ARTCORE presents THE WESTERN TROUBADORS

Overview

Kerry Grombacher and Aspen Black, both award-winning solo artists, have worked together as a duo, The Western Troubadours, since 2014. Influenced by the English ballad tradition, the string-band music of Aspen’s Appalachian home, and the corridos of the desert Southwest, where Kerry has lived and worked, their songs tell stories of the people and events that shaped the west.

Kerry Grombacher plays guitar and mandolin. His song “Range of the Buffalo” was named the 2021 Song of the Year by the International Western Music Association. He’s been featured on the ABC-TV adventure travel show Born to Explore and on the internationally released Putumayo World Records CD Cowboy Playground. Kerry has released six albums of original songs, and his songs have been recorded by artists such as Jim Jones, Belinda Gail, The Texas Trailhands, Gary Prescott, Chris Chandler, and Trails & Rails. There’s a room named for him at the Sands Motel in Grants, New Mexico on Historic Route 66.

Aspen Black plays guitar and bass. Aspen’s song, “As Cowboy as They Come,” was awarded a 2026 Will Rogers Medallion for Cowboy Songwriting, and the song was named 2025 Working Cowboy Song of the Year by the International Western Music Association. “Born to Be a Cowgirl” was awarded a 2024 Spur Award by the Western Writers of America, and she received a Will Rogers Medallion for her 2018 album of cowboy poetry Tales From the Road. Her Lovin’ the West won the Rural Roots Music Commission’s 2017 Classic Western CD of the Year award, and her Eastern-Western Cowgirl was the Rural Roots Music Commission’s 2015 Female Country-Western CD of the Year.

Special CitiWerks Cafe bistro food and drink menu created for ARTCORE attendees to purchase and enjoy.

Partial funding is from Natrona County School District No. 1, the Wyoming Community Foundation – Casper Area, the Wyoming Arts Council and Creative West, through the National Endowment for the Arts and the Wyoming State Legislature.