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Radio personality follows dream to publish his cowboy poetry

Staff photo by JIM REED

Les McDowell, sitting in a replica of an 1862 Concord stagecoach that he built with his late father, has been writing poetry since he was 17 years old.

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By WALT BELCHER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 25, 2009

Les McDowell has been writing poetry since he was about 17.

He would write down his feelings and observations about life. But he kept the poems mostly to himself as he grew up in the small town of Milton, Ill., population about 250.

McDowell says his heroes have always been cowboys. And so he became a horse trainer, a blacksmith, a trick roper and a stagecoach builder.

He also enjoyed a successful radio career, first as a disc jockey in California and then as a morning traffic reporter and "cowboy poet" on Tampa area stations WQYK and WFUS on the popular Skip Mahaffey Show.

After more than 20 years on Tampa radio stations, McDowell, 56, has finally published a collection of his poems, "Tales from the Trail" ($17.95 Outskirts Press, Denver).

"They call it cowboy poetry because I have a lot of cowboy ways," he says. "But funny thing, it's not exactly traditional cowboy poetry. It's more like poems about Americana. People compare some of it to what Garrison Keillor does."

Cowboy poetry is a genre that traces its roots to the stories and songs told around the campfires on cattle drives and ranches. The subject matter is specific to that lifestyle.

McDowell also writes about porch swings, gravel roads, old barns, about his father and times gone by.
There's a touch of melancholy in many of his poems.

This is a little surprising because McDowell often played the befuddled country boy on the radio.

He also did stand-up comedy at the Comedy Store in Hollywood, and opened for country acts such as Clint Black and Reba McEntire. He hosted Florida's arthritis telethon for six years and once had his own country music and comedy TV show on WTOG, Channel 44. He also hosted "Live On the Town" on Bright House cable's Bay News 9.

"I had to be unemployed before finally getting around to doing a book," says McDowell who was laid-off in April when the management at WFUS (103.5 FM) dropped Mahaffey and his morning crew as part of massive layoffs at stations owned by Clear Channel Communications.

Host Mahaffey and McDowell still had a year on their contracts and non-compete clauses so they are both looking for future jobs.

"Skip encouraged me to write this," McDowell says. "Years ago he gave me a beautiful leather bound book journal with blank pages and told me that one day my words would be in the Cowboy Hall of Fame."

McDowell lives in a rustic western style home on a 40-acre ranch in Parrish. A portrait of John Wayne hangs on the wall. Another inspiration is cowboy humorist Will Rogers. McDowell says he learned rope tricks from Will Rogers Jr.

McDowell has nine horses and a replica of an 1862 Concord stage coach replica that he built with his late father. He drives the coach in area parades and rodeos, pulled by a six-horse team.

Over the years, McDowell recorded four CDs of his poetry that were sold to raise money for charity. John McEuen, of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, provided musical accompaniment.

Mahaffey edited the "Tales from the Trail" book, noting that he tried to keep the charm and simplicity of the poems intact. As for grammar and spelling, it might not be the King's English but it is "cowboy English," Mahaffey says.

McDowell says the first poem he ever wrote – about his hometown – is in the book. He also writes about drinking coffee, a favorite pocket knife and his dad's old boat which McDowell says was like a yacht to a poor man.

McDowell thinks the book should have universal appeal. "An Amish fellow once told me that 'people don't change, things do'," he says. "That means the smell of fresh mowed grass, or the smell of leather, or love, or family, or grandpas, or all the little things in life aren't going away no matter how bad the economy gets or how much we pave over everything."

The book is being sold online through Barnes & Noble and Amazon. For more information go to www.outskirtspress.com.

Reporter Walt Belcher can be reached at (813) 259-7654.

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