Rick Huff, Radio Personality and Western Music Review

life continues and life has its different rivulets and

tributaries, and you never know where new aspects of it are going to come from.

So give yourself a chance to enjoy it.

Am loving hearing the voice, my dear friend Rick Huff,

known as the VOICEMALE that's MALE, has captivated audiences for over

40 years with his distinctive voice across radio, television, live

performances, cartoons and beyond.

He's produced countless radio and TV commercials, hosted television

shows, and worked as a dj.

His catchy jingles are unforgettable, and that is for sure absolutely

unforgettable, and his cartoon voices are simply delightful.

He is known as the principal western music reviewer in the United States.

He has immersed in Western music for a very long time.

Mm-hmm.

He partnered with Western Music Hall of Famer Hi Busse, to create the

radio featurette song and story.

He later released two albums featuring Hi Bussy and The Frontiers Men's Work.

And co-produce CDs for Sons of the Rio Grande and Jim Jones.

Oh my gosh, it is remarkable.

established Frontiersmen 2 to co-produce their radio show, the Best of The West

Review, along with its publication.

launched a double Western music cd.

Well, I absolutely cherish my friendship with Rick and I've enjoyed

celebrating his successes through the years, but I am so thrilled.

And really, Rick, I am so honored that you introduce this podcast, your positive

imprint, showcasing your incredible voice.

Finally, welcome to the show, Rick.

Thank you very much.

My goodness.

No, it was an honor for you to ask me to do that.

It was great fun to think how to represent the spirit of

your show, of your enterprise.

And I am so gratified to know that it worked and that, uh, you are received

the way you are received worldwide.

On the wonderful web, that's one of the w stands for Wonderful.

You know?

Absolutely.

That's positively.

But, uh, it's a great fun.

It's, um, it's been great fun to be a part of it.

Oh, thank you.

And I remember being in the studio with you as we were doing it, and we were

using Chris Nole's music Gumbolaya and you absolutely loved that piece and playing

around with it to get those perfect, perfect sounds for the introduction

and you accomplished just that.

Thank you.

Now that's, that's an inspired piece of music.

He's, uh, he's an interesting cat and you have, uh, shared some

more of his music with me and I still play it and still love it.

I know that Chris will be thrilled to know that

you are still playing his music.

So let's go to you, Rick Huff.

I've known you for so many years and, uh, through all those years

I've heard so many different voices and, I'm thinking of some of them.

You have this voice that is incredible for the radio and we've heard you

on the radio growing, even growing up, your commercial jingles.

And then here we are sitting at Pope Joy Hall in New Mexico and here

comes Rick, the Mariachi Christmas,

oh, the Mariachi Christmas every year.

I've been, uh, honored to be part of that for 30 years now, and, uh, just

attended it this last, uh, December again.

And, uh, I'm sitting there listening to various interpretations that I did

saying, you know, I could have hit that one just a little differently.

You know, if I,

if I, if I just kind of emphasize that one right there.

Now the, um, my late wife Anna, was, um, Hispanic and Native American and, uh,

Jewish and, you know, the just general mutt blend of people and, uh, cultures

that we have in the, in the world, in Southwest in particular, she was bound

to determine when we first started out.

She says, I'm going to break you of those

anglo vowels.

Oh my God.

So it, it let me do things like mariachi mariachi,

and that's the one that I was real late in developing the,

you know, to get that l sound.

But it's just, you don't say it, you blow it uhhuh off the side of your mouth.

And I used to click it too much and,

We're gonna kind of go back to your childhood.

And this is great.

I'm just so thrilled, Rick, that I finally have you on the show.

We've been trying to do this for years.

We've been working at it a while.

You are amongst 220 positive imprints

that's

wonderful.

Well, congratulations that.

Thank you so much.

I think it's a testament to, uh, what you're trying to do.

Uh, the, the whole concept that you told me about when you said, okay,

design what, how this thing opens up.

Design what the intro sounds like.

And you were telling me what you, your goals were

. And I thought, gee whiz, you know what a, what a nice seed to be planting, you know?

And watch the trees grow as people find something that relates to

them specifically or that they can benefit from or experience that

somebody else has had that they can incorporate into their lives.

How incredibly valuable, what a gift to be able to give.

I appreciate that so much, Rick, coming from

you who is also so gifted.

Well thank you so much.

I appreciate that.

So let's go to your childhood.

Did anybody, any of your teachers ever tell you you have a voice for radio

Well actually I did an assessment, personal

assessment on my career.

And it seems like I've.

Fallen into everything, you know, it just, the opportunity opened up or somebody

did something that let me do something.

But when I tried to initiate it, it generally goes a little south.

