The Dutton Family settled here in 1981, and at that time most of the entire landscape was either currently being stripped (away for the coal by the coal company), or had just been stripped. By our estimates this farm land that we tend to today has been stripped of its cover four times over the last 80 years. What you see today is a result of generations of reclamation and agricultural practices to regenerate the land into viable agricultural land with rich soil that can sustain livestock.

How does that happen? It takes a lot of time. It takes hundreds of momma cows eating the grass, processing the nutrients and leaving manure behind to be naturally tamped into the ground by the herd.

Heavy hooves stomping in the dirt…

Mixing with the dead clover, the wildflowers

And the dust and the rain

This process creates life here on the ranch. One subterranean heartbeat begets a thousand that will roam these pastures every year.

Theres a rhythm to it. It echoes through these pastured hills like boot heels across the floor in a dusty honky tonk.

For Ranch Night, we’re bringing more Rhythm and Roots to these hills.