Cowgirl Balladeer Juni Fisher rides into Fiddlers Crossing, March 3

Juni Fisher is no stranger to these parts. She has already given four sold-out concerts in Fiddlers Crossing and will ride into town March 3 for her fifth appearance. Fisher is the real deal – a Western singer who actually IS a cowgirl. Many of her songs are about women rodeo riders of bygone days, and she can be funny and poignant at the same time.

Fisher grew up horse crazy on a San Joaquin Valley citrus farm, achieving 4-H and FFA honors, listening to the music of Marty Robbins, Joan Baez and Burl Ives and learning Western songs from her father. While in elementary school, Fisher began singing in a trio with her two sisters. She started playing guitar at age seven and wrote her first song at age eight.

After graduation from high school, Fisher rode her way through the Equine Science program at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, helping neighboring ranchers train horses and winning top honors at Intercollegiate and Quarter Horse shows. Singing big band standards with a dance orchestra was a way of earning entry money for horse shows. Meanwhile, she continued to write her own songs.

She moved to Santa Ynez, CA, in 1984 to train cutting horses, and was soon asked to join a local band. It wasn't long before she was singing in Los Angeles clubs with a popular country band, playing the Western and cowboy music she loved.

In 1991, Fisher traded her quarter horses for hunters and jumpers when she accepted a one-year position with a Tennessee hunt club. Living near Nashville gave her the opportunity she needed to hone her songwriting skills. She and her husband, Rusty, still live in Tennessee with their horses.

Today, Juni Fisher is one of – if not the -- most popular singing cowgirls on the Cowboy Poetry and Folk Festival circuits. She has won numerous awards from the Western Music Association and the Academy of Western Artists and has released eight CDs.

In her spare time, she also loves to go fly fishing.

For more about Juni Fisher, go to http://www.junifisher.com.

The concert starts at 7 p.m., with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $20, available at Tehachapi Treasure Trove, Tehachapi Furniture, Lucky's Barbershop, or at the Fiddler's Crossing Wednesday Open Mics. Tickets are also available online at Fiddlers Crossing.com, and may be reserved by calling (661) 823-9994. Fiddlers Crossing is at 206 East F Street, Downtown Tehachapi at Robinson. Buying tickets early is strongly suggested.

On the horizon at Fiddlers Crossing: Special St. Patrick's Day Celebration; Rocky Neck Bluegrass Band; Ernest Troost; Jill Kight and the Luckys; Gary Stockdale; and The Hay Dudes.

Note: There will not be a free First Friday concert at Fiddlers Crossing in March.