Uh, so, um, uh, I, looking back, that's pretty much the way it was

started out at the University of Albuquerque and the theater department

was determined to be a theater major, was starting to work toward it.

And, uh, the, uh, faculty advisor of the radio station out there was the

theater professor Jim Morley, out at the University of Albuquerque.

, so I was invited to run a spoken word show that was on there where

we played all the old cadman.

Uh, performances and spoken things, you know, 'cause it was

block programming at the time.

And, uh, block programming means you have a certain period of time devoted

to a certain subject and then you switch, you do to go to a folk show,

or you go to an acid rock show, or, you know, whatever it happened to be.

And I wound up being the general manager of the student station that

was out there that had been set up by Mike Langner, uh, of KDEF AM.

This was KDEF FM that was out at the University of Albuquerque.

And we were responsible for three hours a day, uh, to fill.

And, um, so, uh, I wound up being the manager.

taking quite enough hours.

I was one of the last of the draftees.

Lottery system came in when I was already in the, uh, military.

Then I got outta the Army in two years and came back to the University of

Albuquerque to pick up my studies.

Well, one of the directing students out there was the current general

manager of the station, and he invited me to come back on the air again.

So I went on the air and again, became manager of that station.

And one day I was up there doing my show and I get a call and it was from

a gentleman down in Albuquerque who had just had a DJ walk out on him and left

him running the station by himself, which is, uh, this kind of broadcast

story that a lot of people in, uh, uh, who were DJs will be familiar with.

And he said, , can you come to work?

For me.

And, um, I had, I fell into that one and started, , doing his station for a while.

It was KBNM.

It was a mix of religious and popular music, however, that

Went together.

And so each, each time I got into different broadcasting

situations, I kind of fell into it.

And so I was doing work on DJing and still working at the

student station at the same time.

And I started having to miss classes and I finally said to myself,

okay, why are you missing classes?

Well, because of your job.

Well, why are you in classes?

To train to get a job?

I think I'm seeing the handwriting on the wall here, you know?

So, long, the short of it, one of the job securities in broadcasting is being

able to make money for the station.

You know, you do the commercials, put together the, um, the ads, and, so I

started specializing in that and got an opportunity again through Mike Langner

And he said, I assume you know, I'm going to offer you a position.

And I said, well, I kind of thought that's what we were gonna talk about.

And he said, uh, first of all, I think it's only fair.

I tell you I can't pay you anything.

Well talk on.

What he was offering was if I would volunteer for the classical

station, KHFM, , couple of hours a day to do their production that

they couldn't afford to pay for, he would open up the studio and give me

then it was, uh, analog tape and supplies to generate revenue however I wanted to.

And I stepped off the paycheck and went into my own, business that way.

, and I wondered how I was going to do.

The first month I was in business, I made more than twice the highest

amount I ever made as a dj.

So, so I didn't look back.

But anyway, that's how I got into commercial production.

Did that for, uh, all the time.

And I started backing off and still continuing to do work,

but not looking for new clients.

And now I just do it as people want.

Yeah.

Well, I remember growing up and hearing you on the commercials on

the radio all the time, every day.

And I still remember one, it was the Jiffy Lube one.

Jiff Lube.

It was this jingle, but I don't remember the jingle, but I,

well, actually it was very memorable because it

was only one note Jiffy Lube

I'm saying Yeah, just say, uh, what do you do for a jingle for, a , lube

service and nothing is faster than you do the world's fastest jingle ever lube.

Yeah.

Oh, I always remember that one.

Yeah.

And there were others.

We've just heard your voice and I never knew you were in the military,

don't wear my army boots quite as much as I used to.

I love the voices.

Well, thank you.

You were mentioning, Mary, asking her what she would think of,

uh, living with somebody that goes into characters and stuff.

Um, sometimes I'll come up with a, some kind of voice that you don't

expect to come outta my body, you know,

you know, chil a baby voice or something isn't something that a

75-year-old guy is supposed to be.

Oh, no, that's talent because you also did cartoons.

So, and you have to really get into character when you're doing cartoons.

And some of those are of all different ages.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, the uh, and one, there was a cartoon campaign that ran here.

I don't know if anybody remembers the Goodies restaurant chain that

was here during the seventies.

Um, uh, it was a local chain, but they had toasters on the tables

and they came up with a campaign that goodies talking toaster, and

he was the goodies talking toaster.

Oh,

pop into goodies, the toast to the town.

Oh my

gosh.

So,

you know, so

It's memorable and also you have left a legacy.

You are leaving a legacy and people that you talk to remember voices in cartoons.

They remember ads, they remember the Mariachi Christmas.

Even the powwow, I think the Gathering of Nations, which is.

Worldwide.

And you were the voice.

