December 29, 2025 • 29 mins
Where did Western Music originate? Rick Huff, a prominent western music reviewer highlights this genre's rich history and the working cowboy. He began his career with Hi Busse and has produced commercials, hosted shows & created jingles. He also serves as the 'VoiceMale' for the podcast "Your Positive Imprint."
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Episode Transcript
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Catherine (00:00):
You're listening to part two with Radio Personality.
(00:02):
Rick Huff.
I.
(00:23):
Am loving hearing the voice, my dearfriend Rick Huff, known as the VOICEMALE
that's MALE, has captivated audiencesfor over 40 years with his distinctive
voice across radio, television, liveperformances, cartoons and beyond.
(00:43):
He's produced countless radio andTV commercials, hosted television
shows, and worked as a dj.
His catchy jingles are unforgettable,and that is for sure absolutely
unforgettable, and his cartoonvoices are simply delightful.
He is known as the principal westernmusic reviewer in the United States.
(01:05):
Well, since 1978, he has operatedhis own production studio.
He has immersed in Westernmusic for a very long time.
Mm-hmm.
He partnered with Western Music Hallof Famer Hi Busse, to create the
radio featurette song and story.
He later released two albums featuringHi Busse and The Frontiers Men's Work.
(01:26):
And co-produce CDs for Sons ofthe Rio Grande and Jim Jones.
Oh my gosh, it is remarkable.
And in 1999, he and Mary Ryland, who isalso his partner of Sidekick Productions,
established Frontiersmen 2 to co-producetheir radio show, the Best of The West
Review, along with its publication.
(01:47):
Which is called the Best of theWest Digest, and in 2004 they
launched a double Western music cd.
Well, I absolutely cherish myfriendship with Rick and I've enjoyed
celebrating his successes throughthe years, but I am so thrilled.
And really, Rick, I am so honored thatyou introduce this podcast, your positive
(02:08):
imprint, showcasing your incredible voice.
Finally, welcome to the show, Rick.
Rick Huff (02:16):
Thank you very much.
My goodness.
No, it was an honor foryou to ask me to do that.
It was great fun to think howto represent the spirit of
your show, of your enterprise.
And I am so gratified to know that itworked and that, , you are received
the way you are received worldwide.
(02:37):
On the wonderful web, that's oneof the w stands for Wonderful.
You know?
Absolutely.
That's positively.
But, uh, it's a great fun.
It's, , it's been greatfun to be a part of it.
Catherine (02:47):
Oh, thank you.
. All right.
And now I want to, , kind ofstep backwards a little bit to
when you were first introducedto Western Music and Cowboying
when I met you, you were incowboy boots and a cowboy hat,
and I can see you clear as day.
Were you ever on ranches withthe cattle and the calves?
Rick Huff (03:08):
I did not do the work.
And I'm very quick to, makepeople aware of the fact that
I am not a working cowboy.
And there is a strong distinctionbetween, , the people who really do
that, and , there's a song, , writtenby, , Ed Bruce and Donnie Blanc
called, you just can't see 'em fromthe road, and the the lyric line goes,
(03:30):
he's still out there mending fences.
And then he's doing thework , he's out there, but you
just can't see him from the road.
You know, he's down in the gulley,is chasing the dogies or whatever.
And there are still a lot of, a lotof guys, a lot of ladies too who
make their livings, , tending to thecattle and every big cattle operation.
(03:51):
Now.
That's something that we can bring up.
Every big cattle operationhas to have cowboys.
And the women who do itare also called cowboys.
And don't say, are you a cowgirl?
Mm-hmm.
They are cowboys and that is the jobthey do, they cowboy, and that is
a verb as well as a noun, you know?
(04:11):
But, uh, I'm very proud of that fact.
Uh, there are 600 working ranchesin the state of New Mexico.
Think about how many cowboys areworking those ranches, that's
just in New Mexico, Montana,and, uh, Idaho and Nevada.
They've all got strong cowboy contingent.
Catherine (04:33):
And when Mike and I and the dogs, when we would be out hiking
in the mountains, during that time,between winter and summer, summer and
winter, we would see a lot of workingcowboys out there as they're gathering
up the cattle to get them onto the
, trucks to move them topasture warmer pasture.
(04:55):
Mm-hmm.
Because where we see them is wayup in the mountains where the
snows are too heavy and the, theanimals, wild animals even migrate.
So anyways, just a remarkablejob that still continues today.
Rick Huff (05:10):
Occasionally there are some modern, , modern things
you find, you, you find someherding being done by helicopter,
I mean, on some of the ranches.
, but there still have to be acertain number of cowboys on the
horses with the full tack andwith the rope, with the lariat.
And the pig and straine totie it up and doing everything
that you've seen in rodeos.
(05:31):
There's, , a particular class of rodeo.
That's a, that's very interesting to watchfor people who are really into finding
out more about the life of the cowboys.
And it's called a working ranch rodeo.
And when you see those being offered,that's where they really do it.
It's milking and it's a lot of differentthings that you don't see in the,
(05:53):
in the big slam dash fiery rodeos.
, the, the bull riding mm-hmmthat, you see that, um.
Ty Murray is popularized now, butthat stuff is not the real cowboy work
that you see that is cowboy sport.
, many of those guys who do the ridinghave been working cowboys, but that sort
(06:15):
of thing, the bull riding and the , nowbulldogging is something that's done
on, out on the prairie, , where youslip off the horse and you have to
have to possibly bring the, bring thethe, the animal down, you know, so it
can be roped and tied or branded orwhatever, or led, led out of danger or
(06:35):
whatever the situation happens to be.
, the cowboys have to do a lot of doctoringout on the mm-hmm out on the range.
They are the vets.
There's not, somebody rolling alongin little truck, you know, saying,
okay, they've gotta be really handy.
They've gotta have a lot ofpractical knowledge in a lot of areas
Catherine (06:53):
Problem solving, critical thinking skills.
That's all interesting not just Americanhistory, but Australian history.
