Beth Millick
Beth Millick, lovingly known as the Accordion Queen of Custer County, has turned a lifelong passion for the squeeze box into a signature sound that’s all her own. With an astonishing collection of 22 accordions, Beth brings heart, humor, and authenticity to every performance. Her music bridges generations — blending old-time charm with modern storytelling — and her vibrant spirit has made her a local legend across the mountain West. Whether she’s leading a crowd in song or swapping stories about her well-traveled instruments, Beth Millick embodies the soul of small-town Americana: genuine, joyful, and always in tune with the people she plays for. - Music Miles Podcast 
Johnny & Jen
Music has always been a family affair for Jen & Johnny. This Boise-based father-daughter folk duo has spent more than a decade sharing songs, stories, and harmonies shaped by a lifetime in music. Johnny Shoes is a longtime Idaho musician and songwriter whose influence extends through generations of the local music community. Jennifer grew up surrounded by guitars, musicians, and songwriters before eventually taking her place beside her Dad on stage. Together, they blend folk, country, and Americana traditions with rich harmonies, heartfelt storytelling, and the easy chemistry that comes from a lifetime of making music together. 
Ted Hoffman
A retired veterinarian and rancher from Mountain Home, ID, Ted Hoffman has enjoyed assisting his daughter assume management of the cattle and ranch and looks forward to seeing grandchildren do the same. He finds the management of cattle and natural resources a fascinating challenge with profound positive impacts on those who follow that path. Veterinary and ranch work both require physical and mental abilities and work - a good balance for life. A ranch also requires family participation and cooperation leading to many shared memories and accomplishments. Ted often describes that, “Altogether it creates a fascinating and increasingly rare opportunity for both individual and family challenges and successes.” Drawing on personal experiences and interaction with so many clients, family members and neighbors, Ted finds the material for the poetry and music he has been writing for 40 years. In 2021 he published a book, “This is Still the West” containing his poetry and drawings by John Schutte, a talented artist living in Bruneau, ID. 
David Anderson
David is a homegrown Utah boy who grew up raising and training horses. At age 16 he became a jockey and began traveling the country racing horses with his father. Originally David played the drums but after he started traveling he couldn't take his drums because they wouldn't fit in the tack room of the trailer. So he decided to pick up a guitar, taught himself to play, and he has been playing and singing ever since. David sings western music, which is about what he knows best, riding horses and being a cowboy. He participates in many cowboy poetry and western music gatherings all across the Western United States. He has also been nominated for and won many awards such as Male Vocalist of the Year for the Western Music Association, Utah chapter, Song and album of the year for the WMA, and the Golden Note award for the Cowboy Poets of Idaho 2009. David enjoys bringing his music to others by performing at care centers, fundraisers, and parties. He is often accompanied by his two daughters Amanda and Jenny Lynn who have been singing since before they could walk. He also often performs along side of a well know cowboy poet who is also no stranger to the Lost N Lava stage. Yep, that might be a hint to next week’s announcement… David is a talented singer/guitarist and would love to share his western music with you for any occasion. |
Tony Argento
Tony Argento, Cowboy poet, humorist, story teller, historian, entertainer, public speaker, writer, emcee an’ ambassador of cowboy poetry. Tony was introduced to cowboy poetry from his Granddad. From that point forward, he began reciting at age 5 in ’65 with his first memorized poem, “The Devil’s Tail” by Gail Gardner. Tony calls his "style o’ recitin,’ Tuned Up and Twisted." Once you see him perform, you’ll know why. A common statement heard from the audience is, “He’s quite animated.” He does voice animation, vocal sound effects and makes good use of props. Tony says, “Once you get a transfusion of ‘cowboy poetry’ in your blood, you’ll be hooked for life. That’s what happened to me. An’ YES! It’s VERY contagious!” Tony’s line-up includes: Classic, patriotic, humor, rodeo, gunslingers an’ drifters, novelty, original, gold rush, solemn an’ more. In addition, he does Civil War recitations such as the Gettysburg Address, and Lincoln’s favorite second Inaugural Address. He also recites the most famous letter from the Civil War. 
Bryan Dilworth
Bryan currently serves as the Lost N Lava Vice President and has held nearly every position on our Board of Directors throughout the years. He is always willing to step in and help in any way possible, and his dedication to keeping the cowboy lifestyle and heritage alive is unmatched. His donations, guidance, and overall contributions have played a major role in helping the Lost N Lava Cowboy Gathering become what it is today. 
Poppa Mac
Poppa Mac (Geoff Mackay) Born in Manitoba and raised throughout Western Canada. Geoff was drawn to the cowboy life at an early age. He's done about everything there is to do on a ranch, starting as a Waddie and working his way up to wrangling. He even did a season or 12 as the camp cook for other ranchers before founding the M2 cattle company. He has helped to break and train a number of working ranch horses for a variety of clients. He spent many years working in the rodeo as a rodeo clown, wrangler, and preacher. He is the founder of the Canadian Rodeo Wranglers Association which helps run rodeos throughout Western Canada. He can still be found helping out at friends ranches and farms. Poppa Mac assures that all his poems are absolutely true except for the stuff he makes up. He shares real life in poetry and stories which connect with the audience, with his poetry coming from a place of someone who has been there and done that. His travels have taken him all over Canada and the United States delighting audiences at trail rides, rodeos, cowboy churches and gatherings. 
