Wylie Gustafson

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Wylie Gustafson fronts Wylie & The Wild West

Wylie Gustafson is a singer/songwriter who has toured nationally and internationally with his band, Wylie & The Wild West (formerly Wylie & The Wild West Show). The band is known for its blend of Western swing, classic country, cowboy, rockabilly, folk—and yodeling—served up with infectious energy.

1 Life and Career
2 Influences
3 Notable Appearances
4 Discography
5 Notes
- 5.1 External links

[edit] Life and Career

Wylie Galt Gustafson was born in Conrad, Montana, on June 7, 1961. He learned to sing and yodel from his father, R.W. "Rib" Gustafson, who is also a traditional singer, and has published two books about his life as a Montana veterinarian. The elder Gustafson learned to yodel from Austrians on the ski team at Montana State College (now Montana State University), Bozeman, Montana.

Wylie Gustafson founded The Wild West in 1988 in Los Angeles at the world famous Palomino Club where they were regulars on Ronnie Mack's Barn Dance. It was there that Wylie met fellow band member, guitarist and harmony singer Ray Doyle. Since then, the good-time cowboy band has released 13 albums and appeared in concert around the world.

Gustafson is particularly noted as a virtuoso yodeler, having created and voiced the signature "Yahoo-oo-oo!" for Yahoo, Inc. In 2007, he released an instructional book and CD entitled, How to yodel: Lessons to Tickle Your Tonsils, published by Gibbs Smith Publishing.

Aside from his music career, Gustafson is a skilled working cowboy. He and his wife Kimberley operate the Cross Three Quarter Horse Ranch near the diminutive town of Dusty, in the Palouse country of southeast Washington State, where he and his wife train and sell quarter horses. Gustafson frequently competes in cutting horse competitions and rodeos. He wakes up at 5:30 a.m. to feed his cattle and horses. Wylie claims tending to his livestock is what keeps him grounded and is the backbone of his art.

[edit] Influences

Elton Britt, Marty Robbins, Bob Nolan, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, Erik "Fingers" Ray

[edit] Notable Appearances

Grand Ole Opry (more than 50 times)
The National Folk Festival (booked for July 2008, Butte, Montana)
Late Night with Conan O'Brien (2008)
National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Elko, Nevada (2000, '01, '02, '03, '04, '05, '06, '07, '08; booked for 2009)
A Prairie Home Companion (2006)
Lincoln Center
The Kennedy Center
Tom Russell's Vancouver-to-Toronto Canadian Cow Train
Merlefest, Wilkesboro, N.C.
Bumbershoot International Music & Arts Festival, Seattle, Wash.
Equiblues Festival, St. Agreve, France
Space Ghost Coast to Coast (1996 episode: "Freak Show")