A seven-course meal and a night full of genuine, real cowboy entertainment awaits patrons of Thursday's Concert in the Barn, hosted by Open Range Magazine and Arrow S Equine just outside the Glenrock city limits.

Tickets at $80 each or $150 per couple are still available today by calling 436-5447. They are also available at the Boot Barn in Casper and the office of the Glenrock Bird in Glenrock.

Headlining the event is veteran cowboy singer Michael Martin Murphey, who was featured in the magazine last year. He has some 35 albums to his credit and his timeless "Wildfire" is legendary among country classics.

Magazine publisher Amanda Smith asked if he'd consider doing a show in Glenrock and the wagon wheels were set in motion.

The evening begins with beer and wine for purchase at 6 p.m., with music by the popular dance band, The Avengers. Dinner is served chuckwagon style at 6:30 p.m., catered by the renowned Paisley Shawl. The menu includes baked chicken, barbecued beef spareribs, corn on the cob, baked beans, mashed potatoes, cornbread with butter and honey, and Dutch apple cobbler.

Cowboy poets Mason Tibbs of Jackson, Dave P. Fisher from Nebraska and Clark Crouch from Washington state will captivate the crowd beginning at 7:30 p.m., and Murphey takes the stage at 8:30 p.m.

Tibbs hosts a weekly show, "Saddle Sores from a Saddle Tramp," from Jackson each Saturday morning, which airs live on the radio and on the Internet. His show is a mix of cowboy humor, poetry and classic western music.

Although Crouch lives in Washington state, much of his poetry comes from growing up in the Sandhills region of Nebraska. His 2007 "Western Images" poetry collection, now available in paperback, won the 2008 Will Rogers Medallion Award.

Fisher also won a 2008 Will Rogers Medallion Award for western fiction for his "Bronc Buster -- Short Stories of the American West." His storytelling centers around serial characters who appear in multiple stories.

The first Cowboy Poetry Dinner Show held in Glenrock in April 2008 featuring Tibbs and Crouch sold out quickly and was a delightful evening.

Adding Murphey to this year's event is sure to be a crowd pleaser as well.

Smith said after expenses, a portion of the proceeds from Thursday's show will be donated to Glenrock's nonprofit Paleon Museum.

Although the dinner, poetry and music show is completely indoors at Arrow S Arena in Arrowhead Park, a bonfire outdoors will warm the mingling crowd. To end the evening, Casper-based The Avengers will play after Murphey's concert.

To reach Arrow S Arena just north of the city limits, take Highway 95 and turn right on Arrow Road.

Open Range magazine is published six times a year in Glenrock and features the Western lifestyle in prose, poetry and photography.

Community News editor Sally Ann Shurmur can be reached at (307) 266-0520 or sallyann.shurmur@trib.com. Read Sal's blog at tribtown.trib.com/Sal/blog and follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/WYOSAS