Skip Ewing is not your typical country artist, and after 44 years in the music industry this cowboy philosopher simply wants to make and perform meaningful music.

“If you come to the show and it’s not Christmas for you, it will be before you leave,” Ewing said. 

Ewing has a new album out, “Christmas,” and his 2020 release “Wyoming” received a television special. 

At 7 p.m. Thursday, Ewing hopes to create these moments at the Cody Cattle Company. Owner Greg Pendley and his band Cody, formerly known as the Rocky Mountain Oysters, will be opening for Ewing in a reunion performance that will also feature Pendley’s wife Ann. 

Ewing has always been driven by his desire to play music and create “meaningful live moments.”

“People will kinda say that I started playing guitar when I was 4 years old,” Ewing said. “So the joke was that I could play guitar better than I could read.” 

Ewing never intended to specifically get into country music, but he knew he wanted to perform. He played classical music, pop, country and even tried some acting. 

Ewing immediately went to Nashville, Tennessee, after graduating high school where he found success in songwriting. He has written songs that have been recorded by Willie Nelson, George Strait, Zac Brown Band, Collin Raye and more. 

“I just kept writing because that was the break I had,” Ewing said.

Soon the winds of fortune guided Ewing to a record deal. When he played some songs for the record label they did not think that the songs that Ewing played for them would work on country radio. One of these songs was “Love Me” which became a chart topping hit for Collin Raye.

Ewing’s publisher suggested that he continue to write music because big names were calling to record Ewing’s songs. But Ewing knew he still wanted to perform. 

“There was an artistry, I did want to be a singer and a guitar player,” Ewing said of this time.

He put down the pen and even the guitar for a time. He had been visiting Wyoming where he discovered horses and poured himself into this new passion. While he was home alone and his wife was away working on her own creative project, Ewing began writing again, and out of this came his album “Wyoming.” 

Ewing said from a performance standpoint he wrote and recorded songs that have substance and appreciates the trust that audiences had in him to listen to his music. 

“That kind of listening is why I’m going to be able to continue to do what I am praying to do,” Ewing said.

His tour is currently in smaller, more intimate venues that allow him to interact with the crowd. Tickets are nearly sold out, Ewing said, but can be purchased at thecodycattlecompany.com. The event is co-sponsored by Whitlock Motors and RV and the Wyoming Buffalo Company. The Irma Hotel will provide dinner and room packages for a drawing that all ticket holders will be entered into.