Rick Huff (07:00):
Mm-hmm.
They have a vast network , downthere, the ranches are called
stations and the cowboys arestockman and, , so there's different
terminology but they definitely have
the cowboy culture and one of thefellows who I am proud to have posed for
(07:22):
inclusion into the Western Music Hall ofFame, , wrote hundreds of these stockman
songs and cowboy songs from Australia.
His name was Slim Dusty, andthat's somebody you can look
up and you can find the music.
He recorded well over a hundredalbums and, , , his music
is fascinating to listen to.
(07:42):
His songs are great.
It's great fun, but,uh, look up slim, dusty.
Catherine (07:47):
And that I will do, speaking of music, you also partnered with Hi Busse.
Rick Huff (07:53):
He's the reason I got into the Western music.
Ah,
Catherine (07:56):
okay.
Rick Huff (07:57):
You mentioned that.
So let's get into Hi Busse.
Hi Busse was the founder of, atthe time he was, he was alive.
It was the longest
longest live, is thatthe way you would say it?
, Western Band in existence thatstill had a founding member.
, he started the Frontiersman in 1937.
(08:20):
And, he started it to accompanya young fellow named Leonard Sly,
who had been tapped by Herbert jYates of Republic Studios to become
King of the Cowboys Roy Rogers.
And, um, that all happened becauseof a contract dispute that, , Herbert
(08:40):
j Yates and, gene Autry were havingat the time, and he, they had a
disagreement and Herbert said, okay,I can make another cowboy star.
So he, the first movie thatRoy Rogers len Sly ever made.
He was Bill King of the Cowboys, just as alittle slap, slap, slip, smack to, , gene.
(09:03):
But, then they made nice with eachother everybody and everybody made
money off of the b westerns back there.
But, , Hi had known.
Len Sly when he was, uh, justgetting started, knew him when he
was an aspiring dental student.
Catherine (09:21):
Oh, wow.
And
Rick Huff (09:22):
they were at the same radio station up in the northwest.
If memory serves, it was in Oregon.
And were part of a thing calledthe Midnight Frolics, and both of
them got a little bit of airtimeto sing and do their thing.
Hi was part of a group that atrio of, of accordion players
(09:42):
called The Sons of Italy.
None of them being from Italy, ButHi remembered when, , Roy got the
call or Lynn got the call to go downand, hear, these, uh, these guys
who were, now I'm trying to rememberthe name of the group I blanked
temporarily and it's something likethe Western Mountaineers or something.
But anyway, there was a radio groupthat was, , that he was invited to join
(10:07):
and become part of a trio contingent.
And that
trio Core is what wound uplaunching the Sons of the Pioneers,
uh, with him and Bob Nolan.
And Tim Spencer being the original trio.
, there were some otherpeople that were involved.
Slumber Nichols and acouple of other people.
But, , anyway, Hi getting back to Hi Busse, he became part of the very first writers
(10:33):
of the Purple Sage group in, , California,and had a radio show out there.
He went to other groups.
Roy went to other groups.
But when Roy got the opportunityto get into the movies.
, they launched him on a singing tourto promote his first, , film, which
was called Under Western Stars, and hedidn't know who was going to be backing
(10:59):
him or anything else when he went to,, the Capital Theater in Dallas in 19
37 to promote this film.
And he was so elated to find itwas gonna be Hi and a group of
players that high put together.
So that's, that was the originof the Frontiersman, uh, how
(11:21):
I got involved in all of it.
, Hi, had a lot of adventures and he wasin films Now during the years, in the
forties, now going up in the fifties.
He backtracks Allen Sr.And a lot of others.
And, , he came into myproduction studio one day.
You mentioned some stuff from Huff.
That was the name of my, , recordingbusiness, commercial recording business.
(11:45):
And one morning in through thedoor comes this lanky elderly, very
elegantly dressed Western gentleman,Stetson Western trim cut suit.
And , he came in with a littlebriefcase and he was looking for
help in promoting Western music.
(12:07):
Now I had grown up as a, a little kid,pretty small kid watching a fellow on
local television here named Dick Bills,who was actually Glen Campbell's uncle,
and Glen Campbell played in his band.
The , Sandia Mountain Boys.
I think was the name anyway.
, but that's how he got his start.
(12:30):
, but my only connection with Western Musicwas seeing Dick Bills do some Western and
yodel a bit on his show and running theold Gene Autrey and Roy Rogers movies.
I was one of the kids, of course, who gotup to get a Coke outta the refrigerator.
When the singing started, I wanted to seethe bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
(12:50):
I wanna see that.
, so I didn't really have astrong foundation in it.
And in talking with Hi and learningmore about what he had to offer in
history and his knowledge of songsand how everything came about behind
the scenes, I started researching
(13:10):
western music myself because we puttogether this feature that you mentioned
called Song and Story with Hi Bussy.
It was kind, if you rememberPaul Harvey's rest of the story
Catherine (13:21):
I do.
Rick Huff (13:22):
He would tell the story and build it and build it and
build it and then pop what the whoit was actually about at the end.
That's what we did with Western songs.
We would tell the story and, butI would do it in current time.
I would say the year is1937 or the year is 1946.
(13:44):
So and so goes to see so and soand you'd hear the footsteps or
the car starting, you know, and wemended it dramatically that way.
Hi narrated it, and we'dsay, and that's how.
The gambler with Kenny Rogers cameto be or whatever it happened to be,
the gambler being a Western song.
'cause it's about poker.
(14:05):
, but we started producing that andI wound up releasing old recordings
of Hi's to show where he was in thehistory because one thing that he
didn't care about was self-promotion.
E even to the point where he letstudios change the name of his group.
(14:26):
He would appear in a film withthe Frontiersman, they'd be the
Sunrise Serenade or something.
And it made trying to track his history.
Hell,
Catherine (14:37):
oh, you
Rick Huff (14:37):
know, trying to dig through this.
Okay.
Was that him?
, so.
But anyway, I worked with Hi 1983 hecame in my door and we worked together
on albums and releases and that radiofeature until he passed away in 1994.
