Saddle up for one unforgettable night of music as 2024 Academy of Western Artists' Group of the Year Gone With The West rides into the Best Western Plus Rio Grande Inn (1015 Rio Grande Boulevard NW) in Albuquerque on Thursday, May 29 for an event celebrating the lifestyle and culture of the American West. Showtime is 6 - 8 p.m. and admission is free (donations will be accepted at the door). Seats are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis, so attendees are encouraged to arrive early to guarantee a seat.

Formed in 2023, Nashville-based GONE WITH THE WEST is a veritable femme de fête, supergroup ensemble featuring: multiple International Western Music Association (IWMA), American Western Association (AWA) and National Cowboy Museum’s “Wrangler” award-winning vocalist and songwriter Mary Kaye Holt; vocalist/keyboardist Micki Fuhrman, winner of a Western Writers of America (WWA), Spur Award (Best Western Song), and the 2023 (Outstanding Traditional Western Album); Spanish-born singer/songwriter/guitarist Tecia McKenna, winner of the 2023 IWMA Songwriting Competition and Coloradan Merna Lewis, aka “The Barefoot Fiddler,” a fourth-generation fiddle player and 2023 IWMA Musician of the Year nominee.

The group headlined the 2023 IWMA Awards during their first year of touring and, in 2024, the Durango Cowboy Poetry Gathering and the Living History Expo in Fort Wallace, Kansas. They were nominated for 2024 IWMA Group of the Year and won the 2024 IMWA Songwriting Contest winner for “Heartbreak Moon,” to be released in 2025. Their current single, “A New Someday,” recently hit #1 on Western Way’s music chart. The ladies are currently juggling their time between their 2025 TUMBLEWEED TOUR and the studio with new music to be released soon.