Billy Wilson

Born in Kansas, at the northern end of the Shawnee Trail, Devon is the later-in-life daughter of jazz/western swing guitarist, Phil ‘Ryan’ Osborne (born in1918), who began performing with her father at an early age, on stages in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma and more.
The influence of her extensive travels with the family as a young girl, almost exclusively in the Great American West, is seen in her commitment as a westerner.

Devon Dawson, of Fort Worth, Texas, consistently garners top nominations nationally as a female performer in western music. Her cowgirl vocals and 'sock rhythm' guitar style bring to mind 'swingtime cowgirls' like Patsy Montana, Rosalie Allen, and Dale Evans. She was the first winner of the Patsy Montana National Yodeling Contest, and is also known as singin’, yodelin’ voice of “Jessie, the Cowgirl" of Toy Story 2 fame, as heard on the Grammy-winning CD, Woody’s Roundup featuring Riders In the Sky, released by Walt Disney Records in the year 2000.

She was a founding member of "The Texas Trailhands"(1997-2012), dubbed the Western Music Assoc. 'Western Swing Group of the Year' in 2004, 2005, 2006, & 2007, and has participated with all of the three award-winning CDs that group has released, even receiving two Grammy nominations in 2005 for her song and performance of "Texas Canyon". She co-founded her engaging duo with Jessie Robertson in 2008, which, known as ‘Miss Devon & the Outlaw’, substantially added to the statuesque hardware on the fireplace mantle in 2013 & 2014 (Group of the Year) and with 5 Western Music Association harmony competition awards.

Since 1996, Devon has mentored adults and kids in western music history and performance through her work as talent coordinator of the Fort Worth Stockyards oldest non-profit music organization, Cowtown Opry, in the National Historic District. As a result of her work and associations there, she debuted a solo CD in 2007, featuring original material inspired by the lives of several legendary rodeo performers whose careers revolved around the venerated 'Cowtown Coliseum' and the mighty Fort Worth Stockyards in it's hey-day. The project was nominated for a prestigious Western Heritage 'Wrangler' award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, and the title cut placed third for a 2008 Spur award as 'Song of the Year' from the Western Writers of America. On it, her songs range from tributes to rodeo greats such as Tad Lucas, to memoirs of ranching heritage, the story of a horse that was the sole survivor of a devastating flood in 1949, a lighthearted look at cowboy courtin', and the importance of western wear 'bling'. With lively rhythms and vintage western vocals, she connects with audiences composed of her youngest fans to her senior saddle pals, as she kicks up her heels in a rootin', tootin' western roundup!

Winner of the 2009 Academy of Western Artists Western Music Female Performer, Devon’s lively rhythms and vocals recall the swing sounds and sweet harmonies of Western music’s golden age. She has garnered several awards and a spot as the singing, yodeling voice of Toy Story’s animated cowgirl doll, ‘Jessie’, on the Grammy-winning Walt Disney cd, Woody’s Roundup feat. Riders In the Sky, with whom she has appeared on the Grand Old Opry in Nashville, TN. She has performed in character as “Jessie” at Pixar Studios, for Radio Disney events, and has been seen frequently on the Westerns Channel and RFD-TV. In 2007, Devon released Keepin’ Your Head Above the Water , a well-received cd, created to honor the centennial of Ft. Worth’s Cowtown Coliseum, the world’s first indoor rodeo arena, and great trick ridin’ rodeo cowgirls, Tad Lucas, Velda Tindall, Garlene Tindall Parris, and Mitzi Lucas Riley, who made many milestone career appearances in its venerated halls.

As a lifetime member of Cowtown Opry, she has helped mentor western music youth and adult performers since 1996, seeking to preserve and promote the music that reflects the horse/cattle ranching culture, values, and way of life. She feels that for those who are raised in the lifestyle, and for those who are not, western music provides education, clarification, and expression of this ‘cowboy way’.
Devon was inducted into the Northwest Western Swing Music Society in August 2018.