafford said. "In a small setting like this, it’s a rare experience."

Like Spafford, many came to hear local poet Gary Robertson, manager of Greenfield Ranch in Hidden Valley. Robertson and wife Maryanne, who emceed Friday night’s show, live on the 450-acre spread with their son, Clayton.

For the past 14 years Robertson has overseen daily operations at the Conejo ranch—its oat, wheat and barley crops, its horses and cattle. He writes about the humor in contemporary ranch life and has performed his poetry for more than a decade.

Born in Tulsa, Okla., Robertson spent his boyhood riding through a number of towns before making his way out West in the early ’70s. His dad, who grew up on a farm during the Depression, chose a career in aerospace. The family moved a lot, he said.

His grandparents on both sides owned farm and ranch land in Oklahoma. That history inspired him to compose "Aunt Theo’s Poem." Set in 1902, the tender tale of his great aunt’s first love made its debut last weekend.

"Poetry is, in fact, storytelling," Robertson said. "I like the challenge of putting it into rhyme and meter. By using imagery and simile, you try to say as much as you possibly can in as few words as you can."

And what’s all this about the Cowboy Way?

"For me, loyalty is the single character trait that is most respected," he said. "They call it, ‘riding for the brand.’ The second is ‘being known to be a hand.’ It means you do what has to be done when it has to be done – without anyone telling you. Having that reputation is what it’s about."

Michael Fleming, who fronts the band, "New West," shared his thoughts on the music.

"In Western music, you lose your horse or your life. In country music, you lose your dog or your wife. That’s the difference," Fleming said.

With David Jackson on bass and Raul Reynoso on mandolin and guitar, the Santa Clarita-based trio played a rich set of ballads and laments inspired by the California vaqueros and clever swing tunes reminiscent of the 1930s and ’40s.

They sang of rodeo hobos and brave buckeroos, of cowboys and liquor and nothing to lose. Before midnight, the band was bound for Atascadero, where they would play the following night.

New West rides the circuit of cowboy gatherings throughout the West.

On the Web, visit www.cowboyband.com.