Thatch Elmer
Thatch Elmer, from Harrisville, Utah. A Wyoming native, Elmer is passionate about the work and art that have encompassed several generations of his family, including Howard Peterson, his great-grandfather in Uinta County who shared the stories of his long life as a cowboy. The teen has skyrocketed to fame in his niche during the last six years. At 9, he recited his first poem in his class – Goldbuckle Dreams, representing his passion for rodeos. Soon, audiences were captivated by how such a young performer eased so steadily into an art form dominated by peers two or more generations older than him. he received a scholarship award at the National Cowboy Poetry gathering in Elko, Nevada. A year later, at the same event, he shared his work in several sessions and yet a year later, he was billed as a featured entertainment. His work has been published at Cowboypoetry.com and has been featured in several books and recorded compilations. And, the art form has drawn audiences, especially from outside the United States, including Australia and Europe. |
Buddy DeVore
Born in Othello, Washington and raised in Southwest Idaho, Buddy DeVore grew up surrounded by ranchers, cowboys and Country Music. He started playing mandolin and singing at the age of 8, and got his first guitar at 14. He started learning songs by singing along with records and the radio, and has developed a huge repertoire of somewhere between 3 and 4 hundred songs.
He now makes his home in New Plymouth, Idaho, where he and his wife Samantha are raising their three sons.. After spending 14 years as a professional cowboy throughout the western states, Buddy began to focus more seriously on his music about 15 years ago, and began playing professionally. In 2017, he brought together several other talented musicians from Southwest Idaho to form Buddy DeVore & the Faded Cowboys. With their energetic brand of Western Honky Tonk music, the band plays extensively at venues and festivals throughout the Mountain Northwest. The Faded Cowboys consist of Buddy DeVore - lead vocal and guitar, Bernie Reilly - upright bass, guitar and vocals, Rob Matson - guitar and vocals.
Their shows feature the best of classic traditional Country Music, as well as original material written by Buddy. The band released their first album, "Beautiful Day" in November, 2019, and it is currently enjoying critical success as well as airplay in the U.S. and overseas. They have a new album, “To Save a Miserable Hide”, that was released in Fall of 2024.
Born in Othello, Washington and raised in Southwest Idaho, Buddy DeVore grew up surrounded by ranchers, cowboys and Country Music. He started playing mandolin and singing at the age of 8, and got his first guitar at 14. He started learning songs by singing along with records and the radio, and has developed a huge repertoire of somewhere between 3 and 4 hundred songs.
He now makes his home in New Plymouth, Idaho, where he and his wife Samantha are raising their three sons.. After spending 14 years as a professional cowboy throughout the western states, Buddy began to focus more seriously on his music about 15 years ago, and began playing professionally. In 2017, he brought together several other talented musicians from Southwest Idaho to form Buddy DeVore & the Faded Cowboys. With their energetic brand of Western Honky Tonk music, the band plays extensively at venues and festivals throughout the Mountain Northwest. The Faded Cowboys consist of Buddy DeVore - lead vocal and guitar, Bernie Reilly - upright bass, guitar and vocals, Rob Matson - guitar and vocals.
Their shows feature the best of classic traditional Country Music, as well as original material written by Buddy. The band released their first album, "Beautiful Day" in November, 2019, and it is currently enjoying critical success as well as airplay in the U.S. and overseas. They have a new album, “To Save a Miserable Hide”, that was released in Fall of 2024.
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Brenn Hill
For more than two decades, Brenn Hill has stood under a cowboy hat and behind a microphone on countless stages entertaining audiences, blending his voice with bending guitar strings in a performance style all his own. The songs he sings are also mostly his own, earning Brenn recognition as one of the premier musical chroniclers of cowboy life. As a young singer and songwriter, Brenn learned to wield a pen and guitar pick long before learning to handle a razor blade. Many of his early compositions—“Call You Cowboy,” “Roundup Fire,” “Burnin’ Hair”—reflect a love for and knowledge of the West well beyond his years. These songs, and others from his repertoire, are already entrenched in the cowboy songbook and well on the way to taking their place among the timeless classics. But owing to age and experience developed over the course of a dozen albums while coming to terms with more than his share of life’s travails, Brenn’s songwriting has matured—and soared. While his long-lived love for the West and cowboy ways continues in his more recent compositions, like a skilled, seasoned poet he uses lyrical language to peel back the layers of life to reveal a deeper, more meaningful, more affective, more effective, understanding of our world. What words, ever, have captured the cowboy urge better than the chorus of “Ridin’ Job” from Ode to Selway: “We rode the Glory Trail my friend / That leads right straight to God / Still searchin’ everywhere west / To find a ridin’ job.” And what words have looked back on that kind of life more succinctly than these, from the Spirit Rider song “Land of No Return”: “For I lived a life of freedom and I died a cowboy’s death / And there’s nothin’ more to ask of any man.” Given the current state of social upheaval in the world, there has been a lot of talk of late about the so-called Cowboy Code. In his song “A Better Friend” from the album How You Heal, Brenn acknowledges the cliché born of the myth, but takes it a step further: “To stand against the winds of change and go the extra mile / To treat my fellow man in kind with an honest word and smile / And sink a spur even when it hurts and always do my best / Never be afraid to wear my heart out on my chest.” As those lines reveal, Brenn Hill is far from the dispassionate, steely-eyed cowboy of legend. He is quick to acknowledge in song the deep, raw emotions that drive us, to recognize the influence of others in our lives, and to accept the role of a higher power in events both miraculous and mundane. And, most of all, Brenn lays bare in his music a willingness to set aside the fiction of cowboy stoicism and wear his heart out on his chest. Brenn lives with his wife and three children in Hooper, Utah, where he performs a complicated balancing act. Between keeping the home fires burning, cheering from sporting field sidelines, going horseback for fun, negotiating a busy performance and travel schedule, and working in the recording studio he still manages to find time to write. |
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