Published on Show Me Mizzou Dec. 17, 2025
Story by Jack Wax, BS Ed ’73, MS ’76, MA ’87
The way that Brad Exton, BS ’73, teamed up with his singing partner and wife, Bonnie Jo, could have been lifted from a Hollywood script. A park ranger is scheduled to put on a musical interpretive program at Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah. The problem is, she comes down with laryngitis. She asks another ranger who can strum a guitar and sing if he can fill in. He does. Eventually, they fall in love and start performing together — which is exactly what happened to Brad and Bonnie Jo.
For nearly 20 years, the couple performed as the Ramblin’ Rangers while working full-time in the National Park Service. Now retired from their three-decade ranger careers, they continue to tour and share their Western songs across the country.
The duo entertains and educates thousands each year as they, their corgi, and three kittens travel the West and celebrate its musical heritage. Brad sings lead and plays six- and twelve-string guitar. Bonnie sings harmony and plays guitar, banjo and dulcimer. Their repertoire spans the Old West, contemporary Western folk and Brad-penned originals.
Since 2006, they’ve performed from eastern Texas to Alberta, Canada, at towns, campgrounds, dance halls, and festivals along the way. Last year they played 59 gigs and covered 17,000 miles. “We’ve played everything from big concerts for one thousand people to little programs with an audience of 15 to 20,” Brad says. “We have a lot of fun.”
They’ve also earned the respect of their peers: This year, after 15 years of performing together, the Ramblin’ Rangers were inducted into the Western Music Association Hall of Fame. A few lines from the original song “Boots on the Ground” sum up their craft: “From desert dust to mountain snow/We carry stories folks should know.”
Brad grew up in Illinois and majored in forestry management at Mizzou. After graduation, he worked on the Jacks Fork River in the Ozarks National Scenic Riverways before heading west. His career took him to wilderness areas including the Willamette National Forest, Grand Canyon and Salmon-Challis National Forest. “I used to tell people that I get to work in places where the rest of you have to take your vacations,” he says. Bonnie Jo grew up in Colorado, where she rode horses and hiked through the Rockies.
Trying to explain what makes the West so appealing, Brad says, “It’s everything out here: the clear blue skies, the mountains, the streams, the people. It’s a state of mind.”
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