It’s no coincidence that Oklahoma is home to some of the most iconic personalities and institutions in American cowboy culture. From the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum to the nation’s most famous cowboy, Will Rogers, Oklahoma has a long and storied history of bravos and broncos.

And if you think the dust settled long ago on cowboys in the Sooner state, think again. Oklahoma hosts scores of major ranching operations, providing support for everything from agritourism to a large chunk of the national beef industry. Many of these ranches’ histories – and their cowboys’ – date as far back as the chaotic years following the Civil War.

The Heart of Cowboy Culture

The Stuart Ranch in south-central Oklahoma is one such operation. The oldest ranch in the state under continuous family ownership, Stuart Ranch sprawls from the tallgrass prairies of Bryan and Atoka counties for more than 100 miles to Jefferson and Stephens counties. Headquartered in Waurika, the business was founded in 1868 by pioneer Robert Clay Feeney, a judge in Indian Territory.

The ranch hosts a large cattle herd, mostly Black Baldies and straight Herefords. The herd divides its time between the original location of the ranch near Caddo in the fall and Jefferson and Stephens counties in the spring. In addition to serving as the base of the business, the Waurika branch of the ranch is home to the family’s show horse and broodmare operations. The cowboys use the horses not only to work cattle on the ranch, but to also participate in competitive events. The ranch functions as a farm as well, supporting more than 3,000 acres of farm for wheat pastures.

“Diversity helps us through the economic ups and downs of the livestock business,” adds Terry Stuart Forst, “so hunting and outfitting are also part of our ranch operations.”

Forst is the current matriarch of the Stuart Ranch. She grew up with an affinity for the ranch life, majoring in animal science at Oklahoma State University. But in 1992, she suddenly found herself widowed with two young sons and being tapped to take over operations from her father. She went back to school, this time to learn the business side of the family’s ranching empire. Today, she is one of the most respected ranchers in the business, and was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 2007.[pullquote]Agriculture is a huge part of Oklahoma, both in her history and today.”[/pullquote]

But even under Forst’s dynamic leadership, running an operation the size of Stuart Ranch takes a dedicated team.

“My sons, Robert and Clay, are the sixth generation to work on our operation,” she says.

And then, of course, there are those vaqueros of lore: the cowboys of Stuart Ranch.

Cowboys over the generations have left their marks on the business, although these days, a cowboy there goes by the moniker of “camp man.” The ranch is home to four camps, and the camp men, each of whom is responsible for all activities at his location, oversee care of the cows, the land and the fences. Gone are the days of the chuck wagon; the ranch provides each camp man with a house, a pick-up truck with a trailer, horses and working facilities for the cattle. According to Forst, the family’s methods of working cattle have changed little throughout the generations, and the famous work ethic of the traditional cowboy is still a must.

“Many of the older ways of working cattle still are the best,” Forst says. “What has changed is the number of good hands. The best hands probably grew up working cattle, know how to work with a crew, know where to be and how to stay out of the way. Growing up in this culture, one learns about hard work, doing a job right the first time, not quitting ‘til the job is done, manners, respect for people and animals, and strong family values … Cowboys today on this ranch will still care for their cattle, feed during the winter, calve heifers and fix fence and water gaps. At this ranch, the willingness and ability to do whatever needs to be done is a necessity.”

Forst is as passionate about the impact of cowboy culture on her home state as one might expect from someone so steeped in its history.

“Agriculture is a huge part of Oklahoma, both in her history and today,” she says.

“ … I think cowboys did and do shape our culture by their values and ethics. We have been taught that our word is our bond. We are taught to help others in need. Family and friends are important, and you ride for the brand, so loyalty and dedication are not questioned. The cowboy culture never gives up. We have the joy of being in God’s creation every day and are so appreciative of the beautiful days … This is often a life, not a job.”

It’s Always Been About the Land and the Livestock

Across the state at the A Bar Ranch in Claremore, Mike and Martha Armitage also have felt the pull of the land in Oklahoma. The couple knows well what it means to be dedicated to the brand; prior to taking over the ranch in 1959, each of them grew up on their own families’ ranches. Today, the Armitage family lives in a 1904 homestead on the original ranch, initially owned by the Rucker family.