And when his wife passed away, Isuddenly realized I was the only
(14:59):
one left who remembered his history.
And so I put out an album of hisrecordings called Hi Partner that had
exactly what these recordings were andwhat he had done and where he had been
at a particular time and able to, toenable certain things to happen, uh,
important parts of Western music history.
(15:21):
But that's how I got into it.
And I swore to him before he passedaway that I would continue every way
I could to promote Western music.
To make people aware of what itis, what the difference is, what
the history and the culture is,and I have held to that promise.
(15:41):
And I'm still doing it.
Catherine (15:42):
Well, and those are amazing, positive imprints of yours because you do
it with dignity and you do it with grace.
Yes.
Rick Huff (15:51):
Gra Grace is a partner in it too.
She's, she's a lot of fun.
Catherine (15:56):
Yeah.
And I appreciate what you do.
You have received accolades frompeople, but also from organizations.
You've been recognized, again,the lifetime achievement award for
New Mexico advertising, but youalso mentioned the Addy Awards.
Rick Huff (16:15):
Well, the Addy Award is the specific, , award that is given
to a campaign or an ad or something.
Um, now it has changed, but back in thetime when radio was more of a, , viable
advertising medium I was winningAddy Awards for Production and Radio.
But the Addy Awards were anannual event , where they
(16:37):
would present, , um, nationally.
I won two National Silver Microphoneawards, which, uh, that was in competition
with people all over the country.
And we did, did one from nun's.
Remember Nunzio's Pizzabefore Gios it was nuns.
We won one of those awards wasfor that and another one, I
forget what the other client was.
(17:00):
Anyway,
Catherine (17:01):
do you have a favorite ad that you've done?
Rick Huff (17:04):
Oh, gee.
Well, I have to say the ones thatwent national, uh, you know, that,
uh, took, were, were pretty high.
, that I remember that were fun todo campaigns that were fun to do.
For more than 40 years herelocally, but the father and
son ads for Lieber's luggage.
That was one that I did formore than 40 years, and I played
(17:25):
both parts and wrote theads, you know, and said, dad,
welcome to lieber's luggage.
And said, son, what are youdoing in the parking lot?
Have you lost your lease?
You know, and it was like he was alwaysneedling the sun, says your prices are
too low, you're gonna go outta business.
And, you know, that was the running gag.
And uh, that was a lot of fun to do.
(17:45):
, particular fun.
, but there have been alot of 'em along my life.
Catherine (17:49):
Yeah.
Well, Lieber's luggage, well we go there.
Rick Huff (17:56):
I don't think he owns it anymore, but
Catherine (17:59):
And Rick, you've done Peter and The Wolf, which would've been amazing.
You've written operettas
Rick Huff (18:05):
oh, and she says, done.
That's narrate the , that was withthe New Mexico Symphony Orchestra.
Yeah.
With Roger Malone.
Yeah.
Catherine (18:11):
That was live and it's always incredible when, when it's
live with an orchestra, it justmakes it so, absolutely entertaining,
Rick Huff (18:19):
In the classical music end of things, , I've, I've worked in so
many different genres of music mm-hmm.
And, and styles.
, I also worked with a fellow namedDanny Crafts here, Daniel Steven
Krafts, , in founding the, uh, a littlecompany, it's called Gonzo Opera.
And the idea of Gonzo opera is beautifulvoices singing outrageous things.
(18:45):
So they're, uh, they're very, uh, uh,they're a lot of fun, uh, especially for
people who understand opera jokes and eventhose who just think opera can be funny.
, opera can be hilarious.
As a matter of fact.
And I've been fortunate to havehad four librettos performed.
Um, here had one, uh, that was donefor children commissioned by Opera
(19:09):
Southwest back in the day, and itwas called, , The H2Opus., and uh,
she asked me if I could do one onair, I did it and it was called gasp.
About this, uh, mogul who was tryingto capture all of the air so he could
bottle it and sell it back to the public.
And, uh, he had a product calledAir Apparent, but you could
(19:33):
actually see the air you breathe.
Oh my gosh.
It's like floating
yellow clouds there, you know.
And it was, it was very goofyand it was a lot of fun to do.
, , had another one, uh,called the Medicine Show.
Uh, the parenthetical sub, titlewas down on the pharma, and we
(19:54):
certainly were down on pharma.
And that one.
Uh, pharmaceuticals.
Pharmaceuticals, yes.
, uh.
P-H-A-R-M-A.
And so, um, uh,
Catherine (20:06):
oh, down.
Uh, I got it.
You
Rick Huff (20:08):
get it down.
Took me a little bit.
Yeah.
I'm moving too fast for you child.
Oh dear.
The old man is moving.
Trying to use your creativity inways that, that are art positive,
as positive as possible in a timewhen it's very hard to be positive.
(20:31):
Uh, I think will win the day in the end.
I think people seek positivity.
Like your program, your podcast,
Catherine (20:41):
I agree.
Your
Rick Huff (20:41):
endeavors here, that's it.
Makes a difference.
Catherine (20:45):
Thank you.
Thank you.
You created New Mexico's firstSoul, funk and Jazz radio station.
Well,
Rick Huff (20:53):
I said I worked in a lot of different types of music.
Yeah, you did.
Well, remember, is that
Catherine (20:57):
station still real?
Rick Huff (20:58):
No, it's the frequency that 94 Rock.
Oh, I was here currently,but it wasn't 94 Rock.
Uh, that was that student stationthat we were talking about earlier.
I, when the last time I becamestudent manager, I decided
to try to make some inroads.
And something that wasn't being offeredsince we did not sell commercials, we
(21:20):
weren't a commercial frequency at all.
We didn't have to worry about sponsorshipand specific ratings and everything.
And I turned it Soul, soul and Jazz.
And, uh, we played some of the funkieststuff out there, , Maceo and the Max,
. What , and then the station downtownlooked at us, said, what are you doing?
(21:41):
And I actually had one of their highand mighty programmers down there
say, Albuquerque is only 2% black.
