MARK LEE GARDNER
Historian, Writer, Musician of the Western Experience
A professional historian, author, musician and consultant, Mark has worked with the National Park Service, PBS Television, National Geographic Magazine, the Colorado Endowment for the Humanities, the New Mexico Humanities Council, and numerous state and local historic sites and museums. He writes for both popular and scholarly audiences, having published with several university presses and periodicals such as New Mexico Magazine, Journal of the West, and Living History Magazine. He has written a number of interpretive booklets for National Park Service sites, including Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site, and Santa Fe Trail National Historic Trail (click on Mark's Books for more). Mark's critically acclaimed new book, To Hell on a Fast Horse: Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and the Epic Chase to Justice in the Old West, is on sale now wherever books are sold.
For special online features related to the book (including a cool photo album of Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett Country), go to:
www.ToHellonaFastHorse.com
Watch Mark's video trailer for the book on YouTube here.
And watch Mark's Book TV program, "Billy the Kid in Story and Song," here.
In addition to his research and writing, Mark is an award-winning performer of the music of the 19th and early 20th-century American West. He has entertained audiences with his historic music at numerous venues, from the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri, to the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Mark currently performs with his friend and fellow music historian Rex Rideout of Conifer, Colorado (www.TimeTravelMusic.com). Mark and Rex were recognized by True West Magazine as the "Best Musical Tour of the West of 2009." Their popular CD, Frontier Favorites: Old-Time Music of the Wild West, and their award-winning book and CD, Jack Thorp's Songs of the Cowboys, are available for purchase here.
2010-2011 Highlights and Upcoming Events
July 3: Mark appeared on the popular radio show Boomer Alley. You can listen to the archived show on the Boomer Alley web site.
July 14: On this date, in 1881, Pat Garrett shot and killed Billy the Kid. One hundred and twenty-nine years later, the Los Angeles Times published Mark's op-ed on a possible pardon for Billy. Read the article here.
July 16: Mark and Rex were the featured entertainment for "Chuck Wagon Night" at the New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe.
July 19-22: Mark spoke at the Wild West History Association's annual Roundup, held this year at the Inn of the Mountain Gods on the Mescalero Apache Reservation in Lincoln County, New Mexico. For more info, click here.
August 2: Mark appeared on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer discussing the controversy surrounding a possible gubernatorial pardon for Billy the Kid. Watch the segment and read the article here.
August 16: Mark was quoted in the New York Times concerning the continuing controversy over a possible pardon for Billy the Kid. Read the article here.
September 5-October 31: Mark's exhibit, The Power of Music, is on display at the Doss Heritage and Culture Center, Weatherford, Texas.
June 10-September 4, 2011: Mark's exhibit, The Power of Music, is on display at the Long Island Museum of American Art, History & Carriages, Stony Brook, New York.
September 25-November 20, 2011: Mark's exhibit, The Power of Music, is on display at the Musical Instrument Museum, Tempe, Arizona.
"Don't take your guns to town, Bill." -- Pat Garrett
