ProRodeo Sports News - August 6, 2021

time.’ That really helped me let go of what was a lifelong dream as a child. Those soul promises as a child are tough to let go of. Those are the things that you hold on to even at an older age. Walt helped me get a grip on that, and I was able to go and – knock on wood – have a career.”

WHAT A CAREER … SO FAR

Howell tookWoodard’s advice and ran with

it.

He added “Soul Man,” “The Hitcher” and “Red Dawn” to his résumé. And his career continues. More recently, he played the Reaper on “Criminal Minds” and has appeared on the most famous zombie TV show of all time, “The Walking Dead.” But over the last year, his career veered yet again. While the world was shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, Howell picked up a guitar at his family’s ranch in Utah (about an hour south of the Wright family’s living quarters in Beaver, he proudly points out). He “really wanted to play the guitar and I wanted to sing a little bit” for a script he was working on so he would know what he was doing and not just act the part. He hasn’t put that guitar down, playing, singing and writing. He now owns seven guitars. He’s also learning to play the mandolin and harmonica. He moved to Nashville and is surrounded by some of the best musicians and music writers. “It’s escalated so rapidly,” he said. “I’m doing music full time.” Howell already is scheduling to play at ProRodeos in 2022 with his band. His shows are also about storytelling, incorporating his experience in film with his experience of growing up a cowboy. His plan isn’t just to play music, but to use his music to help increase awareness about rodeo, cowboys and stock. “I have a couple of rodeos already on the books for next year,” Howell said. “We plan to focus on that and growing as an artist and continue to spread the good word about cowboying and enjoying the sport to its full extent. That’s what I plan to do. “This is a brand-new thing for me, and I’m not even a singer. The music platform allows me to bring the people that I want to communicate with together. And that’s the cowboy.” mountain music going that I’m presenting to some people,” he said. “Young kids on my site that are like, ‘Wait a minute, that’s country? I like that.’ Yeah, there’s a lot of cool stuff about country that you don’t know about because you aren’t exposed to it. I am able to reach out to these kids a little bit because they look up to me from Ponyboy or however they look up to me. There are some kids that are going to be like, ‘I don’t like that and I But it goes beyond that for Howell. “We’ve got this kind of Western vibe,

Photos courtesy C. Thomas Howell Howell and his farther, Chris, now and then. Chris was a bull rider in the RCA, taking Tommy on the road to rodeos with him.

HOWELL ON COWBOYS You tell a cowboy you have to cut down a tree or you tell a cowboy you have to move a barn, you have to take down a whole barn and have to move it over here or over there. Cowboys, they say, ‘Shotgun! Let’s go!’ They don’t ask how much. They don’t say, ‘Well, I’ve never done that.’ The stuff gets done. Cowboys get in the truck. To me, cowboys get a bad rap because, well hell, they’re cowboys. Sometimes cowboys are just a step above pirates. I wrote a song called “Damned Good Man.” That basically sort of represents where I came from because the best men in the world I know are cowboys, and they get a bad rap. If you have an accent, they think you’re dumb. If I was in a foxhole and had to fight my way out, every single one would be a cowboy. It’s just how it is.

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ProRodeo Sports News 8/6/2021

ProRodeo.com

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