Who is going to listen to Soul?
Who like Motown was only bought andlistened to by African American people?
My gosh, you know of, ofall the narrow cast thing.
(22:04):
But that was back in 1972 and I wasproud to have started the very first
soul and jazz format in the Southwest.
It was the, I didn't realize itwas, but um, looking back, yep.
I beat the next one by about 10 years, butit, it lasted for, uh, quite a few years.
Catherine (22:26):
That's incredible.
, like I say, the history ofRick Huff and your voice and
all of your positive imprints.
Legacy, legacy, legacy, , for everythingthat you're doing and continuing
to do, including this podcast.
Rick, I have heard your voices, yourdifferent voices throughout the years.
(22:46):
I have been privy to that.
So what are your favoritevoices that you like to do?
Rick Huff (22:51):
Oh, well, and do that well now what I should say.
One of the ways I made a lot of money,uh, early on, and I'll admit to it,
is doing, , cartoon voices that werefamiliar and, , like, uh, most of the
cast, if not the entire cast of SesameStreet, the muppets, there used to be
able to get away with some of that stuffand using it in commercial, uh, ways.
(23:15):
Then something unfortunate happened.
They got not only a soundalike,but a lookalike on television.
I believe if memory serves, it was forBurger King, uh, of Woody Allen, and they
were doing, a bit of his, as part of thecommercial and promoting the product.
(23:39):
He sued and he won, and he should have,, it was justified right on the heels
of that, , one of Bette Mad Midler'sbackup singers saying an imitation
of her in a jingle for Ford Motors.
She sued and won and she should have.
But what it did for us on the locallevel down here, little, little people
(24:00):
trying to make a living, , was mopthat up and suddenly overnight there
was not a call for, , doing, um.
Kermit selling something or whatever.
, so I understand that, butit did carve in kinda deep.
But I tried to, uh, come upwith other, other characters.
But I had a vocal demo that involved65 voices in two and a half minutes.
Catherine (24:25):
Oh my gosh.
Rick Huff (24:27):
But, uh, but it was a lot of that, it was, um,
Kermit the Frog here, you know.
Miss Piggy, you know, thewhole crew, , doing commercial
things, uh, which was wrong.
It, it was wrong.
And I, I'll admit it was, , andit needed to be mopped up.
You people have a right totheir intellectual properties
and their specific properties.
(24:48):
And there you never know if acharacter voice could be really used
for something injurious to the imageof that property, of that character.
And so I certainly understood, but.
Painful.
I couldn't do those impressions anymore.
I I used to have a lot of fun doing it.
Catherine (25:07):
Yeah.
Well, you sure have the talentand you've done a lot of
voices and you have the humor.
Rick Huff (25:13):
I appreciate your, your thoughts on that, but, uh,
no, I, I'm happy with , where itlanded, you know, and I'll do.
Character, voice , and commercials.
One of the things, uh, I've specializedin dialects and all over the years,
you know, I did a little Irish awhile ago for you and everything, but
that's something, you know, at St.
Patrick's Day, you cando the reun for people.
(25:34):
You know.
Every now and then a bakerywants to do something special.
Green cupcake, icing but, , one of thethings in a market like Albuquerque and,
and in New Mexico, when you move offof, move your English, put an accent
over the top of it, French or something,people for whom English is a second
(25:56):
language, have problems understanding it.
, you've started to distort this soundthat they're used to the words coming
and you can actually start to lose apercentage of your, intended audience.
So I certainly, again, understand,, the thinking behind, , not
going down certain avenues,
(26:16):
I always tried to write things formyself, uh, particularly when I wrote
a comedy spot involving a woman.
I would never, ever, ever makethe woman the butt of the joke.
It was always humor on me.
And, I was the dunce or I wasthe one that didn't know and
she would have the information.
You have to be sensitive when you'reusing accents or, or dialects or something
(26:39):
like that in a commercial way thatyou're not, , promoting stereotypes.
Or doing something that somebodycould find legitimately offensive.
And , so I always try to avoid it.
Catherine (26:52):
Yeah.
Rick Huff (26:52):
Positive imprint, you know,
, Catherine (26:55):
again, that's not just marketing, but that is
also the dignity of the person.
So, I always like to end the showwith your last inspiring words,
Rick, as you're thinking about it.
Thank you again forbeing here on the show.
Rick Huff (27:09):
Well, my, my great pleasure.
Okay.
Inspiring words to live by.
Um, I know we are in aparticularly tough time right now.
There can be moments of desperationwhen you see things and hear things,
and, , worse yet, imagine thingsthat may or may not come about.
(27:32):
But remember, it's a long curve.
, life is basically a pendulum and it swingsto the right and it swings to the left,
and , it very seldom stops in the middle.
, if it did stop in the middle,we wouldn't be getting anywhere.
, take it all with a grain of salt.
, take it all with somepatience, , and see where it goes.
(27:53):
I have some friends who read tarot cards.
Not that I'm highly into that, but theyseem to feel relaxed at the moment.
They seem to feel thatthings are going to work out.
However that happens, we don't know yet.
Or maybe, you know, by the time youhave found this podcast, but, find
peace, , in the knowledge that, um.
(28:15):
it's gone on a long time.
, life continues and life has itsdifferent rivulets and tributaries,
and you never know where new aspectsof it are going to come from.
So give yourself a chance to enjoy it.
Catherine (28:31):
Rick Huff, thank you so much for being the voice for the introduction
here on your positive imprint.
I appreciate you so much.
Rick Huff (28:41):
Thank you ma'am.
Catherine (28:42):
You can learn more about Rick by going to iwesternmusic.org for
International Western Music and I haveRick here today, so he's going to do the.
Outro.
Rick Huff (28:55):
Thanks for listening.
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Catherine (29:15):
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(29:37):
So try to change your perspective inorder to understand the reality of others.
And until next time, enjoy listeningto over 200 episodes of your positive
imprint, your positive imprint.
What's your P.I.?
