Wylie Gustafson

Wylie Gustafson was raised on a cattle ranch in Montana, lived for a time in Van Nuys and now makes his home on his in-laws' wheat farm in Dusty, Wash. But his heart, it seems, is in Bakersfield. The leader of Wylie & the Wild West Show always has felt an affinity for the Bakersfield sound epitomized by such country legends as Merle Haggard and Buck Owens, and that influence keeps on taking a bigger role in Gustafson's own music.

A cowboy-singer-poet from a town called Dusty is accusing Internet giant Yahoo Inc. in a lawsuit of rustling his signature vocalization in thousands of commercials. Wylie Gustafson, who was paid $590 to record the "ya-hooo" six years ago, says the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based global network owes him $5 million for poaching his yodel.

A cowboy-singer-poet from a town called Dusty is accusing Internet giant Yahoo Inc. in a lawsuit of rustling his signature vocalization in thousands of commercials. Wylie Gustafson, who was paid $590 to record the "ya-hooo" six years ago, says the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based global network owes him $5 million for poaching his yodel.

Wylie Gustafson was raised on a cattle ranch in Montana, lived for a time in Van Nuys and now makes his home on his in-laws' wheat farm in Dusty, Wash. But his heart, it seems, is in Bakersfield. The leader of Wylie & the Wild West Show always has felt an affinity for the Bakersfield sound epitomized by such country legends as Merle Haggard and Buck Owens, and that influence keeps on taking a bigger role in Gustafson's own music.

Wylie Gustafson is a Los Angeles-based country singer, but he can't be accused of being "All Hat, No Cattle"--a charge he levels at a fictional, Cadillac-driving urban cowboy in his song of that title. Although not a cattle owner, Gustafson was raised on a Montana ranch by a country-singing daddy. That fact, however, hasn't bought him much respect from the country-music establishment.

Wylie Gustafson's road to country music success is about to take another turn. The singer began his career in Montana but, after a number of years on the Northwest circuit, ended up in the San Fernando Valley, where he became a regular at Ronnie Mack's weekly Barn Dance at The Palomino in North Hollywood. The Valley isn't exactly a country-Western haven, but in June, Wylie and the Wild West Show took the top spot in the Southern California regionals of the Marlboro Music Talent Roundup.

Yodeler Wylie Gustafson, a country and western singer from Dusty, Wash., said Monday that he was dropping a lawsuit accusing Yahoo Inc. of poaching his three-note vocalization following what may have been the fastest settlement in the West. News of Gustafson's $5-million lawsuit was carried around the world Friday, prompting Yahoo to put its top lawyer on a plane for a meeting in Los Angeles with the cowboy-poet's lawyer. His people had a deal with their people by sundown Saturday.

American listeners finally will have a chance to hear Jann Browne's superb 1994 album "Count Me In," which has been available only in Europe and Australia. Browne, a leading figure on the Orange County country music scene since the late '70s, said this week that she has struck a verbal agreement with Cross Three Records, a small, independent label based in Nashville. Label owner Mitchell Cohen said he plans an early-summer release and intends to send the Laguna Hills resident on her first U.S.

You're in your back yard, and two armed teen-agers run by. Later that month, you learn that two other youths were gunned down in the graffiti-lined alley behind some nearby apartments. And those are just the latest signs that gangsters have invaded your neighborhood. Do you put your house up for sale or look for another apartment? Decide to rename your community to disassociate it from the rest of Van Nuys? Cower indoors and hope the gangbangers go away?

Wylie & the Wild West Show, a band formed by a lanky 30-year-old singer who moved to Van Nuys from Conrad, Mont., took the top prize early Thursday morning in the Southern California regional finals of the Marlboro Music Talent Roundup. The quartet, whose wry songs spanned razor-edged cow-punk to traditional Western yodeling, was awarded $7,500.

Wylie Gustafson is a Los Angeles-based country singer, but he can't be accused of being "All Hat, No Cattle"--a charge he levels at a fictional, Cadillac-driving urban cowboy in his song of that title. Although not a cattle owner, Gustafson was raised on a Montana ranch by a country-singing daddy. That fact, however, hasn't bought him much respect from the country-music establishment.

Wylie Gustafson left his Montana home with dreams of making it big in country music. That's when his road to success took an odd turn. Having hit a dead-end playing the Northwest club circuit, the 30-year-old singer headed south and ended up in the San Fernando Valley, which isn't exactly the home of country-Western. But he began appearing in Ronnie Mack's weekly Barn Dance at the Palomino Club in North Hollywood, met some other players and formed a group.

Staff writer Randy Lewis sorts out the festival, hour by hour: 3 P.M. CATCH IT IF YOU CAN SONS OF THE SAN JOAQUIN Emphasizing the western half of country-western music, this Central Valley-based trio continues the tradition of Sons of the Pioneers with harmony-laden tales rooted in the vast American frontier. (Palomino, 3:10-3:50) 4 P.M. CATCH IT IF YOU CAN DON EDWARDS The cowboy troubadour from Texas is widely respected for his historically informed, unromanticized approach to western music and culture.