The Review Independent
By David Sale
February 16, 2005
"ZIS students write songs
with cowboy duo"
ZILLAH -- Fourth-grade students at
Zillah Intermediate School had their words set to music this
week, with the help of performers "Cowboy Buck and Elizabeth."
At the invitation of music teacher Michael Brant, the Castle
Rock, Wash., duo held a four-day songwriting workshop in
Zillah last week, helping the students create a CD of their
own tunes.
Formerly a manager of the 1960s folk group the New Christy
Minstrels, Paul Stierle, aka "Cowboy Buck," and his wife
Elizabeth settled in the Northwest in 1989 and began a second
career as country-western children's performers.
"It started out as a program on Washington state history and
blossomed into this," Stierle said of their act.
"We perform a lot, but songwriting is what we do most of.
We got the idea from a teacher in Idaho who asked us to
present a class on it, and it's become really popular."
The duo led brainstorming sessions with the kids, with
Elizabeth taking down suggestions for lyrics while Paul
created the right tune on his guitar....
"It's like baking a pizza, everyone adds their own
ingredients," Stierle said.
"We're just the facilitators. The kids come up with all
the words, and sometimes even a dance routine to go with
them."
The ZIS student's tunes brought down the house at a
performance Thursday at Hilton Elementary, with ZIS students
Griselda Dias, Kirsten Ritchie, Jachelle Gorham and Araceli
Leon, leading the elementary students in a dance....
| 
