Ailing and 87 years old, pioneer cowboy Paul Pitti, the inspiration for the Cowboy Poetry and Music Festival, will be present in spirit but not in body at the 14th annual event on Saturday evening at the Empty Saddle Club, Rolling Hills Estates.
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Free chili and cornbread will be served at 6 o’clock.
Festivities will get under way at 7, a full agenda of cowboy lore sponsored by the Palos Verdes Peninsula Horsemen’s Assn.
In honor of the legendary Mr. Pitti, the festival is dedicated to nostalgia celebrating the Old West.
“Real cowboy music has its origins on the open range,” says Mr. Pitti. “That was where cowboys sang to cattle herds to keep them quiet at night. You should not confuse it with the weepy beer hall music that tells ladies to ‘stand by their man.’”
Shortly before the turn of the century, as a lad of 75 years, Mr. Pitti organized a cowboy band known as the New Westernaires.
Pam Turner, Mr. Pitti’s daughter and the founder of the Cowboy Poetry and Music Festival, will be the mistress of ceremonies at this free event open to the public. Her husband Randy Turner will be the stage manager.
