That championship season . . .
Author Phillips follows a handful of champion steer wrestlers on a year's round of rodeos, focusing mostly on 23-year-old Luke Branquinho from Los Alamos, California, who in 2004 went to the National Finals and finished first, with over $193,000 in overall earnings. That is the book in a nutshell. Readers follow along as Luke, his brother Casey, best friend Travis Cadwell, and a colleague Marc Jensen crisscross the West to compete at dozens of rodeos. The steer wrestling itself and the competition get almost as much attention as the long-distance rig driving, poker playing, carousing, beer drinking, junk food eating, gambling, pot smoking, cell-phone talking, and the idle conversations, story telling, boredom, practical joking, raillery, tomfoolery, and high jinks that fill the time between rodeos and rides.

The book is an honest effort to recreate the experience of being on the road with this fraternity of men in their twenties and thirties, living out dreams of rodeo glory, pitting skill against luck in the arena, building friendships that qualify as a rough-and-ready kind of male bonding, struggling with disappointments, and dealing with physical ailments that range from colossal hangovers to serious injuries. You won't find much padding - no history of steer wrestling, no side-trips and detours into related subjects, and very little character study or analysis of the sport itself. It's pretty much play-by-play - whether behind the scenes or out in front of the crowd - ending in a 40-page account of the ten-day Finals in Las Vegas. A quick read, with a 16-page section of great action photos and thumbnail portraits of the cowboys featured in the book.

good read
I got very interested in the characters, and learned some things about the life of a rodeo cowboy. It's a good summer read.

Blacktop Cowboys is an actual on the road cowboy story
I bought this book as I college rodeoed with some of its characters. Appears they haven't changed much. The author did a great job of showing what it really is like out on the road. Not just the glitzy outlook but the behind the scenes.

Brilliantly Captured
I had read a glowing review of Blacktop Cowboys that piqued my interest. Though my husband describes me as a neo-aristocratic fashionista, little did he know that up to the age of 11 I rode western saddle and particpated in, albeit very small, local rodeos. There is something about these men (and women) who capture a part of America that holds a seemingly romantic life. Hats off, literally, to Ty Phillips! He wrote a wonderful book on today's steer wrestlers. And thanks to the gentlemen who allowed Mr. Phillips into their life. Without their participation I don't know if Mr. Phillips could have written so honestly about them. Mr. Phillips does not romantize, per se, about the life, but is able to put one there, watching the milesigns go by, feel the dust in one's nose, and the frustration or joy of an event. Whether one has an interest in rodeos or cowboys, buy this book, you won't read anything better. Thank you Mr. Phillips for writing about a subject few of us will ever know as well,than through your words.

Tells it Like it is
Phillips takes all those fans of professional rodeo on the road at 85 miles an hour in a 350 pickup, pulling an alumumum trailer loaded with horses and living space.Due to the descriptive skills of the author, the reader becomes a silent witness to the good, the bad, and the ugly side of life with the rodeo cowboy. I couldn't put the book down.