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P O W E L L, W y o. - Wyoming Public Television will air "Rocky Mountain Cowboy," a documentary about radio performer Roy Barnes produced by Northwest College broadcast students, Thursday, Oct. 26 at 7:30 p.m.
NWC broadcast students and Jeremy Johnston, an NWC assistant professor of history, conducted interviews with Barnes prior to his death two years ago.
Mary Ellen Lee and Pat Honstain completed the production this year, conducting additional interviews with local residents who knew Roy Barnes as a person and as a musician.
"We have combined a live performance of Roy, interviews with Roy, as well as his recorded music into a documentary," Lee said. "Rocky Mountain Cowboy gives us a personal look at Roy's life through his own home movies. Roy Barnes' music represents a bygone era and has been forever etched in the history of Park County. We are honoring and celebrating the life and music of a local star who would have been 100 years old this year," Lee continued.
"With his passing two years ago, Roy left a legacy of humorous, happy memories for all of Powell, and we have been delegated the task of bringing them out of storage and onto the screen. Many hands over many years have been involved in this heartfelt project," she said.
"I grew up in Powell," Honstain said, "listening to Roy on the radio, seeing him around town and witnessing the impact that Roy had on our community. He was a true celebrity, not only in Powell, but also throughout the area. He was the kind of personality, for a filmmaker, who is ideal for documentation."
Northwest College Associate Professor of English Renee Dechert, who narrates the half-hour film, called it "a long overdue project . . . I was afraid that the artifacts of Roy's life would get scattered and I am elated that this documentary is coming to fruition."
Next spring, the Homesteader Museum in Powell plans an exhibit featuring Barnes, according to Rowene Weems, director of the museum.
"Homesteader Museum is proud to continue the celebration of the Rocky Mountain Cowboy's life with an exhibit opening in the spring of 2007," Weems said. "This exhibit will feature Roy's treasured memorabilia and will travel the Big Horn Basin."