“This operation was started from a partnership with a great-aunt in 1959,” Mike Armitage says. “Its growth was fueled only by a desire and love of livestock and the lifestyle and freedom of working on the land. Both Martha’s and my siblings are in agriculture and cattle production. Our oldest son, Merrit, manages our Mayes County ranches, and our other son, Turner, is a senior at Oklahoma State University studying animal science.”

In time gone by, the A Bar was known as the Rucker Ranch, after the original land allotment to Frank and Dora Rucker in the 1880s. The Ruckers were among the first ranchers to settle in northeast Oklahoma, along with Clement Rogers, father of Oklahoma’s favorite native son, Will Rogers. In 1883, Armitage says, four ranchers (including Rucker and Rogers) settled near modern-day Claremore. In that time, the district was home to some 20,000 head of cattle, and during the early part of the 20th century, the Cowboy Poet himself did time as a ranch hand at what would eventually become the A Bar. Rogers often included the Rucker Ranch in his Wild West shows, and the bond between the families was strong. Together, the cowboys of northeast Oklahoma rode for the brand of their respective ranches and worked the individual grazing districts zoned around their base from the chuck wagon.

Over the years, the Rucker Ranch evolved into a 22,500-acre empire stretching east of Claremore. Today, on that same land, the cowboys of A Bar Ranch work a cowherd of 1,500 head, mostly Angus, as well as other cattle the Armitage family breed and graze. In addition to cattle operations, A Bar is home to 100 American Quarter Horse Association broodmares.

Armitage says that the day-to-day duties of the modern cowboy often change with the season. In the winter, cattle require nutritional protein boosts to combat the cold climate. In the spring, cowboys have their hands full with calving season and with protecting newborn calves from Oklahoma’s severe storms. During the summer and fall months, the cattle are bred, branded and vaccinated. There is never a slow moment in the life of a cowboy.[pullquote]… Cowboy-ing today involves all the same skill sets of sorting, roping and riding from the 1880s, with a controlled environment of artificial breeding, tighter calving periods and shorter grazing seasons.”[/pullquote]

While some methods have evolved over the years, the iconic image of the cowboy on horseback is an essential component of modern ranching operations. Armitage agrees with Forst that traditional cattle-working methods have endured the test of time since the era of Oklahoma’s original cowboys.

“The basic principle remains the same of cow care,” he says. “ … Larger operations continue to utilize cowboys on horseback for cattle handling. The handling of cattle on horseback is an inherited art form from our predecessors of the plains.”

In many ways, however, the operations of the modern cowboy have been transformed in recent years. While Forst credits the advent of technology as a primary game-changer for such cowboy duties as animal care especially, Armitage notes other developments in operations as well.

“Like all of agriculture, [ranching] has become increasingly productive,” he says.    “ … Cowboy-ing today involves all the same skill sets of sorting, roping and riding from the 1880s, with a controlled environment of artificial breeding, tighter calving periods and shorter grazing seasons.”

Call them cowboys or camp men, the cowboys of Oklahoma continue to be the backbone on which the state’s history and culture is built.

“Oklahoma’s favorite son, Will Rogers, gave cowboys and cattlemen an opportunity and image that lives on,” Armitage says. “The independence of ranching and the cowboy lifestyle portrayed throughout generations continue to thrive today.”

“Yes, this job pays the bills, which we need it to do,” says Forst. “But a love and passion for the land, the livestock, raising our children with strong morals and work ethics, and getting to watch the sun come up between a horse’s ears are the reasons we choose this life.”

Musical roots run deep in Oklahoma. From Depression-era folk and Western Swing to modern urban-inflected pop, seemingly unrelated genres and subgenres assume the shape of strands on one giant geographical genome of artistic expression

Case in point: JD McPherson, the Broken Arrow-based singer-songwriter whose sophomore album, Let the Good Times Roll, has garnered much in the way of national recognition this year. He performed the title track on David Letterman’s show in February. Meanwhile, the video for an earlier single, “North Side Gal,” approaches 2 million views on YouTube.

