R. W. Hampton (born June 17, 1957 in Houston, Texas) is an American western music singer-songwriter, actor and playwright. Hampton has achieved both critical and commercial success, winning multiple awards from the Western Music Association and the Academy of Western Artists and four separate Wrangler Awards from the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.
In 2013, Hampton was named among the "Top 50 Best Singers of Country and Western Singers of All Time" by American Cowboy magazine (alongside performers like George Strait, Johnny Cash, George Jones, and Gene Autry) and has won acclaim and countless awards singing songs celebrating the Western way of life.
Called “Today’s Voice of the American Cowboy,” Hampton began his career playing guitar and singing at cowboy campfires as a wrangler at Philmont Scout Ranch. Prior to his career in the entertainment industry, he drifted across the American West, working cowboy jobs on some of the biggest ranches in the West, punching cattle, riding young colts, shoeing horses and guiding trail rides and hunters in the high country.
A prolific writer and performer, Hampton's wife Lisa doubles as his manager & agent.
Early career
After eleven years working as a cowboy working on western ranches, Hampton began a career in music. In 1984, he released his first album, Travelin' Light, with appearances at The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Kenny Rogers chose Hampton to play himself, a cowboy singing at the campfire, in the television movie, Wild Horses.
Hampton worked at ranch duties on the former Spade Ranch in Texas, the IL Ranch in northern Nevada, the ZX Ranch in Oregon, and the Pickerel Land and Cattle Company in Wyoming, but preferred the Texas Panhandle and eastern New Mexico, where he owns the Clearview Ranch, located about twenty miles southwest of Cimarron. and in 2022 purchased a cattle and big game hunting property, The Six Springs Ranch, Southeast of Raton, NM.
1990s
Throughout the 1990s, Hampton continued his recording and entertainment career, appearing in several Western films and recording five albums in six years from 1994 to 1999. In 1996, he received the Academy of Western Artists’ first Will Rogers Award for both Male Vocalist of the Year and Entertainer of the Year. A year later, his album, Ridin’ The Dreamland Range, won the association's Album of the Year. The Academy named Hampton its Male Vocalist of the Year again in 1999.
The Last Cowboy (1993) The one-man stage play The Last Cowboy was written with Hampton's brother Jeff, and playwright Dave Marquis in 1993. The show received critical praise for Hampton's performance, and for his interpretation of the cowboy past. His album The Last Cowboy – His Journey, which was inspired by the play, won him his first Wrangler Award in 2000 for Excellence in Dramatic Presentation and Original Music Composition from the National Cowboy Museum and Western Heritage Center.
2000s
"For The Freedom" (2006) Hampton won a Western Music Association award for Top Male Performer in 2004. In 2006, he won the WMA Song of the Year award for his composition "For the Freedom" (which appears on his album I Believe). American Cowboy magazine said of the record, "For The Freedom" "touches the heart in a personal way. Regardless of how one feels about war, it beautifully honors the soldiers’ work and commitment."
Oklahoma… (2007) In 2008, Hampton won his second Western Heritage Award, this time for his album Oklahoma … Where the West Remains! which was named Outstanding Traditional Western Album. This album was Hampton's first performance with a full orchestra. It was praised by Western Horseman magazine for what it described as Hampton's "deep, velvety vocals, idyllic lyrics and cowboy authenticity" which has "captivated audiences worldwide."
"Austin to Boston" (2010)
Prior to the album's release, the first European focus track, "Cowboy's Prayer", debuted at No. 2 on the UK Hotdisc Top 40 chart and rose to No. 1, where it remained for three weeks; the second European focus track, "Driftin' Again", debuted at No. 1. Early in 2011, Hampton received his third Wrangler Award from the National Cowboy Museum and Western Heritage Center in the "Outstanding Original Western Composition" category for his song, "Shortgrass", from this album.
Lubbock Cowboy Symposium (2013)