You're listening to part two with Radio Personality.
(00:02):
Rick Huff.
I.
(00:23):
Am loving hearing the voice, my dearfriend Rick Huff, known as the VOICEMALE
that's MALE, has captivated audiencesfor over 40 years with his distinctive
voice across radio, television, liveperformances, cartoons and beyond.
(00:43):
He's produced countless radio andTV commercials, hosted television
shows, and worked as a dj.
His catchy jingles are unforgettable,and that is for sure absolutely
unforgettable, and his cartoonvoices are simply delightful.
He is known as the principal westernmusic reviewer in the United States.
(01:05):
Well, since 1978, he has operatedhis own production studio.
He has immersed in Westernmusic for a very long time.
Mm-hmm.
He partnered with Western Music Hallof Famer Hi Busse, to create the
radio featurette song and story.
He later released two albums featuringHi Busse and The Frontiers Men's Work.
(01:26):
And co-produce CDs for Sons ofthe Rio Grande and Jim Jones.
Oh my gosh, it is remarkable.
And in 1999, he and Mary Ryland, who isalso his partner of Sidekick Productions,
established Frontiersmen 2 to co-producetheir radio show, the Best of The West
Review, along with its publication.
(01:47):
Which is called the Best of theWest Digest, and in 2004 they
launched a double Western music cd.
Well, I absolutely cherish myfriendship with Rick and I've enjoyed
celebrating his successes throughthe years, but I am so thrilled.
And really, Rick, I am so honored thatyou introduce this podcast, your positive
(02:08):
imprint, showcasing your incredible voice.
Finally, welcome to the show, Rick.
Rick Huff (02:16):
Thank you very much.
My goodness.
No, it was an honor foryou to ask me to do that.
It was great fun to think howto represent the spirit of
your show, of your enterprise.
And I am so gratified to know that itworked and that, , you are received
the way you are received worldwide.
(02:37):
On the wonderful web, that's oneof the w stands for Wonderful.
You know?
Absolutely.
That's positively.
But, uh, it's a great fun.
It's, , it's been greatfun to be a part of it.
Catherine (02:47):
Oh, thank you.
. All right.
And now I want to, , kind ofstep backwards a little bit to
when you were first introducedto Western Music and Cowboying
when I met you, you were incowboy boots and a cowboy hat,
and I can see you clear as day.
Were you ever on ranches withthe cattle and the calves?
Rick Huff (03:08):
I did not do the work.
And I'm very quick to, makepeople aware of the fact that
I am not a working cowboy.
And there is a strong distinctionbetween, , the people who really do
that, and , there's a song, , writtenby, , Ed Bruce and Donnie Blanc
called, you just can't see 'em fromthe road, and the the lyric line goes,
(03:30):
he's still out there mending fences.
And then he's doing thework , he's out there, but you
just can't see him from the road.
You know, he's down in the gulley,is chasing the dogies or whatever.
And there are still a lot of, a lotof guys, a lot of ladies too who
make their livings, , tending to thecattle and every big cattle operation.
(03:51):
Now.
That's something that we can bring up.
Every big cattle operationhas to have cowboys.
And the women who do itare also called cowboys.
And don't say, are you a cowgirl?
Mm-hmm.
They are cowboys and that is the jobthey do, they cowboy, and that is
a verb as well as a noun, you know?
(04:11):
But, uh, I'm very proud of that fact.
Uh, there are 600 working ranchesin the state of New Mexico.
Think about how many cowboys areworking those ranches, that's
just in New Mexico, Montana,and, uh, Idaho and Nevada.
They've all got strong cowboy contingent.
Catherine (04:33):
And when Mike and I and the dogs, when we would be out hiking
in the mountains, during that time,between winter and summer, summer and
winter, we would see a lot of workingcowboys out there as they're gathering
up the cattle to get them onto the
, trucks to move them topasture warmer pasture.
(04:55):
Mm-hmm.
Because where we see them is wayup in the mountains where the
snows are too heavy and the, theanimals, wild animals even migrate.
So anyways, just a remarkablejob that still continues today.
Rick Huff (05:10):
Occasionally there are some modern, , modern things
you find, you, you find someherding being done by helicopter,
I mean, on some of the ranches.
, but there still have to be acertain number of cowboys on the
horses with the full tack andwith the rope, with the lariat.
And the pig and straine totie it up and doing everything
that you've seen in rodeos.
(05:31):
There's, , a particular class of rodeo.
That's a, that's very interesting to watchfor people who are really into finding
out more about the life of the cowboys.
And it's called a working ranch rodeo.
And when you see those being offered,that's where they really do it.
It's milking and it's a lot of differentthings that you don't see in the,
(05:53):
in the big slam dash fiery rodeos.
, the, the bull riding mm-hmmthat, you see that, um.
Ty Murray is popularized now, butthat stuff is not the real cowboy work
that you see that is cowboy sport.
, many of those guys who do the ridinghave been working cowboys, but that sort
(06:15):
of thing, the bull riding and the , nowbulldogging is something that's done
on, out on the prairie, , where youslip off the horse and you have to
have to possibly bring the, bring thethe, the animal down, you know, so it
can be roped and tied or branded orwhatever, or led, led out of danger or
(06:35):
whatever the situation happens to be.
, the cowboys have to do a lot of doctoringout on the mm-hmm out on the range.
They are the vets.
There's not, somebody rolling alongin little truck, you know, saying,
okay, they've gotta be really handy.
They've gotta have a lot ofpractical knowledge in a lot of areas
Catherine (06:53):
Problem solving, critical thinking skills.
That's all interesting not just Americanhistory, but Australian history.
Rick Huff (07:00):
Mm-hmm.
They have a vast network , downthere, the ranches are called
stations and the cowboys arestockman and, , so there's different
terminology but they definitely have
the cowboy culture and one of thefellows who I am proud to have posed for
(07:22):
inclusion into the Western Music Hall ofFame, , wrote hundreds of these stockman
songs and cowboy songs from Australia.
