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Those eager to preserve the western way of life and cowboy culture come from all walks of life. This week, Russell and Alan speak with two Arizonans who make change through government channels. Kevin and Joe DeMenna saddle up to the ranch to talk about how they use their public relations and political consulting talents to get things done on the range and even the racetrack.

Cowboy Jim Liles began his 20-year career as a bareback rider around the age of 13. More than fifty years later, he can still recount stories of the many times those broncs broke his bones, including some bones more than once. And yet, bareback riding has remained his life’s passion, and the broncs have remained the horses he loves most. The founder of the Bareback Riding Hall of Fame and Museum, Jim joins Russell and Alan to talk about his rodeo adventures and his efforts to preserve cowboy culture.

Why tell a tall tale when the truth is so crazy it’s barely believable? In this episode, Russell and Alan confirm that truth is indeed stranger than fiction. When you’re out on the range, on the back of  a horse, in the cockpit of an airplane, you’re living adventures guaranteed to be told around the campfire for decades to come. So, grab a seat, roast some marshmallows, and give a listen as two cowboys tell true tales from the range.

When author and historian Lynn Downey learned about Frederick Loring, she instantly became fascinated. Loring was an up-and-coming author from the East Coast when he ventured west in 1871 at the age of twenty-three. Downey joins Russell and Alan to share her adventures retracing parts of Loring’s journey around the West and what she learned about the man and the beauty and brutality he encountered.

Kent Reeves packs a lot of interests and talent in his wheelhouse. Land conservation. Photography. Cowboy poetry. And he chats with Russell and Alan about it all from his home in California where he founded Rancher to Rancher (R2R), a network of ranchers and ecologists focused on environmentally sustainable land-management practices. What's good for the land is good for the earth!

Shannon Baker lives on the edge of the Tucson desert with her “crazy Weimaraner and favorite human.” She also has lived in Flagstaff for a few years and spent 20 years in the Nebraska Sandhills, where cattle outnumber people by more than 50:1. She joins Russell and Alan to talk about her mystery series, some set in the desert, some in the Sandhills, and how her experiences play out on the page—with added embellishments, of course!

Like any hospitality business, dude ranching can be full of surprises. Tombstone Monument Ranch manager Michelle DeSplinter reveals some of the challenges, laughs and joys she’s encountered during her years working at a dude ranch. Let’s just say you can’t always predict what the day will bring!

This year, we celebrate the 17th annual National Day of the Cowboy. Last year, we interviewed founder Bethany Braley, who is dedicated to preserving cowboy culture and heritage. Here's the special reprise of our interview with her. Hats off to you, Bethany!

Many of us have heard about the Pony Express, founded in 1860. But did you know this “start-up” mail delivery service only operated for 18 months? Expert Jim DeFelice, author of “West Like Lightning,” joins Russell and Alan to sort through the fact and fiction associated with the legendary Pony Express. [True or False: Buffalo Bill Cody rode for the Pony Express. Listen for the answer!]

No cowboy is without a saddlebag or two of horse stories. And Russell and Alan are no exception. Joining in with his own share of tales about horses ridden and loved and wrecks survived is lifelong cowboy Mac Mackenny, who hails from Calgary in Alberta, Canada. If you want to hear some wild, western adventures that not even the best fiction writer could concoct, then give a listen, right here, right now.

You may know bestselling author Michael Punke from his blockbuster novel “The Revenant,” also an Academy award-winning film starring Leo DiCaprio. Well, Punke has picked up pen again and this time turned out “Ridgeline,” a riveting story set in 1866 Wyoming. He joins Russell and Alan to talk about the true events and characters behind this new novel already optioned for the silver screen.

Carolyn Neithammer has been writing ethnobotanies, cookbooks, and biographies about the Southwest for her entire career. Her most recent book, “A Desert Feast,” explores how Tucson came to be honored as the first UNESCO City of Gastronomy in the U.S.. Caroline, Russell and Alan dig into the culinary heritage of the Sonoran Desert—and just what parts of the prickly pear cactus are edible.

Artist Thom Ross has had a lifelong love of American history, storytelling and painting. Not surprisingly, his art focuses on the “folk hero,” like Billy the Kid, rather than on the mythical “folk hero,” like Paul Bunyan. Thom chats with Russell and Alan from Due West, his studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

When he was sixteen years old, Mark Paul snuck into the Santa Ana racetrack and was smitten. Over decades, Paul traveled the world attending horse races and placing bets. But no bet was bigger and more dangerous than the one placed in Tijuana on the Derby. Paul joins Russell and Alan to share his Seabiscuit meets Narcos adventure.

The West endures in the archives of museums and libraries. It also endures in novels and movies. Historian Stuart Rosebrook chats with Alan and Russell about some of the great writers and film makers, as well as the real characters and events, that inform us about the West then and now.

They ride horses, rope calves, buck broncos, ride and fight bulls, and even wrestle steers. They are Black cowboys, and the legacies of their pursuits intersect with those of America’s struggle for racial equality, human rights, and social justice. Journalist and author Keith Ryan Cartwright joins Russell and Alan to talk about his timely and fascinating upcoming book “Black Cowboys of Rodeo: Unsung Heroes from Harlem to Hollywood and the American West.”

May is National Pet Month! And don’t we love our pets. Russell and Alan share some of their favorite pet stories with guests at White Stallion Dude Ranch. A little hawk named Sylvester. Two javelinas named Sandra and Ann. And dogs, horses, and more. If you love animals (or just some great stories) join in!

Doris Daley is a renowned cowboy poet, emcee and humorist—or as she prefers, a “western poet.” Her 20-year performance career includes appearances with the Reno Philharmonic Orchestra, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and the Saskatchewan Opera Company. Doris joins Russell and Alan from Alberta, Canada to share her wordsmithing and love of the West. It’s a cowboy celebration of National Poetry Month.

Sometimes nothing lifts the heart and soul like a good western tune. Jim Jones has plenty of them—and plenty have won prestigious awards. He joins Russell and Alan to talk about his career as a solo musician and a member of the trio The Cowboy Way and as an author of western novels. He even has his guitar within reach. Give a listen!

Director and producer David Glossberg never anticipated making a documentary about wild mustangs and military vets. But when he learned about the high suicide rate of veterans and how wild mustangs have been helping that rate decrease, he felt called to action. The result: Mustang Saviors, an award-winning film that, as you'll discover in this episode, will lift your spirit and renew your hope.