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D. W. GROETHE
Bainville, Montana
Cowboy Poetry/Song
D.W. Groethe is a working cowboy whose poems and songs describe the everyday life of a rancher on the northern Great Plains. A descendant of Norwegian North Dakota homesteaders, D.W. has lived for the last ten years in eastern Montana, not ten miles from the North Dakota line. With his family home in western North Dakota leased out to another member of the family, D.W. splits his time as a ranch hand on three different Montana ranches.
Several family musicians influenced D.W.’s interest in music. His grandfather played the organ in church and his father was a fiddle player and singer. His mother bought D.W. a piano and encouraged his interest in music; he took piano lessons from second grade through high school. After high school, he worked as a keyboard player in several country-folk-rock bands and studied off and on for a theater degree from the University of North Dakota. His theater training helped him learn how to perform and sing, but he eventually went back to folk music. He immersed himself in the songs of Bob Dylan and old style country music and considers Hank Williams to be his biggest influence.
After his parents died, D.W. came across a box of poems he had written as a young boy and decided to use poetry to describe his life on the plains. He has now become a featured poet and musician at many poetry gatherings including the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada, and the Dakota Cowboy Gathering in Medora, North Dakota. He has also performed at the National Folk Festival. D.W. was a participant in the Library of Congress's Local Legacies project and has contributed poetry to the Library's collections.
Links
http://www.cowboypoetry.com/dwgroethe.htm
http://www.makoche.com/Artists/viewarticle.asp?id=119
-http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/millennium/artist_detail.cfm?artist_id=GROETHEDW
-http://www.loc.gov/folklife/events/HomegrownArchives/0405-folklifeconcerts_files/Groethe.pdf
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