Rope tricks and yodels are in store for Tuesday's audience

By VICKI BENNINGTON

July 20, 2007 - 3:42PM

ALTON - With his talent for yodeling and rope trick techniques, cowboy Randy Erwin rounds up audiences for his Midwest summer library tour.

Dressed in Western attire, complete with a 10-gallon hat and guitar, Erwin sings, yodels and invites audiences to sing a long with the music.

His rope tricks are always a popular part of the show and everyone wants a chance to try that, too.

"It's not as difficult as it looks," Erwin said. "It takes practice, but it's mostly physics. I let the rope do what it wants to do, and the physics take over after a certain point and show you what needs to be done."

He uses a solid, cotton cord and taught himself the tricks.

"I want everyone to have fun and, hopefully, remember something they learned from the show, whether it's a song, a story or a rope trick," Erwin said.

Along with the fast-paced music and ropes, Erwin spins some tall cowboy tales and shares a little cowboy history.

"The origin of the whole cowboy culture is pretty interesting," Erwin said. "I talk about how they lived and worked, the animals they had to work with and some they had to fight against."

Erwin said he hopes to help steer kids in the right direction, too.

"If they get interested in some of the stories I talk about - like Pecos Bill - they may want to pick up a book and read some more," he added.

Originally from Texas, Erwin now lives in Springfield. He graduated from the University of Texas with a radio, television and film degree, specializing in music. Growing up he always loved music, memorizing symphonies using an old record player.

He practiced for hours a day, and at 25, his full baritone kicked in and he found he could just naturally yodel.

Though he took several years of classical piano and trumpet lessons, he later switched to a polka band, then a country-western cover band. In Dallas he became part of a western swing yodeling group and began touring and performing for adults and children alike.

Cowboy Randy Erwin's far-ranging voice helped him beat out hundreds of other potential yodelers for Walt Disney's "Home on the Range," released in 2004. Erwin provided the yodeling in the song "Yodel-Adle-Eedle-Idle-Oo" used by character Alameda Slim, played by Randy Quaid. In the movie, Slim used yodeling to hypnotize and steal cattle. Since yodeling is universal, his voice is on all 32 language releases of the film and music.

Erwin has four nationally distributed CDs and has provided music for several other film scores and television commercials. He has performed on the BBC Radio and Television, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the ABC Radio Network, and National Public Radio, presented performances at The Library of Congress, Carnegie Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Wembley Arena, The New Orleans Jazz Festival and many other venues and festivals across the United States, Great Britain and Canada.

When not cowboying, he has a permanent acting position, performing eight times a day, four days a week in the "Ghosts of the Library" exhibit at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield. So he keeps busy.

"Basically, I feel like I'm never off stage," he said. "But I love it all."

Erwin is also known for his handmade ukuleles or "cigaleles" that he makes from cigar boxes, wood and string.

"The cigalele can sound like a violin, a mandolin or a ukulele," Erwin said. "They really sound pretty good. They're pretty popular, and I make a lot of them.

Erwin will appear at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday at The Hayner Public Library District's main location. To register, call (800) 613-3163.