Hal Cannon is a songwriter, musician, radio producer and folklorist.
He has been playing music most of his life and has gathered together many original songs and traditional folk tunes and songs. A new collection of his original music was released on CD in 2011. Legendary producer Jim Rooney joined Hal, members of Red Rock Rondo and other fine Utah musicians to complete the production. Click here to order the self-titled album.
Hal performs and records with the folk ensembles, 3hattio and Red Rock Rondo
Best known, musically for his band, the Deseret String Band (a.k.a. The Bunkhouse Orchestra), the group made a specialty of researching and performing 19th-century music from the West. Together from 1972-2002, the band released several recordings, several which are still in available. They toured extensively in Europe and the United States, having been the official band for the America/3 yacht team that won the America's Cup. They also performed at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Some the bands albums can be purchased digitally or on CD. Click here for details.
The founding Director of the Western Folklife Center in Elko, Nevada, and its famous child, the Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Hal has published scores of books and recordings on the folk arts of the West including his best selling anthology, Cowboy Poetry, A Gathering. More recently Cannon along with producer Taki Telonidis produced almost a hundred features for public radio. Click here to listen to many of these radio stories. Their series, What’s In A Song, aired on NPR’s Weekend Edition on 800 stations across the country. They also produced short audio documentaries for NPR including the award winning “First Flight, First Hand” about the Wright Brothers. Past productions include the Folk Economy Series for Marketplace. With his wife, author Teresa Jordan, he created the series The Open Road: Exploring America's Favorite Places which was featured on Savvy Traveler. Voices of the West was a six-part series of one-hour specials on holiday folk traditions produced by Cannon and Mary Beth Kirchner. Their episode "A Cowboy Christmas" won a bronze medal at the New York International Radio Festival. Hal has recently co-produced a radio documentary, In the Footsteps of John Lomax, for Australia's Radio National. Click Here for details and to listen to the program. Since, Hal has produced a handful of full length documentaries for Radio National in Sydney, Australia on subjects, ranging from "What a Cowboy Hears," an investigation into Mayan music from Chiapas, Mexico.
Cannon and Telonidis also produced television documentaries. Why the Cowboy Sings aired on PBS nationally in winter of 2003. It garnered a Rocky Mountain Emmy and a Special Jury Award at the Houston Film Festival. A 16-minute high-definition version is part of the permanent exhibit at the Western Folklife Center in Elko, Nevada. Their hour music special, Red Rock Rondo, A Zion Canyon Song Cycle garnered two Emmy Awards.
Cannon has been awarded three Wrangler Awards from the Cowboy Hall of Fame; received the 1998 Will Rogers Lifetime Achievement Award; was given the Utah Governor's Award in the Arts in 1999 and the Governor's Award in the Humanities in 2002. He was presented the distinguished alumni award from the University of Utah Communications Department in 1999 and the Benjamin Botkin Award from the American Folklore Society. He was the founding Folk Arts Coordinator for the Utah Arts Council from 1976 through 1985, where he was best known for being curator of the Grand Beehive Exhibit and the Utah Folk Art Exhibit. He was honored as Utah performer of the year by Governor Gary Herbert in 2015.
Hal and Teresa live in the small town of Virgin, Utah at the doorstep of Zion National Park. Hal's daughter, Anneliese lives in Salt Lake City with her son Paul James and partner Wolfgang. She teaches at Westminster College.
Contact: halcannon@mac.com
He has been playing music most of his life and has gathered together many original songs and traditional folk tunes and songs. A new collection of his original music was released on CD in 2011. Legendary producer Jim Rooney joined Hal, members of Red Rock Rondo and other fine Utah musicians to complete the production. Click here to order the self-titled album.
Hal performs and records with the folk ensembles, 3hattio and Red Rock Rondo
Best known, musically for his band, the Deseret String Band (a.k.a. The Bunkhouse Orchestra), the group made a specialty of researching and performing 19th-century music from the West. Together from 1972-2002, the band released several recordings, several which are still in available. They toured extensively in Europe and the United States, having been the official band for the America/3 yacht team that won the America's Cup. They also performed at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Some the bands albums can be purchased digitally or on CD. Click here for details.
The founding Director of the Western Folklife Center in Elko, Nevada, and its famous child, the Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Hal has published scores of books and recordings on the folk arts of the West including his best selling anthology, Cowboy Poetry, A Gathering. More recently Cannon along with producer Taki Telonidis produced almost a hundred features for public radio. Click here to listen to many of these radio stories. Their series, What’s In A Song, aired on NPR’s Weekend Edition on 800 stations across the country. They also produced short audio documentaries for NPR including the award winning “First Flight, First Hand” about the Wright Brothers. Past productions include the Folk Economy Series for Marketplace. With his wife, author Teresa Jordan, he created the series The Open Road: Exploring America's Favorite Places which was featured on Savvy Traveler. Voices of the West was a six-part series of one-hour specials on holiday folk traditions produced by Cannon and Mary Beth Kirchner. Their episode "A Cowboy Christmas" won a bronze medal at the New York International Radio Festival. Hal has recently co-produced a radio documentary, In the Footsteps of John Lomax, for Australia's Radio National. Click Here for details and to listen to the program. Since, Hal has produced a handful of full length documentaries for Radio National in Sydney, Australia on subjects, ranging from "What a Cowboy Hears," an investigation into Mayan music from Chiapas, Mexico.
Cannon and Telonidis also produced television documentaries. Why the Cowboy Sings aired on PBS nationally in winter of 2003. It garnered a Rocky Mountain Emmy and a Special Jury Award at the Houston Film Festival. A 16-minute high-definition version is part of the permanent exhibit at the Western Folklife Center in Elko, Nevada. Their hour music special, Red Rock Rondo, A Zion Canyon Song Cycle garnered two Emmy Awards.
Cannon has been awarded three Wrangler Awards from the Cowboy Hall of Fame; received the 1998 Will Rogers Lifetime Achievement Award; was given the Utah Governor's Award in the Arts in 1999 and the Governor's Award in the Humanities in 2002. He was presented the distinguished alumni award from the University of Utah Communications Department in 1999 and the Benjamin Botkin Award from the American Folklore Society. He was the founding Folk Arts Coordinator for the Utah Arts Council from 1976 through 1985, where he was best known for being curator of the Grand Beehive Exhibit and the Utah Folk Art Exhibit. He was honored as Utah performer of the year by Governor Gary Herbert in 2015.
Hal and Teresa live in the small town of Virgin, Utah at the doorstep of Zion National Park. Hal's daughter, Anneliese lives in Salt Lake City with her son Paul James and partner Wolfgang. She teaches at Westminster College.
Contact: halcannon@mac.com