Gary McMahan

In a 2014 interview, McMahan said "I’ve made my living with either a horse or guitar or both for the last 40 years, and it’s been a great life."

Since then, McMahan has written more than 300 songs and poems, and has recorded six albums. His songs have been recorded by artists such as the now-famous Chris LeDoux, Ian Tyson, and Riders in the Sky (featuring Fred LaBour). The Western Music Association named him National Champion Yodeler in 1991. In 1992 he earned the National Cowboy Hall of Fame Wrangler Award for writing the year's best cowboy song. His performing career got a boost when he was invited to perform at the first National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in 1985. He saw that audiences liked what he was doing, and Baxter Black encouraged him to do more of it. Today he mostly entertains at banquets, concerts, and events such as the National Gathering and the Colorado Cowboy Gathering, which he co-founded in 1988.

Gary McMahan (born 1948 in Greeley, Colorado) is an American Western music singer-songwriter, yodeler, humorist and cowboy poet, known for his wide-ranging influence in post-19th century Western music and poetry, and for writing "The Old Double Diamond", which members of the Western Writers of America chose as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.