Either song serves as a fine entry point to McPherson’s no-nonsense, unapologetically upbeat style, which might best be described as pure rock ‘n’ roll. His sound is characterized by a sincerity – a refreshing absence of irony or condescension – that is mirrored in his polite and down-to-earth manner of speaking.[pullquote]The state has produced so many brilliant musicians, and it’s got such a nice stew of different folks making music.”[/pullquote]

His humility extends to a conscious awareness of his place in a long line of musical icons with origins in Oklahoma, including luminaries like Big Al Downing, Wanda Jackson and Chet Baker.

“The state has produced so many brilliant musicians, and it’s got such a nice stew of different folks making music,” he says. “I’m very proud to be operating in that field with these folks.”

Surprising connections emerge within that field. McPherson recalls learning that his aunt’s piano was tuned by Eldon Shamblin, who made his name as a guitarist for Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys during the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s. Supplementing his income in later years by tuning pianos and teaching music – “all part of the gig” for a working musician, McPherson adds – Shamblin nevertheless continued practicing his craft.

“I saw him play a few times,” McPherson says. “It was incredible.”

Given the heavy influence of early, pre-British Invasion rock on McPherson’s sound – and of the earlier genres that fed into it – his awareness of musicians like Shamblin is hardly surprising. But his sources of inspiration are by no means limited to the state or even the country. He recently experienced a surreal moment when one of his heroes, the English singer-songwriter Nick Lowe, sat in with his band onstage at the Islington Assembly Hall in London.

“I looked over at him, and it just dawned on me that I’m onstage playing with Nick Lowe,” he says. “Those moments are strange because you’re comparing an experience that’s happening right now with something that you’ve been building up in your brain since you were 15 years old. All of a sudden those memories come flooding back.”

Flooding back from a not inconsiderable distance: McPherson grew up in southeastern Oklahoma under fairly isolated rural circumstances that allowed him a great deal of time to learn about music, he says – a career trajectory that begins on a 160-acre cattle ranch.

Surely this plays into a popular image of Oklahoma – one that, for better or for worse, haunts the nationwide collective consciousness.

Making History, Impacting Lives

Judge Sharon Holmes took an unlikely path to becoming the first female black district judge in Tulsa County.

“I started law school late in life,” admits Holmes. “I didn’t go to law school until I was 40.”

Holmes received her bachelor’s degree on an ROTC scholarship and then spent six years in the Air Force on the security police force. After being stationed in Montana and two tours in Germany, Holmes decided it was time for a different phase of life.

“I decided to focus on being a mother,” shares Holmes.

Inspired by a friend years earlier, Holmes enrolled at Oklahoma City University in 1996. She graduated three years later and went to work for the Tulsa County District Attorney’s office as an assistant D.A. In 2003, Holmes ventured into private practice. This past November all that changed.

“When I was in private practice, I hadn’t thought about being a judge,” confesses Holmes. “Friends planted that seed, and over time the idea started to appeal to me.”

[pullquote]When you see an individual that everyone else has given up on use the tools given to them to complete their probation or program and come out a better person, that is what inspires me.”[/pullquote]

In a few whirlwind months, that idea became a reality. She filed to run in February 2014 and was officially sworn in on Jan. 12, 2015.

“It took about 30 minutes to get us all sworn in, and then we all went straight to work,” remembers Holmes. “I don’t think I can express how humbled I am to get this position. It is a big responsibility, and the people of Tulsa County deserve a person who understands that and will always do the right thing. When the people of a community show you that confidence, I have a heavy burden to do my best.”

Holmes believes her unique position and life experiences allow her to help those in great need who enter her courtroom.

“People typically look at the criminal system as the worst, but there are successes that come out of it,” says Holmes. “The position I am in now gives me a little more authority to get them the resources they need.

“When you see an individual that everyone else has given up on use the tools given to them to complete their probation or program and come out a better person, that is what inspires me,” explains Holmes. “When you see people come out a success, I relish that.”

As a woman and a mother, Holmes prefers to utilize alternative services rather than a prison sentence, where appropriate.

“Unfortunately, there are people who need jail time,” says Holmes. “But for others, there are wonderful programs that teach life skills and drug treatment to help them reincorporate into society as a valuable contributor.”

When she takes off the robe, Holmes educates youth on the judiciary process. Many of her friends and family feel she is a role model for women. Her life motto is if you want something you can get it by working hard.

“You don’t always have to do things in a traditional way,” encourages Holmes.