Hopefully, you recall the riveting and unique story telling of the crookedly spun web of evil, greed, good, and justice (see Western Ballad Opera review by Cheryl Arthur) because that CD is now the first of the Western Ballad Opera Trilogy, a 3 CD box set.  Since we have already covered the first installment on this site previously, we will pick up the tales spun in CDs II & III.  The same unpredictable primary characters are followed through, others more fully developed, and of course, new additions join the gripping, ever-changing adventure as it unfolds over several generations of interwoven lives.  The opening introductions to each part and track features the same narrator as he continues his campfire tales with a hint that he might even have a personal stake in this intricate web.  As in the original WBO, the tale is the driving focus of the presentation; however, the music also is a major factor with lots of rich historical musical instrument heritage, provided by the talented Pistol River band with which to set the scene.  They use an artful combination of country, rock, bluegrass, and traditional folk to discretely form the various moods of each track’s tale.

Our twisted Peyton Place tale of the old west continues with CDs II and III of the now Western Ballad Opera Trilogy.  These characters do get around!  Besides all their other busy doin’s that weave through the fascinating unfolding stories, they also manage to get involved with some major historical battles like the Alamo, San Jacinto, and Custer’s last stand; and associate with the legendary characters of Judge Roy Bean, Wild Bill Hickcock, Kit Carson, Annie Oakley, Buffalo Bill, George Custer, and US Grant.

The yarn picks up the thread of the saga of Mackie Rose by following the thread of what happened with Ambrose Greene, the finance left waiting by Josephine, when she was abducted by Brandies the pirate (Wilbur J. Morgan’s father). When it was clear that foul play had occurred during that riverboat trip and Josephine would not make her intended destination, Ambrose resigned from the military, and devoted his life to a vigilante search for the man who cost him his lost love.  He eventually tracked down Brandies and hung him near the Rio Grande.  He then settled in Texas, near the Brazos, and married Nell Carter (Morgan), whose son, Wilbur was in his teens.  Ambrose and Nell had a son, named Mackie.  Wilbur and Ambrose did not get along and Wilbur killed Ambrose and tried to cover the deed by burning the barn (this was foreshadowed in the first set of WBO tales).  Nell died soon after, leaving Mackie an orphan.

Mackie was raised by Shelby Rose as his own son and they were involved with the siege of the Alamo.  Shelby was a soldier that was killed in the battle, but Mackie and another boy, Levi Moss, both too young to fight, were spared Santa Anna’s terminal wrath.  They ran off to find General Sam Houston and join the rest of the Texican resistance.  They fought in the battle of San Jacinto and helped defeat Santa Anna.

Mackie somehow found his way to the Second Chance ranch; met and married Ellie Devine (Moses Devine’s daughter).  Mackie was unaware that Shelby Rose was not his real father.  So he was very surprised to learn during his time at the ranch, while visiting with a man that stopped at the ranch, that his mother, real father (Ambrose Greene), and half brother, Wilbur J. Morgan, had such an intricate history.  Moses realized it was the same Wilbur Morgan that had worked at his ranch for a while and tried to swindle him out of some cattle.

Mackie is driven by the need to find out the truth about his half brother, Wilbur. So he reluctantly parts from Moses and Ellie at the Second Chance in Texas and travels to Montana.  Passing through Abilene, he witnessed his old boyhood friend, Levi Moss, gun down a man without just cause.  Somewhere between Denver and Jackson Hole, he heard the story of Josephine, the Dandy, and their son Moses (Devine).  Between the Big Horn and Powder Rivers, he found a dead gunslinger and buried him, taking his guns.  When he arrived in the town that Wilbur built, Brimstone, people mistook him to be that (now dead) gunslinger, James Riley.  Wilbur and his daughter Abigail were already dead, but Reuben Carter confused him with a hired gun, named Brandies (same pirate/criminal that Mackie’s father Ambrose hunted down and hanged?) that he was expecting to "take care of" the judge and other folks that were causing Carter some trouble. The chorus of this ballad sums up the moral:

Mackie is so outraged by the vile and despicable actions of Carter and his men, that he stays on in town.  He witnessed an assault on a woman (later implied to be his half sister) that reminded him of his wife and in response, killed 7 of Carters men involved in the ensuing conflict.  He then became temporary marshal of the town and cleaned up the mess that Carter was instigating and hauled Carter to jail.

