S. Omar Barker

S. Omar Barker (1894- 1985), an oft-recited cowboy poet, was born in a log cabin in New Mexico where he lived his entire life as a rancher, teacher and writer. He published many books, includingVientos de las Sierras (1924), Buckaroo Ballads (1928) and Rawhide Rhymes: Singing Poems of the Old West (Doubleday, 1968). Legend has it that he added the S. before his name so that we would the only cowboy on the range with the initials S.O.B. He is perhaps best known for his poem "One Way of Proposin'", which was recently popularized and put to music by a southern California band named The WigBillies.