His name was Slim Dusty, andthat's somebody you can look
up and you can find the music.
He recorded well over a hundredalbums and, , , his music
is fascinating to listen to.
(07:42):
His songs are great.
It's great fun, but,uh, look up slim, dusty.
Catherine (07:47):
And that I will do, speaking of music, you also partnered with Hi Busse.
Rick Huff (07:53):
He's the reason I got into the Western music.
Ah,
Catherine (07:56):
okay.
Rick Huff (07:57):
You mentioned that.
So let's get into Hi Busse.
Hi Busse was the founder of, atthe time he was, he was alive.
It was the longest
longest live, is thatthe way you would say it?
, Western Band in existence thatstill had a founding member.
, he started the Frontiersman in 1937.
(08:20):
And, he started it to accompanya young fellow named Leonard Sly,
who had been tapped by Herbert jYates of Republic Studios to become
King of the Cowboys Roy Rogers.
And, um, that all happened becauseof a contract dispute that, , Herbert
(08:40):
j Yates and, gene Autry were havingat the time, and he, they had a
disagreement and Herbert said, okay,I can make another cowboy star.
So he, the first movie thatRoy Rogers len Sly ever made.
He was Bill King of the Cowboys, just as alittle slap, slap, slip, smack to, , gene.
(09:03):
But, then they made nice with eachother everybody and everybody made
money off of the b westerns back there.
But, , Hi had known.
Len Sly when he was, uh, justgetting started, knew him when he
was an aspiring dental student.
Catherine (09:21):
Oh, wow.
And
Rick Huff (09:22):
they were at the same radio station up in the northwest.
If memory serves, it was in Oregon.
And were part of a thing calledthe Midnight Frolics, and both of
them got a little bit of airtimeto sing and do their thing.
Hi was part of a group that atrio of, of accordion players
(09:42):
called The Sons of Italy.
None of them being from Italy, ButHi remembered when, , Roy got the
call or Lynn got the call to go downand, hear, these, uh, these guys
who were, now I'm trying to rememberthe name of the group I blanked
temporarily and it's something likethe Western Mountaineers or something.
But anyway, there was a radio groupthat was, , that he was invited to join
(10:07):
and become part of a trio contingent.
And that
trio Core is what wound uplaunching the Sons of the Pioneers,
uh, with him and Bob Nolan.
And Tim Spencer being the original trio.
, there were some otherpeople that were involved.
Slumber Nichols and acouple of other people.
But, , anyway, Hi getting back to Hi Busse, he became part of the very first writers
(10:33):
of the Purple Sage group in, , California,and had a radio show out there.
He went to other groups.
Roy went to other groups.
But when Roy got the opportunityto get into the movies.
, they launched him on a singing tourto promote his first, , film, which
was called Under Western Stars, and hedidn't know who was going to be backing
(10:59):
him or anything else when he went to,, the Capital Theater in Dallas in 19
37 to promote this film.
And he was so elated to find itwas gonna be Hi and a group of
players that high put together.
So that's, that was the originof the Frontiersman, uh, how
(11:21):
I got involved in all of it.
, Hi, had a lot of adventures and he wasin films Now during the years, in the
forties, now going up in the fifties.
He backtracks Allen Sr.And a lot of others.
And, , he came into myproduction studio one day.
You mentioned some stuff from Huff.
That was the name of my, , recordingbusiness, commercial recording business.
(11:45):
And one morning in through thedoor comes this lanky elderly, very
elegantly dressed Western gentleman,Stetson Western trim cut suit.
And , he came in with a littlebriefcase and he was looking for
help in promoting Western music.
(12:07):
Now I had grown up as a, a little kid,pretty small kid watching a fellow on
local television here named Dick Bills,who was actually Glen Campbell's uncle,
and Glen Campbell played in his band.
The , Sandia Mountain Boys.
I think was the name anyway.
, but that's how he got his start.
(12:30):
, but my only connection with Western Musicwas seeing Dick Bills do some Western and
yodel a bit on his show and running theold Gene Autrey and Roy Rogers movies.
I was one of the kids, of course, who gotup to get a Coke outta the refrigerator.
When the singing started, I wanted to seethe bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
(12:50):
I wanna see that.
, so I didn't really have astrong foundation in it.
And in talking with Hi and learningmore about what he had to offer in
history and his knowledge of songsand how everything came about behind
the scenes, I started researching
(13:10):
western music myself because we puttogether this feature that you mentioned
called Song and Story with Hi Bussy.
It was kind, if you rememberPaul Harvey's rest of the story
Catherine (13:21):
I do.
Rick Huff (13:22):
He would tell the story and build it and build it and
build it and then pop what the whoit was actually about at the end.
That's what we did with Western songs.
We would tell the story and, butI would do it in current time.
I would say the year is1937 or the year is 1946.
(13:44):
So and so goes to see so and soand you'd hear the footsteps or
the car starting, you know, and wemended it dramatically that way.
Hi narrated it, and we'dsay, and that's how.
The gambler with Kenny Rogers cameto be or whatever it happened to be,
the gambler being a Western song.
'cause it's about poker.
(14:05):
, but we started producing that andI wound up releasing old recordings
of Hi's to show where he was in thehistory because one thing that he
didn't care about was self-promotion.
E even to the point where he letstudios change the name of his group.
(14:26):
He would appear in a film withthe Frontiersman, they'd be the
Sunrise Serenade or something.
And it made trying to track his history.
Hell,
Catherine (14:37):
oh, you
Rick Huff (14:37):
know, trying to dig through this.
Okay.
Was that him?
, so.
But anyway, I worked with Hi 1983 hecame in my door and we worked together
on albums and releases and that radiofeature until he passed away in 1994.
And when his wife passed away, Isuddenly realized I was the only
(14:59):
one left who remembered his history.
And so I put out an album of hisrecordings called Hi Partner that had
exactly what these recordings were andwhat he had done and where he had been
at a particular time and able to, toenable certain things to happen, uh,
important parts of Western music history.
