Photo provided to China Daily

Despite his successful career as one of America’s most popular western entertainers, world-class western yodeler and singer Wylie Gustafson gets up to tend the livestock at 5:30 in the morning on his Conrad, Montana ranch. "The connection between ranching and my music is extremely close," he says.

"Most of my songs are born out of the environment where I live and punch cattle. When I write an upbeat song, I make sure it’s a song that a cowboy can dance to. When I write a more lyrical song, I make sure that a real cowboy will be able to relate to it somehow.”

Gustafson’s father was rural veterinarian and rancher who taught Wylie such cowboy ballads as “Sierry Peaks” and how to yodel. Wylie He is an accomplished “cutting horse” specialist who was the 2005 NCHA Western National Finals Champion. Wylie & the Wild West have traveled the world over, appeared on the Grand Ole Opry and performed at venues from Lincoln Center to the Houston Rodeo & Livestock Show, from the Kennedy Center to the Calgary Stampede. The yodel you hear on Yahoo commercials is Wylie Gustafson!

In 2013 Wylie and the band played the World Music Essence Festival in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. They were well received by 10,000 music fans a night at the Festival devoted to preserving the grasslands and herding traditions of the region. Wylie and Wild West also performed at a US Consulate reception for Chinese provincial officials in Shenyang and at a variety of other locations including Beijing. Their tour was covered favorably by China Daily News and their hometown newspaper in Great Falls, Montana, US.

May 1-3, 2015 Chaoyang Park