Friday: 8:30 p.m. Railroad; Saturday: noon Railroad, 5:15 p.m. Kenduskeag; Sunday: 3:15 p.m. Heritage

Five-thirty in the morning is not an hour generally claimed by musicians. While most singers and strummers are dozing on the bus or at the local Motel 6, there is one musician who is rising to face the day: world-class yodeler Wylie Gustafson. Of course, there is a reason for his early waking: His cattle aren’t going to feed themselves.

Despite his successful career as one of America’s most popular Western entertainers, Gustafson still gets up early every day and tends to the livestock. The secret of his honest, soulful Western music isn’t in any musical formulas or flashy gimmicks. Its purity lies in his character: earnest and hardworking, but beaming with friendly vigor – and a smile as warm as first sunlight rising over the prairie.

Ropin’, wranglin’, writin’, recordin’. They go hand in hand for Gustafson, leader of the acclaimed Wylie & the Wild West. Billboard magazine declared, “When Wylie & the Wild West play, folks get up and dance!”

From nightclubs to state fairs, bars to barns, it rings true. Wylie’s infectious Western music gets the crowd moving every time.

Keeping his home base in Dusty, Wash. (population 11), Gustafson has traveled the world over. He has appeared on the Grand Ole Opry more than 40 times, performed at such prestigious events as the Original Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nev.; state fairs in Minnesota, Kansas, Ohio, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho, California, Washington and Montana; the Calgary Stampede; Pendleton Round-Up; and the famous Houston Rodeo & Livestock Show. He has earned an international reputation not only through his recordings, but also from his appearances at Japan’s Country Gold Festival, three Australian tours, and a seven-week residency at Euro Disney.

By being himself, Gustafson has become one of the most exciting and endearing acts in contemporary music – country, Western or otherwise. His dynamic stage presence keeps getting him invited back to venues year after year.

“In 2000, for the first time,” said Charlie Seemann, director of the Cowboy Poetry Gathering, “we had some audience participation: We asked who they would like to come back to the gathering, and Wylie was … right at the top. It’s unusual, but we had to have him two years in a row because he was so popular.”

All of Gustafson’s music is dashed off with a hardy dose of trail dust. To him, the ranch and the recording studio are inseparable. “The connection between ranching and my music is extremely close,” he said. “Most of my songs are born out of the environment where I live and punch cattle. When I write an upbeat song, I make sure it’s a song that a cowboy can dance to. When I write a more lyrical song, I make sure that a real cowboy will be able to relate to it somehow.”