Gypsy Saddletramps

2011 Nominee – Country Album of the Year – 21st Annual LA Music Awards “Walk on down the Road

2012 Nominee – Chris P. Ellis Country Artist of the Year – 22nd Annual LA Music Awards

Gypsy Saddletramps are a recording collective of talented veteran musicians based in Los Angeles, California. It all began with a musical vision channeling the western vocal groups singer songwriter Michael Benfield grew up listening to in San Antonio, Texas. What started as a recording session for the new western song, “Wild Texas Rose”, has evolved into a full tilt Western “Cow Rock” band. The band draws upon influences as diverse as early Western Country artists such as Bob Wills, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, as well as spaghetti western sound tracks and Nashville Outlaws Johnny Cash and Willy Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson. Combine that with a little Allman Brothers, Chris Isaac, and surf guitar sounds and modern western “Cow Rock” is born.

Riding down a trail blazed earlier by such crossover groups as The Eagles, Poco, New Riders of the Purple Sage, and classic albums like Sweethearts of the Rodeo, the Saddletramps explore new ground in country music. The first album also features an homage to Native Americans and the Great Spirit with the beautiful, haunting song “Ghostdancers in the Sky”. Rockabilly, Cowpunk, Western Swing and Outlaw country music, have all had a hand in shaping the Gypsy Saddletramp sound.