Mackie finally pieced together the intricate puzzle that has been depicted in all the previous campfire tales.  With his own and his family’s history so intertwined with the circumstances in Brimstone, he felt he had to stay and see justice to Carter carried out.  In addition, while carrying out his marshal responsibilities, he was forced to kill his boyhood friend Levi Moss during an angry confrontation Levi had with another man.

When Reuben Carter was hanged that May, Mackie considered his duty complete, turned in his badge, and boarded the train back to Texas; his wife, Ellie; Jesse Greene Rose, infant son he’d never even seen; and Moses.

Time passed and Mackie and Ellie made their own 2^nd chance at the Second Chance. Eventually, Moses passed on. He didn’t want folks to grieve over his passing, so left instructions for a Second Chance celebration.  Not only did all the folks attend that had been associated with the Second Chance, but many celebrities of the day like, Judge Roy Bean, Wild Bill Hickcock, Kit Carson, Annie Oakley, and Buffalo Bill.  Act 2 closes with a narration by our campfire pal.  He reveals that "this place" (Heaven?) is bigger than Texas and has many campfires.  You are welcome to come back and rejoin this one presided over by Moses Devine for more tales like this.

The next pieces of this western sized puzzle fall into place by backtracking to Reuben Carter’s childhood with mother Nell Carter and sister Mattie Truman. Nell died and Mattie tried for a time to help raise Reuben, but they soon parted company.  Reuben to travel to Montana and pursue revenge on his natural father, Wilbur Morgan; and Mattie found her way to the lively city of New Orleans and a life of pleasin’ men.

Mattie’s life became a whirling "Carousel" (the name of her entertainment establishment) of influential men and the good she did for less fortunate others. Mattie eventually spent her time with one gentleman, Colonel Marcus Caldwell. He was called away during the Civil War and turned over his plantation to Mattie and the son they were expecting.  It became a hospital and Mattie’s ladies from the Carousel helped tend the wounded or those ill with the plague.  Colonel Caldwell was captured at the Battle of Baton Rouge and held at Camp Chase in Ohio.

After emancipation, it was too difficult to keep the plantation going by growing cotton with the few former slaves that remained.  The final straw was the burning of the plantation house by the Yankees.  Mattie and her ladies traveled toward Lafayette, and Zachary Caldwell was born.  In the papers that Mattie had salvaged from the plantation house, she found instructions from Caldwell for bank accounts and information about his family heritage.  The papers revealed that he had lost a sister named Josephine who had disappeared from a river boat while traveling to join her finance, Lt. Ambrose Greene.  So Mattie and her companions headed north to complete the banking transactions. They settled down with a real home and the girls and Zachary were all educated.

Colonel Caldwell, meanwhile, was still in prison in Ohio.  He and another confederate officer, Ethan Kane, became friends.  They planned their escape and bribed a Union soldier, Abel Wade to help.  In payment for his assistance, Caldwell gave Wade part of the land to which his family held deed in Montana, named Heaven’s Gate.  Caldwell and Kane escaped and planned to rejoin the Confederate Army.  But Caldwell fell ill on the journey and died just as they reached a Confederate regiment.  In appreciation for Kane’s kind care during his illness, Caldwell bequeathed him the remainder of the Heaven’s Gate land in Montana.

After the war, Kane set out for Montana and Heaven’s Gate. Along the way, he met a military scout, Noah Faust, and the two of them helped fresh Calvary troops navigate through the Bozeman Trail and avoiding the Sioux and Cheyenne whenever possible.  Many campfire tales were swapped during that trek about rain making, a woman dressed as a man, the Second Chance Ranch, snakes named Morgan and Reuben, and a N’Orleans "house" called the Carousel. Kane asked about Caldwell’s plantation and was told that it had been torched and the family presumed dead. One day on the march, Kane spotted and reported Cheyenne as they prepared to attack the regiment.  Kane took charge of the defense and saved the troops.  Later, he was commended by General US Grant for his actions.

