Information/Write-up
Wayne “Cinch” Arthur has spent a lifetime turning the rhythms of western Canadian life into music, stories, and lived experience. Born in Princeton, British Columbia and raised partly in Kamloops, he grew up close to ranching country, small towns, and working people—settings that would shape both his songwriting and the memoirs he later wrote for his grandchildren. Long before he became known in Peace River as a storyteller and author, Arthur was a musician and entertainer whose warm voice and natural yodel could fill any hall.
Arthur moved across the interior of British Columbia as a young man, working in forestry and surviving several close calls—including a notorious incident in which a felled tree came down directly on top of him. He later settled in Sundre, Alberta, where he taught school, raised his family, and became closely involved with Pioneer Lodge southwest of town. He also spent time as a rodeo announcer, cowboy, horseman, and outdoorsman—rafting the Red Deer River, hunting, fishing, and composing poems and songs that reflected the rhythms of rural life.
Music was one of the earliest threads running through his life. In 1976 he recorded his first LP, “Cinch” Sings, at Ernest Klumpp’s E.K. Recording Studios in Calgary. The album mixed traditional material with originals and showcased Arthur’s distinct yodeling style, intimate vocals, and easy, unforced delivery. That same year he followed it with Alberta Gold, recorded at Sound West Studios, which leaned more heavily on original compositions celebrating the province’s landscapes, ranching culture, and family roots. These two independently released albums remain valued snapshots of prairie folk and cowboy music from the mid-1970s.
Arthur’s move north was initially planned as a short stay, but it became permanent. He relocated to Peace River more than three decades ago, eventually managing ten large government grazing reserves before his retirement. Even as he shifted into agricultural management, he continued to write—first for his grandchildren, then, at the urging of friends and family, for a wider readership.
Those stories, poems, and memories became Saddle Up With Cinch, a collection he worked on for more than fifteen years before publishing it in 2016. The book gathers material from the 1950s through the 1970s: ranch life near Pioneer Lodge, his years teaching in Sundre, encounters in the backcountry, close brushes with danger, and the everyday characters that shaped rural Alberta and British Columbia. At the book’s launch at Bergen Missionary Church, Arthur read several stories and performed a number of his original songs—bringing his two creative lives together again.
Married for 57 years to Anne (née Jesson), whom he grew up with in Kamloops, Arthur is the father of four daughters and the grandfather of eight. Though he has lived in Peace River for more than thirty years, he still speaks fondly of Sundre and Mountain View County, places that shaped the best-known stories of his life.
He remains, in every sense, what his friends always called him: a cowboy, a musician, a teacher, a storyteller, and a man who has lived deeply in the landscapes he writes and sings about.
-Robert Williston
Wayne F. Arthur: rhythm guitar, vocals
Becky Arthur: vocals
Trevor Haug: lead guitar
Richard Bell: bass, drums
Gary Krueger: keyboards
Written and produced by Wayne F. Arthur
Recorded at Sound West Studios, 204 - 16th Avenue NW, Calgary, Alberta
Cover design by Brian Parlane
B&W photos by Jerry Vander Wal
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