Heritage Day: From the heart of the West

When Dave Stamey sits down with his guitar beside the campfire for the evening concert at Rancho Nipomo Heritage Day, he’ll be performing for a cause that’s near to his heart — the Dana Adobe, where the event will be held Saturday, May 17.

A 37-year resident of Nipomo, the award-winning Western singer, songwriter and guitarist is a firm believer in preserving history.

“I think it’s important to pay attention to our heritage and to save a little of it, because if you don’t, it goes away,” Stamey said over a cup of coffee at his kitchen table overlooking his horse corrals.

“You need to know where you come from,” he said. “You need to know where you’re living.”

Where Stamey and his wife, Melissa, are living — with four horses, two dogs and a few chickens — is a historical house just a mile or so up the road from the Dana Adobe.

In fact, Stamey said the house was built around 1880 by the Dana family, and it was once occupied by Josepha Dana, the wife of Nipomo founder Capt. William G. Dana, who built the Dana Adobe around 1840.

“I really am very tickled to be able to play (at Heritage Day) to help with the restoration of the adobe down there,” Stamey said. “One of the biggest tunes I have, called ‘The Vaquero Song,’ I started writing at the adobe long before they started the restoration.”

That song has now been recorded by 16 other artists. “So I have a fond spot in my heart for the adobe,” he said.

Stamey draws inspiration for his songs from the country that surrounds him, often on his horseback rides. “I write a lot of my songs on horseback,” he said. “For some reason, it breaks loose for me there ... being out in the country and immersing myself in the geography of the West.”

But Stamey laughs at the Hollywood vision of the cowboy singing songs and playing his guitar atop his trusty horse.

He recalls a photo shoot to promote the Taylor guitars he plays where the photographer put him on a horse with a guitar and told him to “just act natural.”

“I told him, ‘There’s nothing natural about this,’” Stamey said laughing.

Instead, Stamey carries a small digital recorder in his pocket and uses that to capture the words he comes up with as he rides. Then back at home, he uses a manual typewriter to refine the lyrics, and a guitar to turn his “scrap of tune” into a final song.

Stamey, 49, moved to Nipomo from Montana in 1971. “My parents came here — my mom was from Santa Maria — so I didn’t have a choice,” he said of the move.

He started playing music in high school, performing country rock in bars and nightclubs when he was 16 because, at that time, “there was no other way to make a living here playing music.”

“I got a belly full of that after a few years,” he added. “I got tired of being insulted by drunks in restrooms.”

He stopped playing music and didn’t pick up the guitar again for about 10 years.

Working for an outfitter on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, he would join the company’s horse drives to take the stock up to their winter pasture.

“One time, my wife talked me into taking my guitar along, and I started playing around the campfire,” Stamey said. That launched his career. About 15 years ago, he began writing his own songs, and now 99 percent of what he performs is his music.

His talent is confirmed by the awards he’s won. In 2000, the Academy of Western Artists honored him with the Will Rogers Award for Male Vocalist of the Year.

In 2006, he earned Male Performer of the Year and Entertainer of the Year awards from the Western Music Association.

Last year, the association again presented him with the Male Performer of the Year Award and, this time, the Songwriter of the Year Award.

“Which is the one that really meant a lot to me,” he said of the songwriting award. “It’s nice to know you’re on the right track.”

TO HEAR IT:

n Samples of Dave Stamey’s earlier music are available in the Mercantile section of his Web site at www.davestamey.com.

n Copies of his CDs can be ordered from the Web site at $15 each.

TO HEAR IT LIVE:

Dave Stamey and cowboy poet and musician Ken Graydon will perform at the Campfire Concert and BBQ starting at 6 p.m. Saturday, May 17, at the Dana Adobe, 671 S. Oakglen Ave., Nipomo. A barbecue chicken dinner will be served, and a no-host bar will be available.

Advance tickets are required and available at $35 each, or $65 per couple, by calling 929-5679.