(15:21):
But that's how I got into it.
And I swore to him before he passedaway that I would continue every way
I could to promote Western music.
To make people aware of what itis, what the difference is, what
the history and the culture is,and I have held to that promise.
(15:41):
And I'm still doing it.
Catherine (15:42):
Well, and those are amazing, positive imprints of yours because you do
it with dignity and you do it with grace.
Yes.
Rick Huff (15:51):
Gra Grace is a partner in it too.
She's, she's a lot of fun.
Catherine (15:56):
Yeah.
And I appreciate what you do.
You have received accolades frompeople, but also from organizations.
You've been recognized, again,the lifetime achievement award for
New Mexico advertising, but youalso mentioned the Addy Awards.
Rick Huff (16:15):
Well, the Addy Award is the specific, , award that is given
to a campaign or an ad or something.
Um, now it has changed, but back in thetime when radio was more of a, , viable
advertising medium I was winningAddy Awards for Production and Radio.
But the Addy Awards were anannual event , where they
(16:37):
would present, , um, nationally.
I won two National Silver Microphoneawards, which, uh, that was in competition
with people all over the country.
And we did, did one from nun's.
Remember Nunzio's Pizzabefore Gios it was nuns.
We won one of those awards wasfor that and another one, I
forget what the other client was.
(17:00):
Anyway,
Catherine (17:01):
do you have a favorite ad that you've done?
Rick Huff (17:04):
Oh, gee.
Well, I have to say the ones thatwent national, uh, you know, that,
uh, took, were, were pretty high.
, that I remember that were fun todo campaigns that were fun to do.
For more than 40 years herelocally, but the father and
son ads for Lieber's luggage.
That was one that I did formore than 40 years, and I played
(17:25):
both parts and wrote theads, you know, and said, dad,
welcome to lieber's luggage.
And said, son, what are youdoing in the parking lot?
Have you lost your lease?
You know, and it was like he was alwaysneedling the sun, says your prices are
too low, you're gonna go outta business.
And, you know, that was the running gag.
And uh, that was a lot of fun to do.
(17:45):
, particular fun.
, but there have been alot of 'em along my life.
Catherine (17:49):
Yeah.
Well, Lieber's luggage, well we go there.
Rick Huff (17:56):
I don't think he owns it anymore, but
Catherine (17:59):
And Rick, you've done Peter and The Wolf, which would've been amazing.
You've written operettas
Rick Huff (18:05):
oh, and she says, done.
That's narrate the , that was withthe New Mexico Symphony Orchestra.
Yeah.
With Roger Malone.
Yeah.
Catherine (18:11):
That was live and it's always incredible when, when it's
live with an orchestra, it justmakes it so, absolutely entertaining,
Rick Huff (18:19):
In the classical music end of things, , I've, I've worked in so
many different genres of music mm-hmm.
And, and styles.
, I also worked with a fellow namedDanny Crafts here, Daniel Steven
Krafts, , in founding the, uh, a littlecompany, it's called Gonzo Opera.
And the idea of Gonzo opera is beautifulvoices singing outrageous things.
(18:45):
So they're, uh, they're very, uh, uh,they're a lot of fun, uh, especially for
people who understand opera jokes and eventhose who just think opera can be funny.
, opera can be hilarious.
As a matter of fact.
And I've been fortunate to havehad four librettos performed.
Um, here had one, uh, that was donefor children commissioned by Opera
(19:09):
Southwest back in the day, and itwas called, , The H2Opus., and uh,
she asked me if I could do one onair, I did it and it was called gasp.
About this, uh, mogul who was tryingto capture all of the air so he could
bottle it and sell it back to the public.
And, uh, he had a product calledAir Apparent, but you could
(19:33):
actually see the air you breathe.
Oh my gosh.
It's like floating
yellow clouds there, you know.
And it was, it was very goofyand it was a lot of fun to do.
, , had another one, uh,called the Medicine Show.
Uh, the parenthetical sub, titlewas down on the pharma, and we
(19:54):
certainly were down on pharma.
And that one.
Uh, pharmaceuticals.
Pharmaceuticals, yes.
, uh.
P-H-A-R-M-A.
And so, um, uh,
Catherine (20:06):
oh, down.
Uh, I got it.
You
Rick Huff (20:08):
get it down.
Took me a little bit.
Yeah.
I'm moving too fast for you child.
Oh dear.
The old man is moving.
Trying to use your creativity inways that, that are art positive,
as positive as possible in a timewhen it's very hard to be positive.
(20:31):
Uh, I think will win the day in the end.
I think people seek positivity.
Like your program, your podcast,
Catherine (20:41):
I agree.
Your
Rick Huff (20:41):
endeavors here, that's it.
Makes a difference.
Catherine (20:45):
Thank you.
Thank you.
You created New Mexico's firstSoul, funk and Jazz radio station.
Well,
Rick Huff (20:53):
I said I worked in a lot of different types of music.
Yeah, you did.
Well, remember, is that
Catherine (20:57):
station still real?
Rick Huff (20:58):
No, it's the frequency that 94 Rock.
Oh, I was here currently,but it wasn't 94 Rock.
Uh, that was that student stationthat we were talking about earlier.
I, when the last time I becamestudent manager, I decided
to try to make some inroads.
And something that wasn't being offeredsince we did not sell commercials, we
(21:20):
weren't a commercial frequency at all.
We didn't have to worry about sponsorshipand specific ratings and everything.
And I turned it Soul, soul and Jazz.
And, uh, we played some of the funkieststuff out there, , Maceo and the Max,
. What , and then the station downtownlooked at us, said, what are you doing?
(21:41):
And I actually had one of their highand mighty programmers down there
say, Albuquerque is only 2% black.
Who is going to listen to Soul?
Who like Motown was only bought andlistened to by African American people?
My gosh, you know of, ofall the narrow cast thing.
(22:04):
But that was back in 1972 and I wasproud to have started the very first
soul and jazz format in the Southwest.
It was the, I didn't realize itwas, but um, looking back, yep.
