Blacktop Cowboys: Riders on the Run for Rodeo Gold [Hardcover]

Ty Phillips (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 31, 2006

Blacktop Cowboys chronicles the 2004 rodeo season through the eyes of several steer wrestlers trying to make it back to rodeo's version of the Super Bowl, the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in Las Vegas.
   Steer wrestling is an adventure that entails riding into an arena at 25 mph, sliding off a horse while taking hold of a 500-pound steer, and then throwing the animal to the ground. The best cowboys often accomplish all this in less than four seconds. The two main characters of Blacktop Cowboys are Luke Branquinho, a young carefree cowboy on a quest for his first title, and his best friend, Travis Cadwell, a veteran trying to make the NFR one last time.

     Much of Blacktop Cowboys unfolds in trucks, trailers, arenas, behind the chutes, casinos, beds and everywhere else cowboys spend their time. By taking the reader deep into the cowboys' lives, Blacktop Cowboys offers a true and intimate portrait of men having the time of their lives while living on the road in pursuit of the dream to be the best.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. With gritty tough-guy prose and an unerring eye for details that capture the guts and frailty of the human condition, Phillips has crafted an enthralling tale of the modern bulldogging cowboy. A reporter for the Modesto (Calif.) Bee, Phillips spent a year on the road with "one loose-knit band of cowboys, mostly steer wrestlers" during the 2004 Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association season. From the dusty arenas of Norco, Calif., and Cody, Wyo., to the glitzy, sexed-up Strip in Las Vegas, Phillips centers this rip-snorting yarn on Luke Branquino, a tobacco-chewing, womanizing up-and-comer from California, and Travis Cadwell, an old-timer trying to find the glory one last time. In Phillips's powerful language, Branquino is big in body and character, and on the endless rodeo circuit he drinks, wrestles thousand-pound steers to the ground and makes it with the ladies with equal abandon. In the harsh reality of the arena, the aging Cadwell "felt like he was embarrassing himself... a new and entirely ugly feeling." This is a raunchy, insightful delight. 16 pages b&w photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Luke Branquinho is a young, up-and--coming rodeo cowboy looking for his first major title. Travis Cadwell, Luke's best friend, is a grizzled veteran of the sport at the ripe old age of 36. Over the course of the 2004 rodeo season, each tries to fulfill a personal quest. Oh, and have a lot of fun, too. Phillips chronicles the season from start to finish, taking us inside the world of competitive steer wrestling and showing that pretty much everything we thought we knew about the sport was either wrong, grossly inaccurate, or just plain silly. For aficionados of the rodeo circuit, this is one of those books that will get read, passed around, discussed, picked apart, and then elevated to the level of classic. It's also, for the novice reader, a detailed and informative introduction to this unusual sport--although, for its participants, perhaps calling is a better word. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; 1st edition (October 31, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312330367
• ISBN-13: 978-0312330361
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #820,494 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #35 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Rodeos

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BLACKTOP COWBOYS, December 18, 2006

By 

C J Bulygo (Gustine, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blacktop Cowboys: Riders on the Run for Rodeo Gold (Hardcover)

This book is not run-of-the-mill. It is unique. The book is a fascinating narrative of what took place over one year for one group of traveling cowboys. I don't think I have ever read a book before where I felt the author was a silent mouse in the corner and didn't miss a thing; words, actions or silence. The correlation of facts, action & the written word was dumbfounding. It was camaraderie, trashy talk and action mixed with gentle emotion. The picture of Luke with his girlfriend speaks volumes. The personae of rough cowboy/polite rancher are like the people I have known.

As for the actual writing, it is not often that a book is this perfectly edited and presented. The addition of pictures so we could actually keep track of names and people was extra special. I was impressed. Five Stars from me, Ty.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliantly Captured, March 13, 2007

By 

Candice Hawkinson (Memphis, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blacktop Cowboys: Riders on the Run for Rodeo Gold (Hardcover)

I had read a glowing review of Blacktop Cowboys that piqued my interest. Though my husband describes me as a neo-aristocratic fashionista, little did he know that up to the age of 11 I rode western saddle and particpated in, albeit very small, local rodeos. There is something about these men (and women) who capture a part of America that holds a seemingly romantic life. Hats off, literally, to Ty Phillips! He wrote a wonderful book on today's steer wrestlers. And thanks to the gentlemen who allowed Mr. Phillips into their life. Without their participation I don't know if Mr. Phillips could have written so honestly about them. Mr. Phillips does not romantize, per se, about the life, but is able to put one there, watching the milesigns go by, feel the dust in one's nose, and the frustration or joy of an event. Whether one has an interest in rodeos or cowboys, buy this book, you won't read anything better. Thank you Mr. Phillips for writing about a subject few of us will ever know as well,than through your words.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From Entertainment Weekly (10/26/2006), November 22, 2006

By 

Entertainment Weekly - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blacktop Cowboys: Riders on the Run for Rodeo Gold (Hardcover)

You reckon rodeoin' is beer, bruises, and "buckle bunnies" (the name for groupies). Well, you're right. But like the steer wrestlers Ty Phillips tailed during the 2004 season -- loud and proud fellas with nicknames like Fatty and Donkey -- he knows how to tell a good story. One 11-page scene of tokin', pokin' debauchery aside, the lasting images are the quiet ones. "Every minute or so, the distant headlights of a freeway car threw light on the lonesome silhouette of a cowboy walking his horse at night," Phillips writes. He captures the solitude and camaraderie in Blacktop Cowboys, which runs deeper than an unattended cooler of Coors Light: Competitors even share scouting reports on steers. Reviewed by Mandi Bierly. Grade: B+