Yeah.

And the voice for the traditional talent presentations, the traditional

presentation on every year of the week, that the judging for Miss Indian World

goes on, which is part of the gathering and been very honored to have been

part of that since it started.

I, we were talking about the University of Albuquerque, Derrick Matthews, uh,

started the, uh, powwow in the gym at the University of Albuquerque, and he was

expecting it to, he called it the spring powwow when it first happened, and he

was expecting a crowd of maybe, or maybe.

10 drums or 20 drums or something.

Not even 20 drums.

Well, he had 500 people show up.

There were people in a circle all the way around the gym

and the power of those drums.

Anybody who has been to the gathering and has heard what those drums

sound like when they're going, the power was so high that it dropped

chunks of plaster off the ceiling.

Finally, now of course it's gone to, , expo New Mexico and is in

Tingley annually, and it's always right at the end of April, we'll be

again this year and hopefully I will be asked to be a part of it again.

I'm sure, because everybody who hears that voice knows it is Rick Huff.

You call yourself the VOICEMALE and I think that's an incredible.

Incredible name to provide for on the internet as people are searching.

And again, that's VOICEMALE.

MALE.

Mm-hmm.

Which is, and that's pretty good play on words.

Rick, I have to commend you for that one.

And so did you wanna talk at all about any of the time in the military?

Actually, I wanted to work with, , armed Forces Radio and Television

over there, and I put in for it, but I would've had to enlist for two more years.

And I,

yeah,

yeah, it wasn't quite, uh, up to that one.

I wound up in Germany, is where I was.

You served well and regardless , of what your position

was, I thank you for that.

You have so much in your background that it's hard for me to look and

say, well, Rick, let's talk about.

This piece or that, or this position?

Because you have, and I just wanna mention a few because the listeners

have been hearing your voice Wow.

But there's quite a bit.

And I just wanna name a few.

You have been executive vice President of the Western Music Association in United

States, A music reviewer and columnist

still am for that.

Yeah.

And I have many articles, uh, that you've written regarding

review and I think again that's, that brought you the name, the principle

reviewer for Western Music, and then you've been a member of the Academy of

Western Artists, a past board member for Opera Southwest here in New Mexico.

Yeah, and I mean, the list goes on and on and on.

And of course your work with radio stations, yours, some stuff from Huff, and

I definitely don't wanna pass this one.

You were recipient.

Of a lifetime achievement award for you from New Mexico Advertising Federation.

That's a lifetime achievement award and congratulations.

Well, thank you.

I produced, uh, over 10,000 commercials over the years and, uh, uh, worked

closely in the ad community here and was fortunate to be part of a lot

of award-winning campaigns, and I've created quite a few of 'em and have

more than 200 National, regional and local ADDY awards, , over the years.

So yeah, been, uh, been fortunate.

People are possibly wondering, is this Iwesternmusic.org

showing up on their screens

right?

Yes, it is.

Those that go to YouTube, to my YouTube channel.

Your positive imprint will see iwesternmusic.org

yes.

And what that's all about is the International Western Music

Association, which you mentioned.

And, uh, that's where you can find the, uh, reviews and, uh, what,

uh, we work to do and columns and everything in promoting Western music.

A lot of people don't know what Western music is.

You know, they get confused with Americana and it's, we work

hard to try to differentiate it.

It is a form of Americana.

It's part of Americana, but Western is a little different.

We've got , what we call an elevator speech.

Hopefully it's memorable.

You say Western music.

Instrumentally is primarily acoustic in its core instrumentation, musically,

its lyrics or a bunch of Ls here, deal with the lives, lows, lore,

locale, legend, and legacy of the old and new West, and its many people's

including Native American and cowboying worldwide.

And cowboying literally is done around the world.

I produced a show that, , was done in 19 seven or 19, 20 17, not that far

Here that dealt with , with songs from around the world.

And we translated ones from Germany and we had one from China and we had Japan,

Japan's wonderful fans of, country of, , Western of Cowboys specifically.

They have full ranches there, uh, wild west towns

Oh, interesting.

It was when I was in the army in Germany,

This was before I was really involved with Western music, but I remember there

was a club over there, a Westerners club that would go into the Black Forest of

Germany, pitch tents, pitch teepees, lived the western life across a, , a weekend.

And the interview that was done with the president of that chapter, , said to his.

Prized possession.

His prized possession was a deputy sheriff's badge from

Bernillo County, New Mexico.

Oh my gosh.

This is one of those things that was given out by the

Chamber of Commerce at the time, you know, says Deputy Honorary,

deputy Sheriff of Bernillo County.

But that's how they treasured the, the Western thing.

They also asked him why the interest in cowboy culture, , in Germany.

