Cody Sosebee Grateful For Two Decades of Entertaining Fans in Cheyenne

An Arkansas native with family connections to rodeo, the 2018 PRCA Comedy Act of the Year recipient remains busy with work from coast to coast.

Cody Sosebee has been the barrelman at Cheyenne Frontier Days for 20 years. | Courtesy of Cheyenne Frontier Days

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – What is the Chicken Mafia? 

It’s a question Cody Sosebee has heard countless times. Yet retelling the story always makes him laugh. 

The condensed version goes like this – years ago, Sosebee worked out a trade with a neighbor in his rural Arkansas community wherein he would receive chickens. Pretty soon, his yard was overrun. He put out an ad on a local radio station, announcing he would be having a chicken sale at the county fairgrounds one weekend. 

Sosebee thought nothing of it, figuring a few people might show for the midday event. At 6 a.m. the day of the sale, the mayor called. 

“He said, ‘Cody, what time is y’all’s chicken sale starting today?’ I said it starts at noon, I’ll be up there at about 10. He said there’s a line of cars out to the main street lined up to get in here,” Sosebee recalled with a laugh.

“I didn’t really think it was that serious. But there were people showing up left and right. We were understaffed. I had made a sale ring and I put some sawdust down and we put some small bleachers in and we were gonna make a good event out of it. We sold chickens for eight hours straight and we about died.”

What happened next is something Sosebee still finds hard to believe. He met poultry workers from an array of backgrounds, selling everything from specific chicken breeds to emus, turkeys and more. He got connected with local, regional and state level politicians who wanted to stop by his recurring sales to visit with constituents. He got invited to the state capitol by the Arkansas Poultry Commission. 

Essentially, if someone needed a connection to find poultry, Sosebee was the man to call. Thus, the Chicken Mafia was born. 

“It's the most country thing in the world, but that’s what I’m known for,” Sosebee joked. 

The chicken sales ceased several years ago, but each time Sosebee steps into a rodeo arena, the barrelman and entertainer proudly wears a jersey with Chicken Mafia front and center, a reminder of home as he continues to traverse the country. And for 20 years, Cheyenne Frontier Days has been one of his biggest stops during the regular season. 

Cody Sosebee has been entertaining fans in Cheyenne for 20 years now. | Bailey Ford/@bailey.ford.photography

Finding His Voice

Working in rodeo was probably going to be part of Sosebee’s life – he just never envisioned it being as the clown. 

His father was a pickup man while his mother and older sister ran barrels. Sosebee himself was a roughstock rider through high school who helped his dad in the arena when he got old enough. 

After completing a bareback ride at an Arkansas rodeo years ago, organizers asked if he could fill in as the in-arena entertainer as the scheduled clown hadn’t shown up. 

“They came and asked me if I would do the clown thing and I said, ‘Absolutely not. Those clowns are idiots. I don’t even think they get paid,’” Sosebee said. “I was an egotistical rough stock rider, with my chest bowed out. They talked me into it, and they paid me for the two performances. It was more than I made by winning second and the bareback riding. I was like, ‘Holy cow.’”

That unlikely start has transformed into a career spanning nearly three decades. The 54-year-old now books gigs across the entire country, spanning as far east as New York and Florida and as far west as Hawaii. 

But there’s one 10-day stretch in July that stands above them all. 

For years, barrelman Cody Sosebee, center, has worked alongside Cody Webster, left, and Dusty Tuckness, right. | Courtesy of Cheyenne Frontier Days

A Career Defined by Relationships

Several years ago, Sosebee needed a new workshop on his property and began planning with a local contractor on where to build it. When it came time to pick colors for the metal exterior, he had a scheme in mind. 

“They asked me what colors I wanted, I said I wanted red white and black. And they said, ‘Why? Those are odd colors.’ I said, ‘Those are Cheyenne‘s colors and they’re the ones that paid for it,’” Sosebee joked. “I’ve been gone long enough where I say Cheyenne has paid my house off.”

In 2006, Sosebee got the call from Frontier Days that they needed a new barrelman. After years in the arena, Flint Rasmussen was stepping aside from his duties in Cheyenne to work for the Professional Bull Riders. 

That was 20 years ago, a reality that still feels unreal to Sosebee. 

In the years since, Sosebee has become a staple at the Daddy of ’Em All, putting smiles on faces across the arena. In 2017, he was recognized for his work by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association’s bull riders and selected to work the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. A year later, the PRCA honored him as the Comedy Act of the Year. 

Sosebee is truly grateful for those accolades, but they aren’t what keep him coming back. Plaques and buckles are nice, but ultimately they sit on a shelf collecting dust. The people he’s gotten to meet and work with are what keep him going. 

“The rodeo world is a whole other thing. I call it my family. I’ve got a rodeo family that my family at home never meets, and never sees,” Sosebee said. “I’ve got a family on the road that you tell your problems to, you hang out with and have fun with. I really know as the older I get that I’ve been blessed with the best life and job possible.”

Still Rooted

The residents of Franklin County, Arkansas were abuzz in mid-July as a strange vehicle was spotted in the community. 

Sosebee had left his personal rig with stock contractor Stace Smith in Denver while he flew to Hawaii to work an event at the beginning of the month. When he came back to the mainland, he opted to rent a car while home in Arkansas before flying west to work in Cheyenne. 

The community took notice. 

“I was driving a rental car with Louisiana plates – my neighbors were just tore up. I was getting all these texts, ‘There’s a different car in your driveway. It’s from Louisiana. I don’t know anybody from Louisiana,’” Sosebee said with a laugh. “I was driving around, waving out the window at everybody. It’s funny. We do live the simple Mayberry lifestyle.”

Cody Sosebee has been the barrelman at Cheyenne Frontier Days for the last 20 years. | Bailey Ford/@bailey.ford.photography

Standing in front of 10,000-plus people at Frontier Park is the experience of a lifetime. But for Sosebee, there’s also a one-stop light community back in Arkansas where friends take notice when they don’t see your regular vehicle. 

Both have helped shape him into who he is today. 

The chicken sales might be a thing of the past, but the Chicken Mafia lives on. Sosebee carries that label with him to rodeos across North America, proud to bring a little small town humor onto the arena floor. 

A self-described “weekend rockstar and hillbilly the rest of the time,” Sosebee landed a dream job he never really envisioned growing up. And it’s a journey he’s excited to continue as long as he can. 

“My backup plan is being home right now bailing hay and hauling hay at the farm. There’s nothing in between,” Sosebee said. “It’s not a tough decision for me. It’s either get on a plane and fly to Hawaii, fly to Cheyenne or stay home and bale hay. I went ahead and chose the Hawaii and Cheyenne part of that deal.”

“To be able to come back here year after year for 20 years, if I ever stop and get a chance to look back, I’ll probably think, ‘Man, I really accomplished something with a career I can hang my hat on.’”