Mike Beck

Mike Beck

Cowboy Singer / Songwriter
Mike Beck

Mike Beck is an engaging acoustic solo artist who regularly performs in the United States and Europe, from house concerts and barns, to festivals and The Country Music Hall of Fame. Mike is a regularly featured performer at The National Cowboy Poetry and Music Gathering.

Beck's mastery of the guitar works wonderfully to support his original songs, story telling, and wide array of the American songbook. From traditional cowboy songs to Dylan and Haggard, Mike has a deep appreciation of master songwriters.

 

With seven albums under his belt, Mike’s original songs have been recognized as some of the finest compositions on Western Americana out there. The Western Horseman magazine recently picked "The 13 Best Cowboy Songs," and included two compositions by Mike, putting him along side other writers such as Ian Tyson, Tom Russell, Lucinda Williams, and Gene Autry.

MUSIC SAMPLES

Old Chisholm Trail

Vaquero

California Dreamin'

Mike Beck

"Mike plays the guitar like a Byrd. His strings do things that mine could never do. They obey the slightest finger-touch commands like a fine reining horse."
Ramblin' Jack Elliot

"Mike Beck is a working cowboy, who also happens to be a wonderful singer and songwriter. His songs, "Vaquero" and "In Old California" are beautifully crafted reminders of the history and traditions of 'the Golden State'."
Mary McCaslin

"Mike Beck is one of those writers with the cowboy in his heart. His songs are filled with braided rawhide and mission bells. Listen up, friend!"
Tom Russell

"Mike's plowing new ground. He's not re-recording the old Hollywood matinee music from the 30's and 40's. You've got to have focus and keep producing good stuff. I think he walks that ... he's better than all those newer western guys."
Ian Tyson

"This cowboy music and poetry is a wonderful thing, a tribute to life on the range."
Gene Parsons/Meridian Green

"Beck had intricate patterns of finger-picking going on that spoke of open range and endless skies. This was cowboy music but with the elements of the other folk music styles up front ... plus a hint of harder more rock brewing also."
Gator News


"Montana-based Mike Beck sings and writes about the West. Mike's songs often evoke the language and characters of the West. "In Old California," with a gut-string guitar lead like that of Marty Robbins' "El Paso;" the waltz "Vaquero"; about how urban sprawl has devoured the West; "Ropin' To Do" about the joy of the work, and the celebratory rocking "Life of a Buckaroo" -they all spring from the fount of real experience. Beck is a winsome singer, writer and player."
Sing Out

"'Would you go way out West with me?' Mike Beck sings, and that's where he takes listeners ... Beck is himself a working cowboy, and his choices in both original and cover tunes are driven by that. Beck's lyrical vision of the West ... he does have a distinct viewpoint and style."
Dirty Linen

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