And he had an interesting explanation.

He says, your history seems like yesterday to us.

It is so recent.

Ours is so ancient.

It goes back so far that we can't relate to it, you know, and, and you think,

wow, , talk about a different perspective.

On, uh, and a reason for being interested and involved in something.

, this is the relatable history is ours.

That's really incredible.

Now we're moving into this timeframe of.

Western music and I want listeners, to really get, as you were saying,

you're trying to separate the two.

And when I think of Western Cowboy music, I think of.

Home, home on the range, the Chuck wagon and,

uh, well, it originated, of course, the, the cowboy songs have

a number of different, uh, sources.

One of them came from around campfires when the Cowboys would be telling stories

and they would start to put some of those stories that they, they'd hear again and

again and again from the guys to music.

Sometimes it would be an old broad sheet, , theme or something from the

16 hundreds from Scotland or Ireland.

And a lot of the cowboys did come from Ireland.

, you'd be amazed at the number of them that talked like this around the campfire.

Uh, you know, because they escaped the potato famine.

They used their herding skills and riding skills and adapted

to the cowboy way of life.

Meanwhile, the Mexican influence was, , the American cowboying

style is Mexican cowboying.

And it came from the Caballeros.

, That word, uh, of course came from Caballo , which is, horse in Spanish.

And , there are a number of.

Cowboy terms that come directly from Spanish.

Lariat came from lariata, , which is Rope the Lariat.

, there's, there's a number of 'em.

Cayuse, uh, came from caballeros there's a number of, of the, , common

phrases that come from, , from Mexico, uh, they call 'em dogie, which actually

comes from dogal, which is Mexican for specifically orphaned calf.

And, , which is what a dogie was.

It was one that didn't have a mom had to be tended to by the cowboys themselves.

But, a lot of the history of, , the music

it is rooted in the tales and poetry, cowboy poetry, and then

the cowboy poetry was put to music.

I found out something from one of the cowboy poet researchers

that is very interesting.

A lot of the, those European cowboys, the the guys who were born

in Ireland, Scotland, England, and came out west and Cowboyed had.

William Shakespeare's sonnets in their saddlebags along with their bibles,

those were the two books they carried.

And if they would read those sonnets, no wonder the stories and the poems

converged, became some of the cowboy poetry was able to be created.

So I think the, um, the poetry has even more, more roots

in the Irish and Scottish.

Side of the, of the history, then, , people realize

I love that.

When I've attended some of these western shows, I have listened to

the cowboy poetry and it's intense.

It's intense, and it's not you're not listening to a

poem about my long lost love.

You are listening to poetry about the work of the cowboy.

You're listening to the poetry sometimes about what they're seeing

at night when they're laying there.

And I remember one poem, it was about what they were seeing up in

the sky and then what they had to do the next morning and kind of talking

about chores, but it was rhythmic.

I've done a lot of reviewing of, , cowboy poetry

books and cowboy poetry CDs.

There are, , quite a few very.

, experienced and, , worthy, craftspeople of the cowboy poetry.

, you ought to look into it.

People who, , who are interested in finding out more about the history of both

the music and the, , the poetry itself.

They can look up names like Badger Clark.

And, uh, who's getting ready to be posed, I understand for induction into our

hall of fame, but we will see if that, if that comes about, maybe it will.

There are quite a few, of the, uh, people.

If you look up cowboy poetry, you'll get a lot of the names, some of the the modern

masters and the recently deceased masters.

, there are some from Australia that have got some wonderful, wonderful poetry.

, look up by title where the ponies come to drink.

It's one of those that will leave you kind of breathless when you hear

somebody really interpret that one well.

, and that one comes from Australia.

That one is quite old.

That's one of the ones that a lot of the poets have in their repertoire.

They are storytellers, so not just in the writing, but

also in the storytelling of it to make that poem come alive.

This

has been really, , made popular by one of the biggest of

those gatherings that happens.

It involves music too, but is called the Elko Poetry.

Elko Cowboy Poetry Gathering.

And it happens at an insane time of year in snowbound, Elko, Nevada.

In the dead of winter and you often wade through snow to get to the events

and the co-founder, that's a gentleman named Hal Cannon, who is a living god.

, in, uh, helping bring, , different cultural focuses

into the cowboy poetry scene.

It says, well, here's what they're doing in New Zealand, and here's what happens

in this part of the world, and here's something else you should consider.

And it opens up a big world of this, , material that people are not aware of.

Join me for part two in just a few days with the legendary Rick Huff, whose voice

is recognized internationally, including the intro voice for your positive imprint.

You can learn more about Rick by going to iwesternmusic.org for

International Western Music and I have Rick here today, so he's going to do the.

Outro.

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