Cowboy star Ian Tyson got a hero's welcome from his Mustang Stage audience, which he described as not large but good. Tyson is from Alberta, Canada, where he said there is still snow in the ditches. But he and his band were wearing red, Hawaiian style shirts, not tucked in.

He performed with two musicians he said were both named "Gord" after Gordon Lightfoot, a fellow Canadian artist he helped launch.

Tyson, 75, sang some of his compositions about cowboy life from the 1980s and '90s in a voice tempered by 50 years in show biz. He was competing with the over-miked Chuck Wicks on the Mane Stage, which he called "the rock 'n' roll show over there."

A real rancher, Tyson asked if there were any cowboys in the audience and when people raised their hands commented that he didn't notice any stockyards in Rancho Mirage.

Near the end of the 45-minute set, he performed one of his big hits from his folk music days in the early '60s, "Someday Soon." Several audience members called out for his other standard, "Four Strong Winds," but he didn't sing it. Nevertheless, he got a standing ovation and came out for an encore.

Fielding Buck
fbuck@pe.com

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