Joe Delk and The Delk Band are a 2024 Rounders Award recipient. Pictured from left to right: Joe Delk, Mark Delk, Neal Delk and Byron Delk. The Rounders Award, named after the classic Western novel written by Max Evans, serves to honor those who live, promote, and articulate the Western way of life. (Photo courtesy of Joe Delk)Carter, the Delk family celebrated for articulating Western way of life

Haga clic aquí para español.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – New Mexico writer-photographer Julie Carter and musician Joe Delk received the 2024 Rounders Award Oct. 16 at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces.

The award was named after “The Rounders,” a classic Western novel that was written by Max Evans. Created in 1990 by former New Mexico Agriculture Secretary Frank DuBois, the purpose of the award is to honor those who live, promote and articulate the Western way of life. Max Evans was the first-ever award recipient. The Rounders tradition continues as this year’s recipients join 36 previous honorees.

Evans passed in 2020, however, the Rounders tradition lives on. These individuals are described as vivid creators of Western art that embody the tradition of the award.

New Mexico Agriculture Secretary Jeff Witte presented the awards to Carter and Delk and The Delk Band.

“I am proud of the legacy Max has left in Western culture, and this year’s Rounders Award recipients definitely live and articulate the Western way of life. Max would be proud,” said Witte. “Carter and the Delk family have built vibrant careers with unique talents that reflect the Western way of life. I am honored to welcome them to the group of Rounders recipients.”

Photographer and writer Julie Carter is a 2024 Rounders Award recipient. The Rounders Award, named after the classic Western novel written by Max Evans, serves to honor those who live, promote, and articulate the Western way of life. (Photo courtesy of Julie Carter)Julie Carter was raised on a ranch in Colorado and has lived on a ranch in New Mexico for 40 years. First a writer and later taking up photography to best define the unique reality of the cowboy, Carter has developed her own brand of wit. “A photo can be story,” Carter says. “But sometimes a story needs a photo. I can’t, with any justice, write enough words about a windmill in a New Mexico sunset quite like the right moment in a photo can show it. I can write about the sights of the branding corral, but a photo of the smoke from burning hair curling around everything and everyone close at hand just brings it to life.” Carter freelances ranch family stories for RANGE Magazine, Livestock Weekly and New Mexico Cattle Growers. She also writes rodeo contestant features for the New Mexico Stockman.

Joe Delk’s father Forrest, born in Santa Rita, New Mexico, first picked up the fiddle at the age of seven and went on to play at dances starting in 1934, in a group called “Forrest Delk and his Gully Jumpers.” Joe, Forrest’s oldest son, joined the group and started playing music with his father and brother in the 1950s. After moving his family to Las Cruces in 1988, Joe made sure his three sons also took an interest in creating music. Sons Neal, Byron and Mark perfected skills on the guitar, bass guitar and drums, respectively, developing tremendous talent that carried “The Delk Band” through the 1990s to venues across New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Wyoming. When Forrest passed away in 1996, Joe made sure to carry on his father’s legacy and musical journey, eventually forming a nine-piece dance band that is still active today. “My dad had a real knack for playing good dance music,” said Joe Delk. At the same time that Joe Delk and The Delk Band are honored with the Rounders Award, this year marks the 90th anniversary of the family band that “plays music for those that come and dance.”
For a list of past Rounders Award recipients, visit the NMDA website.