They're breaching the dams in the name of conservation,
But they're biting the hand that feeds a hungry nation.
Save our dams,
Save our dams,
And make a little room for a hardworking man.
Save Our Dams
Written by Wylie Gustafson

Wylie Gustafson knew speaking out on a politically charged issue was risky business for a singer, especially a singer who makes his living trying to keep traditional cowboy music alive in places like Seattle and Los Angeles. But when it came to the four lower Snake River dams, Gustafson just couldn't keep quiet. "I believed in the issue so much I just had to write a song about it," said the rangy horseman from Dusty, Wash.

That was six years ago, when environmental groups were pushing hard for the Clinton administration to authorize breaching the dams, and Gustafson's song, "Save Our Dams," became the anthem for farmers, ranchers and entire Eastern Washington communities that depend on the hydroelectric power, irrigation and low-cost barging the dams provide.

And this summer, when the House subcommittee on Water and Power held a field hearing in Clarkston on the importance of the Snake and Columbia rivers as "working rivers," there was Gustafson, at a pro-dam rally organized by the Washington Farm Bureau, singing about the importance of the dams. Washington Farm Bureau President Steve Appel was also invited to testify before the committee.

"Farming and ranching, that's something America needs to be respectful of and appreciative of," Gustafson said afterwards. "Agriculture is what built America. Breaching the dams, that's just one more step in making it harder for farmers to survive, one more step to extinction."

Dubbed the "Poet of the Palouse" by a local reporter, Gustafson, 43, is the leader of a four-member band known as Wylie and the Wild West, which has generated a nationwide following. They have appeared on the Grand Ole Opry nearly 50 times, along with state fairs in a dozen states and such prestigious venues as the Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center and the National Folk Festival.

The group has recorded 11 albums, including a live performance at the Tractor Tavern in Seattle last fall that was released as both a CD and DVD. Wylie and the Wild West also received the Will Rogers award from the Academy of Western Artists this summer for Group of the Year, and Gustafson received his second-straight Yodeler of the Year award.

But Gustafson is also a genuine cowboy, raising cattle on a 600-acre spread in Eastern Washington, and an accomplished horseman. His home office at the Cross Three Ranch, homesteaded by his wife's family in 1905, is filled with music memorabilia and trophies for horsemanship. In May, he and his favorite horse, Irish Whiskey Sugar, won the Non-Pro Championship at the National Cutting Horse Association Western National Finals in Utah. "This is what I do. This is who I am," Gustafson said, showing a guest around the ranch. "My music comes from here."

Gustafson grew up on a cattle ranch in Montana, where his dad, Rib Gustafson was also a veterinarian. Rib taught his youngest son to sing and yodel. Years later, Gustafson would yodel in commercials for Taco Bell, Porsche, and Miller Lite. That's also Gustafson doing the three-note "ya-hoo-oo" yodel for the Internet-search company Yahoo!

Gustafson and his brother, Erik, joined a rock band at the University of Montana and played roadhouses and college pubs across the Northwest, including Spokane, where he met his wife-to-be Kimberly Broeckel in 1984. Two years later, they headed to Los Angeles, only to realize how much they missed the country life.They moved back to Dusty a few years later.

"We decided that no place can provide us with happiness like Dusty," Gustafson said. "We're up at 5 a.m., ride horses all day long and back in bed by 9 p.m. It's a good life."

That life got a little easier in 2002, after Gustafson sued Yahoo! over the use of his "ya-hoo-oo." He had recorded the yodel for a Yahoo! commercial in 1996, getting paid $590. When the company later adopted the yodel as its continuing commercial signature, without Gustafson's permission, he went to court. The company settled two days later, and while Gustafson won't reveal how much he got, he did build an indoor horse-training facility at the Cross Three Ranch that Gustafson refers to smilingly as the Yahoo! Dome.

"The settlement "made it easier to balance ranch life with my music life," said Gustafson, who has cut back his stage appearances from almost 150 to just 50 a year. "I'm home almost every week now. As an artist, I'd like to reach more people, but it's never been about selling millions of albums and having a big tour bus."

Gustafson said he has been thinking about writing another song about an issue facing cattlemen across the West - efforts by environmentalists to stop grazing on federal land. "Grazing is good for the land," Gustafson said. "We need the elk, the deer and the ruminants to control the weeds and let the range flourish as habitat for birds and other wildlife."

Although Gustafson continues to sing "Save Our Dams" when he's with a group of farmers and ranchers, for the most part, he's willing to sing about the cowboy lifestyle that he loves.

"A lot of my 'activism' is quiet activism," he said. "You'd be amazing at how much the people in Seattle yearn for the Western lifestyle - it's appealing and romantic. I want to make a connection with these people, rather than beat them over the head. I'm not a confrontational kind of guy."