CHINOOK, MT - Ken Overcast is no stranger to the stage or studio. His sixth CD is scheduled for release shortly, but it's Ken's poetry that seems to be making more waves lately. Prairie Poetry, Vol. 1 was released in January, 1999 and has already earned him a nomination from the Academy of Western Artists for Cowboy Poetry Album of the year. It is also in the running for a nomination in the spoken work category by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, The Grammys, and has received a nomination for Montana's Governor's Award for the Arts.
      Ken's poetry has also managed to somehow win the hearts of many radio programmers, which isn't all that easy for a spoken word CD. When The Mist of the Wild Rose was recently aired on the syndicated program "Grass Roots Gold," Dave Wilson, the originator and one of the show's hosts commented, "It received the strongest listener reaction of anything I've ever put on the air. People are still calling the station a month later. Ken has a way of putting into words something that just reaches out and grabs your heart."
      Will a Montana Cowboy really capture a Grammy nomination? Who knows? "With competition like Pope John Paul II, Burt Reynolds, and Oprah Winfrey, just getting recognized in their company is quite a compliment," states Ken.
      There is a website dedicated to the music and poetry this Montana Cowboy creates at kenovercast.com. He is also the author of a regular column entitled Meadow Muffins.
      Overcast, who is a full time rancher as well as performing 100 concert dates a year, has also been previously nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year of the Country Gospel Music Guild, and Male Performer of the Year by the Western Music Association. He was crowned International Cowboy Yodeling Champion by the Western Music Association in Tucson in 1997.