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THE author

Only someone grounded in the sandstones of the Southwest could have come up with this wild-riding ballad, whose twists and surprises are as sinuous and provocative as the canyons Katie Lee explored, photographed, wrote and sang about.

She has a wide-ranging, eclectic and raucous palette of achievements: Ten Thousand Goddam Cattle celebrates the history of cowboys through their songs. Glen Canyon Betrayed takes her readers into the doomed heart of the canyon. Sandstone Seduction: Rivers and Lovers, Canyons and Friends is a collection of stories.

Her film, The Last Wagon, honors two of Arizona’s cowboy legends. The film won the 1972 Cine Golden Eagle Award. Numerous CDs and videos feature Katie singing about cowboys, rivers and canyons. Katie has been interviewed on National Public Radio and been featured on many TV specials. Highlights include Mark Riesner’s Cadillac Desert; Alexandria Cousteau’s Blue Planet (co-sponsored by National Geographic, Ocean Foundation and others); Wall to Wall Water, The Dilemma of Dams (Japan); Mein Amerika (Germany); and Naked Planet (Britain).

She has received many prestigious awards, among them the Glen Canyon Institute’s David Brower Award for outstanding environmental activism, 2001; Culture Treasure Keepers of Canyon Country Award, 2001; The Lawrence Clark Powell Lifetime Achievement Award, 2005; Entrada Institute’s Ward Roylance Award for Commitment to Arts and Outdoor Education, 2003; she was inducted into Arizona’s Music Hall of Fame in 2011.

Katie is on the Advisory Board of the Glen Canyon Institute. For more, visit her at: www.katydoodit.com

THE ILLUSTRATOR

In the year 2002 Internationally famous artist, Robin John Anderson once again took up the etching needle, during which time he concentrated on his prodigious painting career, riveling the output of such artists as Picasso and Vincent van Gopugh. The illustrations seen in this book are the result of his relearn-ing the craft that he mastered at the young age of twenty-six. Robin Anderson lives in Jerome, Arizona with his wife, Margo Mandette, his dogs, Penelope, Joesephine, and two cats, Goya and Tinteretto.

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THE author

Only someone grounded in the sandstones of the Southwest could have come up with this wild-riding ballad, whose twists and surprises are as sinuous and provocative as the canyons Katie Lee explored, photographed, wrote and sang about.

She has a wide-ranging, eclectic and raucous palette of achievements: Ten Thousand Goddam Cattle celebrates the history of cowboys through their songs. Glen Canyon Betrayed takes her readers into the doomed heart of the canyon. Sandstone Seduction: Rivers and Lovers, Canyons and Friends is a collection of stories.

Her film, The Last Wagon, honors two of Arizona’s cowboy legends. The film won the 1972 Cine Golden Eagle Award. Numerous CDs and videos feature Katie singing about cowboys, rivers and canyons. Katie has been interviewed on National Public Radio and been featured on many TV specials. Highlights include Mark Riesner’s Cadillac Desert; Alexandria Cousteau’s Blue Planet (co-sponsored by National Geographic, Ocean Foundation and others); Wall to Wall Water, The Dilemma of Dams (Japan); Mein Amerika (Germany); and Naked Planet (Britain).

She has received many prestigious awards, among them the Glen Canyon Institute’s David Brower Award for outstanding environmental activism, 2001; Culture Treasure Keepers of Canyon Country Award, 2001; The Lawrence Clark Powell Lifetime Achievement Award, 2005; Entrada Institute’s Ward Roylance Award for Commitment to Arts and Outdoor Education, 2003; she was inducted into Arizona’s Music Hall of Fame in 2011.

Katie is on the Advisory Board of the Glen Canyon Institute. For more, visit her at: www.katydoodit.com

THE ILLUSTRATOR

In the year 2002 Internationally famous artist, Robin John Anderson once again took up the etching needle, during which time he concentrated on his prodigious painting career, riveling the output of such artists as Picasso and Vincent van Gopugh. The illustrations seen in this book are the result of his relearn-ing the craft that he mastered at the young age of twenty-six. Robin Anderson lives in Jerome, Arizona with his wife, Margo Mandette, his dogs, Penelope, Joesephine, and two cats, Goya and Tinteretto.

