LA GRANDE — Award-winning western songwriter Kerry Grombacher will appear in concert on Thursday, Sept. 19, 6 p.m. at Cook Memorial Library, 2006 Fourth St.

Attendance is free and open to the public.

In the spirit of the troubadours of old, Grombacher’s contemporary folk and western songs, according to a press release, “paint vivid portraits and tell fascinating stories that are set in the landscape he travels, from the bayous of Louisiana, through the desert Southwest, to the Hi-Line of Montana and the forests of the Pacific Northwest.”

“Range of the Buffalo,” the title track of his 2021 CD, was named Song of the Year by the International Western Music Association. His songs about the region include “Along the John Day River,” which is rooted in his experiences fighting forest fires on the Malheur National Forest in the early 1970s.

Grombacher, who is sponsored by Elixir Guitar & Mandolin Strings, logs as many as 40,000 miles each year driving from show to show, and he is a regular visitor to Oregon.

“This is my first opportunity to perform in La Grande,” Grombacher said. “I’ve been fascinated by the landscape and the wildlife of the area since I worked in John Day for the U.S. Forest Service, and I’m looking forward to returning to Eastern Oregon this year for concerts.”

In the course of his nationwide tours, Kerry has sung his songs on stages as varied as the Newport Folk Festival, the Arizona Cowboy Poets Gathering, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and the Gene Autry Museum of Western Heritage. In Oregon, he’s performed at the High Desert Museum, and in concerts and venues across the state.

In addition to appearing at cowboy gatherings and folk festivals, he performs regularly at concert halls and other music venues, and he’s been featured on “Born to Explore,” the ABC Television adventure travel program, and on “River City Folk,” the nationally syndicated music interview program.

A native of Kansas, Grombacher lives in New Orleans now. A self-taught musician who plays guitar and mandolin, he has fought forest fires in Oregon, worked as a field archaeologist in New Mexico, done day work on ranches in New Mexico, Colorado and California, and worked with an outfitter in Yellowstone National Park and the Black Hills of South Dakota.