Beloved Wyoming Band Prairie Wildfire Splits

This is not as bad as The Beatles breaking up. But Wyomingites and fans across the nation will be heartbroken to hear that their favorite music trio is no more.

Our ladies are growing up and moving on. But that does not mean they are going away entirely.

A bit of backstory

Every year I host the Chugwater Chili Cookoff in Chugwater, Wyoming.

I'm the guy on stage making announcements and introducing the bands.

Some years back I introduced a lovely group of teenage girls who called themselves Prairie Wildfire Band.

I was just sitting down when they started to play and- WOW!

The audience went NUTS.

They were so good those poor ladies had a hard time leaving the stage. The audience kept screaming for more.

Over the years those ladies have grown, gone on tour,  and even written a few hit songs on the Bluegrass music charts.

Last night the following note appeared on their Facebook page.

Turnberry Records announces that bluegrass and country outfit “Prairie Wildfire” will now evolve into a brand-new iteration, “Sage and Prairie Wildfire.”

This is not the end of Prairie Wildfire

Sage is now upfront.

But there is more about the band.

The new configuration will feature longtime member and mandolin player Sage Palser at the helm, joined by a new lineup of supporting musicians that will be announced at a future date.

Now I'm curious as to what happened to the other ladies in the group.

This doesn't mean anything bad. These ladies are young and the music industry is hard. So I won't assume anything. But fans like me will miss the old trio.

Reading on we can see the record company explaining the situation.

Prairie Wildfire has wowed audiences with their youthful virtuosity. They began by impressing fans from their hometown of Buffalo, Wyoming and have since made big impacts on stages across the country. Early on they caught the eye of veteran songwriter David Stewart, who has been instrumental in their rise as an up-and-coming act of the bluegrass world.

As the young members of the band are now maturing further into adulthood, however, they realized they’re all interested in going in different directions; they have decided to pursue different avenues in the music industry.

“I’ll have all new people involved,” Palser said, of the CD planned for release on Turnberry sometime before the end of 2024. Palser said she will write some originals for the upcoming release, and that “there will be at least a couple of David Stewart songs on there.”

Some of these ladies are just out of college and have their futures to think of.

Let's keep in mind how difficult the music industry is.

Palser said she is unsure where she will land after college graduation this year, but said she is eyeing a possible relocation to Nashville as part of this coming year of professional change. Currently Palser has a duet with Danny Paisley out on radio, and will have an upcoming release on Turnberry with Dave Adkins.

It's good to see that those who have moved on from Praire Wildfie are keeping a foot in the door of the music industry.

They have each built a well-earned reputation we can be sure to hear from them in the future.

Turnberry previously released the 2023 eponymously titled album, “Prairie Wildfire.”

“Turnberry and its owner, Keith Barnacastle, are both awesome...they’ve been so good to work with,” Palser said, of the label that recognized her talent early on and decided listeners would love the youthful enthusiasm for bluegrass, classic country and related genres offered by the up-and-coming group.

Palser is delighted that Turnberry will still be a part of this recent evolution as Sage and Prairie Wildfire blazes its own new path over the coming months.

“I’m really excited to see what new direction I’m gonna go in, and what all that will bring,” Palser said.

Sage and Prairie Wildfire will occupy a slot on a Turnberry Records artist roster.

A little girl went to visit your grandpa's ranch around the Ten Sleep area of Wyoming.

She was only 9 or 10 years old, at the time.

The ranch has such an impact that, at that young age, she sat down and wrote a song about it.

She titled the song Red Dirt In My Soul.

Fitting, when you see the hills surrounding that area.

Sage Palser is one of the three members of Buffalo Wyoming's Prairie Wildfire Band.

The song that you can listen to, and watch, was the one she wrote after spending time at her 100-year-old Great Grandpa Greet's ranch.

The lyrics and singing ability are far beyond that of such a young girl.

Sage is on the far right of the cover picture, in the video below.

The video is a collection of Sage, her family members, her grandpa, and those who helped her record the song.

I sent word out to Sage, who is double the age now, or a bit more, to ask her if she could tell the story behind this song and the video.

All of the pictures in the video are on my Great Grandpa Greets ranch that is about 20 miles south of Ten Sleep Wyoming.

We used to go up all the time as a family and visit grandpa and ride.

All of the pictures are various family members, most of which being my great grandpa, grandparents, brother, and cousins.

I wrote this song in about 20 minutes one day, right after we had just got back from our annual week long visit to the ranch! It just kind of fell in my lap!

This song was recorded at a little studio in Story, Wyoming.

The pictures from the recording studio include David Stewart, who has become a grandpa to me as well over the years. (Sage).

The talent must come from Sage's family genes.

The hard work ethic was learned from the same.