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What the REAL people are saying:

Katie Lee was a tender young thing when she was practicing the world’s second oldest occupation: folksinger. En route to her gigs she raced her Thunderbird across the West following the very trails cut first by the buffalo, and then beaver trappers, miners and pioneer’s wagon trains. Like the cloud of dust raised by ten thousand hooves, the songs, cries and dreams of the travelers swirled in the air above her. Katie began to weave the compelling story you now hold in your hands. This lyrical tale of love and honor begs to be read aloud. It is entirely fitting that this fine volume is illustrated with exquisite etchings from the talented Robin Anderson. They remind us there was a day when showing a lady your etchings could change both your lives. When the first space ship embarks on the decades-long journey to Alpha Centauri, I would not be surprised to find a copy of The Ballad of Gutless Ditch on the captain’s desk. Kudos to the Queen of Cleopatra Hill!

—Tony NorrisMusician, Storyteller, Folklorist

Katie Lee continues to retain her long reign as the Grand Dame of American Folklore and Music with this lyrical symphony of tragic lovers. Her gripping tale and skillful use of free verse in The Ballad of Gutless Ditch kept me turning pages so fast I got to the end and like a driver speeding on a lonely mountain road, I missed the curve and took to the air. There is a mystical twist of the tale at the end of this love story and you don’t want to miss it. So a word of caution dear readers: Slow down and savor the music or you too will miss the mystic curve and take to the air.

—Marshall TrimbleOfficial Arizona State Historian

Katie Lee was visited by a very patient Muse in the 1950s, who delivered, almost intact, a wonderful romance of the old West, a play in free verse. Katie named it The Ballad of Gutless Ditch, and over the next fifty years, it had several readers’ theater presentations, and a full production at the Sharlot Hall Museum’s Blue Rose Theater in Prescott. In this limited edition, the Ballad finally gets the elegant, multi-dimensional treatment it has deserved all these years. This volume contains gold of the old West, a gripping romance, an almost miraculous conception, villains and saints and heroes, cataclysmic events, and a brush with the metaphysical. But at its core it is rich narrative set in flowing verse that needs to be spoken aloud. Katie credits the Muse with this remarkable work; for my part I will match Katie Lee’s tapestry of talents against those of any old muse.

—Warren MillerEducator, Folklorist, Banjo picker

In a master work, packed with action on every page, the etchings of consum-mate artist, Robin Anderson, have captured the works’ essence in a perceptive display of skill and human understanding.

—John Henry Waddell Sculptor

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What the REAL people are saying:

Katie Lee was a tender young thing when she was practicing the world’s second oldest occupation: folksinger. En route to her gigs she raced her Thunderbird across the West following the very trails cut first by the buffalo, and then beaver trappers, miners and pioneer’s wagon trains. Like the cloud of dust raised by ten thousand hooves, the songs, cries and dreams of the travelers swirled in the air above her. Katie began to weave the compelling story you now hold in your hands. This lyrical tale of love and honor begs to be read aloud. It is entirely fitting that this fine volume is illustrated with exquisite etchings from the talented Robin Anderson. They remind us there was a day when showing a lady your etchings could change both your lives. When the first space ship embarks on the decades-long journey to Alpha Centauri, I would not be surprised to find a copy of The Ballad of Gutless Ditch on the captain’s desk. Kudos to the Queen of Cleopatra Hill!

—Tony NorrisMusician, Storyteller, Folklorist

Katie Lee continues to retain her long reign as the Grand Dame of American Folklore and Music with this lyrical symphony of tragic lovers. Her gripping tale and skillful use of free verse in The Ballad of Gutless Ditch kept me turning pages so fast I got to the end and like a driver speeding on a lonely mountain road, I missed the curve and took to the air. There is a mystical twist of the tale at the end of this love story and you don’t want to miss it. So a word of caution dear readers: Slow down and savor the music or you too will miss the mystic curve and take to the air.

—Marshall TrimbleOfficial Arizona State Historian

Katie Lee was visited by a very patient Muse in the 1950s, who delivered, almost intact, a wonderful romance of the old West, a play in free verse. Katie named it The Ballad of Gutless Ditch, and over the next fifty years, it had several readers’ theater presentations, and a full production at the Sharlot Hall Museum’s Blue Rose Theater in Prescott. In this limited edition, the Ballad finally gets the elegant, multi-dimensional treatment it has deserved all these years. This volume contains gold of the old West, a gripping romance, an almost miraculous conception, villains and saints and heroes, cataclysmic events, and a brush with the metaphysical. But at its core it is rich narrative set in flowing verse that needs to be spoken aloud. Katie credits the Muse with this remarkable work; for my part I will match Katie Lee’s tapestry of talents against those of any old muse.

—Warren MillerEducator, Folklorist, Banjo picker

In a master work, packed with action on every page, the etchings of consum-mate artist, Robin Anderson, have captured the works’ essence in a perceptive display of skill and human understanding.

—John Henry Waddell Sculptor