Once in Montana, Kane got more information about Caldwell’s land grant deed. Wade had a section of less than 50 acres near Purgatory and Kane held the rest of Heaven’s Gate territory.  The claim had been staked during the Lewis and Clark expedition and the deed had been issued.  Caldwell’s family bought that deed from the French in 1798, and it had been stored for safe keeping at a bank back east.  Wilbur Morgan settled on the same land in 1839, but did so illegally without the original claim.  It was 1868 before Kane came to Montana to make his claim to the land.  Kane tried to compromise with Morgan and Carter, but only stirred up trouble between them, complete with death threats and continual aggravation for the next couple of years.

In the spring of 1870, some of Reuben’s hired gang jumped, beat, tied Kane to a tree, and left him for bear food.  A Calvary patrol, lead by George Custer, found him that night, saved his life, and Kane began a long recuperation.  During his convalescence, he learned that Carter was charged with murder, arson, rape, and extortion.  He also heard about Mackie Rose, who decided to take on the Carter problem after witnessing the assault of a lady named Mattie.  It turns out that Mattie was the woman that Caldwell had asked him to find.  They got acquainted and discovered that she also had the deed that Kane needed to clear up the Brimstone and Heaven’s Gate ownership dispute.  Mattie also confided that Reuben was her half brother.

A town meeting revealed the deed and it’s vast boundaries that took in all of Heaven’s Gate, the town of Brimstone, and much more besides.  Mattie spoke to her half brother Reuben in jail.  He tried to lie his way out of the murder and arson, as well as the trouble with Kane, Rose, and the whole town of Brimstone. But Mattie could see that he had not changed during the years they had been apart; that he was just as evil and ruthless as ever.  So she told him she had given the original deed for all of Heaven’s Gate land, cattle, oil rights, and the town of Brimstone to Kane.  Kane and Mattie met with Brimstone folks and let them know that they now owned the town, and it was renamed Heaven’s Gate.

Over the next few years, Heaven’s Gate became a respectable place, grew, and prospered.  Mattie, son Zachary, and her ladies all made it their home.  The Cheyenne and Sioux were relocated to reservations, but not without resistance. Tensions continued to grow and in 1876, Kane was recalled to the Army as a scout in a big push to drive Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull from their traditional sacred lands.  Kane had been personally requested by George Custer, and felt an obligation to the man who had saved his life when Custer’s patrol had interrupted Carter’s fatal intentions.  In reporting for duty, Kane ran into Abel Wade, who had helped him and Caldwell escape from the Yankee prison.  Wade was only a month from retirement and planned to make use of the nearby land Caldwell gave him.  In June of that same year, Noah Faust, who still scouted for the Army under Custer’s command, reported over 2,000 braves at the Big Horn.  As history has recorded, Custer disobeyed orders and split his forces to nab the glory of victory for himself and his men.  Kane tried to argue with him, but was dismissed by Custer and told to report to General Gibbon.  Custer charged in the early morning and quickly found himself and his forces surrounded and were cut down on the ridge.  Kane, meanwhile, was able to locate General Gibbon, and they marched immediately to Custer’s aid.  But it was too late, and only Benteen and Reno were saved.  Sitting Bull was eventually captured and peace settled in the area by 1878.

Kane went back to his ranching and married Mattie Truman.  Mattie’s ladies were all settled with families or interests of their own.  Kane taught Zachary to ranch, his intricate past and heritage, and about pursuing his dreams.  In 1888, the railroad came and made regular stops at Heaven’s Gate.  There was talk of becoming a state.

The Western Ballad Opera Trilogy is truly a tribute to the almost extinct art of the classic western campfire tale.  With this trilogy, John Bizzack and Marvin Adcock have proved that the first Western Ballad Opera was not a fluke.  That much more flows whence that appeared!  No one says it more plain and simple than Moses Devine, so here’s how he sums it all up:

To order your copy of the Western Ballad Opera Trilogy, or for more information about the creators John Bizzack and Marvin Adcock or about the many musicians it took to create this epic, see Pistol River.

Written by Cheryl Arthur, December, 2003