I beat the next one by about 10 years, butit, it lasted for, uh, quite a few years.
Catherine (22:26):
That's incredible.
, like I say, the history ofRick Huff and your voice and
all of your positive imprints.
Legacy, legacy, legacy, , for everythingthat you're doing and continuing
to do, including this podcast.
Rick, I have heard your voices, yourdifferent voices throughout the years.
(22:46):
I have been privy to that.
So what are your favoritevoices that you like to do?
Rick Huff (22:51):
Oh, well, and do that well now what I should say.
One of the ways I made a lot of money,uh, early on, and I'll admit to it,
is doing, , cartoon voices that werefamiliar and, , like, uh, most of the
cast, if not the entire cast of SesameStreet, the muppets, there used to be
able to get away with some of that stuffand using it in commercial, uh, ways.
(23:15):
Then something unfortunate happened.
They got not only a soundalike,but a lookalike on television.
I believe if memory serves, it was forBurger King, uh, of Woody Allen, and they
were doing, a bit of his, as part of thecommercial and promoting the product.
(23:39):
He sued and he won, and he should have,, it was justified right on the heels
of that, , one of Bette Mad Midler'sbackup singers saying an imitation
of her in a jingle for Ford Motors.
She sued and won and she should have.
But what it did for us on the locallevel down here, little, little people
(24:00):
trying to make a living, , was mopthat up and suddenly overnight there
was not a call for, , doing, um.
Kermit selling something or whatever.
, so I understand that, butit did carve in kinda deep.
But I tried to, uh, come upwith other, other characters.
But I had a vocal demo that involved65 voices in two and a half minutes.
Catherine (24:25):
Oh my gosh.
Rick Huff (24:27):
But, uh, but it was a lot of that, it was, um,
Kermit the Frog here, you know.
Miss Piggy, you know, thewhole crew, , doing commercial
things, uh, which was wrong.
It, it was wrong.
And I, I'll admit it was, , andit needed to be mopped up.
You people have a right totheir intellectual properties
and their specific properties.
(24:48):
And there you never know if acharacter voice could be really used
for something injurious to the imageof that property, of that character.
And so I certainly understood, but.
Painful.
I couldn't do those impressions anymore.
I I used to have a lot of fun doing it.
Catherine (25:07):
Yeah.
Well, you sure have the talentand you've done a lot of
voices and you have the humor.
Rick Huff (25:13):
I appreciate your, your thoughts on that, but, uh,
no, I, I'm happy with , where itlanded, you know, and I'll do.
Character, voice , and commercials.
One of the things, uh, I've specializedin dialects and all over the years,
you know, I did a little Irish awhile ago for you and everything, but
that's something, you know, at St.
Patrick's Day, you cando the reun for people.
(25:34):
You know.
Every now and then a bakerywants to do something special.
Green cupcake, icing but, , one of thethings in a market like Albuquerque and,
and in New Mexico, when you move offof, move your English, put an accent
over the top of it, French or something,people for whom English is a second
(25:56):
language, have problems understanding it.
, you've started to distort this soundthat they're used to the words coming
and you can actually start to lose apercentage of your, intended audience.
So I certainly, again, understand,, the thinking behind, , not
going down certain avenues,
(26:16):
I always tried to write things formyself, uh, particularly when I wrote
a comedy spot involving a woman.
I would never, ever, ever makethe woman the butt of the joke.
It was always humor on me.
And, I was the dunce or I wasthe one that didn't know and
she would have the information.
You have to be sensitive when you'reusing accents or, or dialects or something
(26:39):
like that in a commercial way thatyou're not, , promoting stereotypes.
Or doing something that somebodycould find legitimately offensive.
And , so I always try to avoid it.
Catherine (26:52):
Yeah.
Rick Huff (26:52):
Positive imprint, you know,
, Catherine (26:55):
again, that's not just marketing, but that is
also the dignity of the person.
So, I always like to end the showwith your last inspiring words,
Rick, as you're thinking about it.
Thank you again forbeing here on the show.
Rick Huff (27:09):
Well, my, my great pleasure.
Okay.
Inspiring words to live by.
Um, I know we are in aparticularly tough time right now.
There can be moments of desperationwhen you see things and hear things,
and, , worse yet, imagine thingsthat may or may not come about.
(27:32):
But remember, it's a long curve.
, life is basically a pendulum and it swingsto the right and it swings to the left,
and , it very seldom stops in the middle.
, if it did stop in the middle,we wouldn't be getting anywhere.
, take it all with a grain of salt.
, take it all with somepatience, , and see where it goes.
(27:53):
I have some friends who read tarot cards.
Not that I'm highly into that, but theyseem to feel relaxed at the moment.
They seem to feel thatthings are going to work out.
However that happens, we don't know yet.
Or maybe, you know, by the time youhave found this podcast, but, find
peace, , in the knowledge that, um.
(28:15):
it's gone on a long time.
, life continues and life has itsdifferent rivulets and tributaries,
and you never know where new aspectsof it are going to come from.
So give yourself a chance to enjoy it.
Catherine (28:31):
Rick Huff, thank you so much for being the voice for the introduction
here on your positive imprint.
I appreciate you so much.
Rick Huff (28:41):
Thank you ma'am.
Catherine (28:42):
You can learn more about Rick by going to iwesternmusic.org for
International Western Music and I haveRick here today, so he's going to do the.
Outro.
Rick Huff (28:55):
Thanks for listening.
Don't forget to sign up for email updates.
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Thanks for listening.
Your positive imprint.
What's your pi?
Catherine (29:15):
Your Positive Imprint is a free podcast.
If you'd like to buy me a coffeeto help fund the production
of this podcast, here's how.
Go to buymeacoffee.com/Yourpositiveimprintand any support you offer
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Thank you so much for your support andfor listening to your positive imprint.
(29:37):
So try to change your perspective inorder to understand the reality of others.
And until next time, enjoy listeningto over 200 episodes of your positive
imprint, your positive imprint.
What's your P.I.?
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