A country twang is in the air at Lipscomb University, as the boys of Tau Phi come together to put on the 35th annual Cowboy Show. This year, Tau Phi alumni will join the stage with current club members for a reunion show.
The host this year is McRae Benefield, a Tau Phi alumnus who was a part of the very first Cowboy Show held inside Collins Auditorium.
“I pledged in the spring of ‘78” Benefield said. “They were doing Bison Day and we were all dressed up like cowboys. They did a little cowboy show out on the steps of alumni auditorium, and I thought that was kind of cool, so that’s the reason I decided to pledge to Tau Phi. We were the first ones to do it inside alumni, and it’s just pretty neat that it’s still hanging on.”
The Cowboy Show started in 1974 when a few Tau Phi members got together and put on a small show on the front steps of Collins Auditorium. The popularity of this small gathering slowly grew over five years. Then, in 1979, the show moved inside to the Collins stage where it’s been held ever since.
Clay Whitaker, the Cowboy Show director, admits that putting a show like this together is very hard work, but it also strengthens the friendships in Tau Phi year after year.
“It’s a pretty big undertaking,” Whitaker said. “Hiring the band, the audio/visual technicians, building a set, organizing practice, making sure a bunch of college kids get their stuff together for a production. It’s hard to corral people together. But, it’s fun to do. It brings us all as a club together, because we all have to pitch in and sacrifice time and get things done together and rely on each other. We’ve been doing it since 1974, so it’s been a staple for Tau Phi.”
Tau Phi senior Jesse Taylor is among the performers in this year’s show. This is Jesse’s third year in the show, and he will be playing an original song called “Echo.” Taylor is thrilled to perform some of his original material because, as he explains, songwriting is more than just a talent.
“My biggest passion is the writing,” Taylor said. “That did a lot for me spiritually and emotionally in a time where I needed that. I think a lot of that has to do with me kind of refocusing everything on what God wants me to do as opposed to what I want to do.
The most meaningful thing is when someone comes back to me and tells me ‘Hey dude, I love your song’ or ‘I loved that lyric.’ There’s not many songs that I write where I haven’t felt something that’s in the song.”
The Tau Phi Cowboy Show is Saturday, Oct. 4, at 7 p.m. in Collins Alumni Auditorium. Doors open at 6 p.m., and tickets are $10.