Musician to honor Texas' Goodnight

He used to ride the trails, driving cattle along the famous routes in North Texas. His ranch, one of the largest in Texas, still stands near Palo Duro Canyon, where a highway is named after him. But it's just one of several roads, awards and events that bear his name - in addition to a ghost town and a university. Andy Wilkinson grew up hearing about Charlie Goodnight, the legendary Texas cowman and rancher whose name is splashed all over the state. After all, Goodnight is Wilkinson's distant uncle. Wilkinson said he had an interest in Goodnight from a family point of view, but it wasn't until he met his lifelong friends Jim Fluger, the executive director at the Ranching Heritage Center, and Byron Price, the editor of the University of Oklahoma Press, that his interest in the rancher as a historic figure really set in. With the help of the two men, Wilkinson began researching his ancestor's life. The work culminated in an album, which makes sense since Wilkinson is a professional musician. In 1994, Wilkinson released "Charlie Goodnight: His Life in Poetry and Songs," an album that featured several Lubbock legends, including Donnie, Kenny and Lloyd Maines, Don Caldwell and Wilkinson. Since the release in 1994, the group has performed the concert several times for the Lubbock Arts Festival and the Ranching Heritage Center. Now, after a 10-year hiatus, it will return Aug. 22 to the Ranching Heritage Center, 3121 Fourth St., as a benefit concert to raise money for the Ranching Heritage Association. The concert will feature returning artists, such as the Maineses and Wilkinson's daughter Emily Arellano, and newcomers, including actor Barry Corbin, singer Red Steagall and cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell...LubbockOnline