Cowboy to perform, yodel at USU
Wyoming’s cowboy and 1998 World Champion Yodeler, Kevin McNiven, will come to Utah State University to put on a western show filled with authentic cowboy music and stories.
Kevin McNiven will play March 21 starting a 7 p.m. in the Kent Concert Hall. Josh Maynard will start the night off songs he has written over the years. He is from Riverton, Utah and is majoring in the Animal Science as well, he said.
The show is sponsored by the Animal Science department, KIX 96, and the ASUSU. The show was mostly organized by McNiven’s son, Travis McNiven. The show will be $6 for students with USU I.D. and $8 for non-students. All proceeds will benefit the Animal Science club, said Travis McNiven.
Kevin McNiven is no stranger to the spotlight or to show business. He has been singing all his life, and professionally for about six years. He has always played guitar, just as he has always been a horseman in his home state, Wyoming. This gave him an opportunity to work with some of the best ranchers and ranching outfits in the world as he grew up in the surrounding areas of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, he said.
His work with horses involves doing background settings and work for movies or commercials and documentaries. He also takes people on trails like the route used for the Oregon Trail.
All of his work with horses and his way life are what brought him to his professional music career. The state of Wyoming wanted a cowboy to sing in certain events and they asked Kevin McNiven to be that person. Another reason for this was his amazing cowboy yodeling voice, which is melodic and easy-sounding.
Kevin McNiven asked Nashville producer Jim Malloy, who has produced several gold and silver albums, to help him out. He met Malloy through work on infomercials for the satellite together. He went to Nashville, worked in Evergreen and the end result was “It’s Wyoming,” with songs based around Wyoming.
“I never planned on doing a second album, the idea just developed that I could produce more if I wanted to,” Kevin McNiven said. “I was good as anyone with horses and I could entertain around the campfire at night,” Kevin McNiven said. “It gave me a stronger edge and allowed me to pick who I could work for.”
Kevin has always had a strong love for horses, so eventually he had his own team of horses. He started using them in movies with “Far and Away.” The production required more than 600 horses for the Oklahoma land race scene, and Kevin McNiven was one of a few ranchers approached. His horses were well broken in because he used them for Oregon Trail Rides and other expeditions. The horses had always traveled around, and Kevin was asked to stay three months instead of three weeks, said Travis McNiven.
“It kind of snowballed from there,” Travis McNiven said. “Now he does one to two movies a year.”
His horses have been used for background scenes in movies like “The Patriot,” “The Postman,” “Tombstone,” “Geronimo,” and other period movies from the 1700s and 1800s.
He has also done background work for productions by the Church of Latter-day Saints, including “Legacy” and “Mountain of the Lord.” He is also currently working with National Geographic Magazine on a Lewis and Clark movie which will most likely be out in 2002, said his wife, Patti McNiven.
There have been a few disadvantages for the whole family a long the way, including trying to schedule around long absences from home and long distances he has to truck the horses. Still, he said, there have been a lot of advantages.
“With the versatility of what I do, I never get bored and I get to meet a lot of interesting people,” Kevin McNiven said.
His three children are home-taught, and sometimes when Dad has to go somewhere for a long time, the family loads up in the trailer and goes too. They also get to perform on stage with their father. His youngest child will do something on stage, another will dance and he has written a song with his second eldest son. They also learn how to work together and deal with the public. The experiences have drawn them closer together as a family, Patti McNiven said.
“The children got to see where Mark Twain lived, they get many opportunities to see the world and see where their place is in it,” Patti McNiven said.
People planning to attend the concert can plan on a night of cowboy music with original songs and the stories behind them, and they will hear a lot of yodeling. In addition to that, they will hear a soothing and melodic voice which is loved by many, Travis McNiven said.
They will see a cowboy who still lives by the cowboy code adopted by Gene Autrey and partially by Roy Rogers, which is a way of life.
“The student population will enjoy the country music for an evening, no matter what walk of life they may come from,” Travis McNiven said. “In having my dad come I will be able to share a little of what I have grown up with.”