Ned Ledoux Carries On Father’s Legacy with “Forever A Cowboy”
We want our country and Western artists to be the real deal. Even if it doesn’t make any bit of difference in the quality of the music, or the infectiousness of the melody, we want to know that they sing what they live, and live what they sing. Somehow, it makes the music sound better. We want to believe that we’re hearing the real stories straight from their heart, and they only do this music thing in between living lives of authenticity and poetic symbolism simply from getting up and putting on their boots every day.
This is especially true for the Western side of country, where the singing cowboys under big skies induced the poetic core and pentameter into country music’s internal makeup from the stories and rhymes they spun around campfires when there was no other means of entertainment other than entertaining themselves. After the West was conquered with barbed wire and Federal protections, the farmers and ranchers of the West have kept these customs alive, even if they’ve drifted farther away from earshot from their country brethren back east.
That authenticity of Western music is where the appeal lay with Chris LeDoux for many years, and what allowed him to sell some six million records and perform for so many people without signing any sort of record deal. Before the era of independent country we find ourselves amidst today where indie-signed artists are dominating album charts left and right, Chris LeDoux was an independent stallion that even 2016’s big independent stalwarts couldn’t keep up with. And he did it all as a side gig while becoming a nationally-recognized rodeo champion and keeper of his own spread in Wyoming.
Chris LeDoux’s death in 2005 due to Cancer cut his career short, and never allowed him to take the victory lap his career deserved. Rest assured if Chris were still around today with how bad mainstream country has become and with so many fans searching for authenticity, he would be riding a second wind. But he’s not around any more, yet that doesn’t mean his legacy is in jeopardy of falling through the cracks.
Chris LeDoux’s son Ned, who started playing drums in his father’s backing band Western Underground way back in 1998, has stepped up to take the reigns from his father. Though first a bit timid to take center stage in his father’s absence, he now sees it as his duty to introduce a new generation of country fans to his father’s music, while also bringing his own voice to the forefront.
His new EP recently released through Thirty Tigers called Forever a Cowboy finds the younger LeDoux reprising his father’s role as a cowboy country singer, while putting his own stamp on the music. You’ll hear a deep cut from his father’s discography in “Johnson County War,” and a collaboration with his father on “We Ain’t Got It All”—a song the younger LeDoux finished from a stack of lyric sheets his mother found, adding substance to the symbolism of the one LeDoux handing off the musical baton to the other.
The Forever a Cowboy EP is rough and rugged as the world that inspired it, hewn out of high timber and antler, and strapped together with rawhide. This is a Western album in every sense, and will find thirsty ears in an era when such sounds and sentiments are hard to come by. Helping Ned Ledoux with the effort was producer Mac McAnally, who also worked on some of his father’s records, once again making sure the LeDoux sound makes the generational leap. The album is capped off by a very personal song from Ned called “The Hawk,” which is inspired by true events after the passing of his father.
We grow so attached to our favorite country and Western artists that when they pass on, even if it’s before we lived, we look for the closest living bridge to them to continue on their legacy. There is a pedigree to country music, and even though it’s a fair assessment of most any second, or even third generation country artist that we may not pay nearly as much attention to them if it weren’t for their family name, Ned LeDoux, like others, is in the unique position to carry on that legacy better than anyone else. And as Forever a Cowboy proves, he’s not only uniquely qualified, he is more than capable.
1 3/4 Guns Up (8/10)
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If you do the Spotify thing, you can listen below.
RedDirtCyclone
December 13, 2016 @ 7:41 pm
You can hear Chris in his voice. I’ve spent most of my life living on farms and working that life and I love hearing that western music recalling that life. Great music.
FreeTicketGal
December 15, 2016 @ 2:38 pm
I jumped in my seat, it was almost like hearing Chris! But Ned is an artist in his own right and these are western songs for a new generation. Love it. Chris was my favourite singer. Whenever I get tired of ‘country’ songs without a story and a message, I can always go back and listen to him. Now I will listen to Ned as well. All the best to him and to the Ledoux family, they are doing a great job honoring Chris’ memory every day.
Speedlimit9
December 13, 2016 @ 9:02 pm
So besides Corb Lund who else is doing western music nowadays? I like Ned, and am looking forward to more of his work but I’d like to hear more of it in general.
Bertox
December 13, 2016 @ 9:41 pm
Chris Wall has some excellent cowboy songs and is a top tier songwriter in general.
Ben
December 14, 2016 @ 4:00 pm
Tim Hus has some western songs.
Taylor
December 14, 2016 @ 4:54 pm
R.L Hayden formerly Rodney Hayden has a new western album out called Western Troubadour. It is excellent!
Daniel
December 16, 2016 @ 3:21 pm
Listen to the Diamond W Wranglers. They’re a cowboy band from here in Kansas. They cover cowboy classics but also have some original songs they sing. Their songs Deep in the Saddle and Cabezon are real good.
Tom
December 22, 2016 @ 8:49 am
Western music is an entire genre separate from country. It’s a place where teenagers like Geneve Rose Mitchel and octogenarians like Ian Tyson have a place along with guys like RW Hampton and Dave Stamey. Check out the Western Music Association for information about artists and events. http://www.westernmusic.org/
JC
January 13, 2017 @ 2:43 pm
Check out The Buckaroo Balladeers from Utah
Leon Blair
December 13, 2016 @ 9:41 pm
Funny, I just took a listen to this tonight out of curiosity. Like speedlimit9, I’m also wondering who’s doing the Western thing. Corb Lund, Slackeye Slim, Michael Martin Murphey, Ned…who else? Oh well, on with my thoughts.
I think this is solid. The first two songs hold it down for me though. I will say despite the checklist nature of “We Ain’t Got It All”, I can appreciate the message it’s trying to deliver. “Brother Highway” also has a great sentiment, but instead of getting any rich details about the trials Ned and his highway brother have been on, we’re literally just told that they’ve been though them. Again, good foundation, but let’s go a little further in the details shall we?
Anyway, the last three songs are excellent, particularly the final two. Yeah, I get that “Johnson County War” isn’t new, but you can’t deny that Ned slams it out of the park, and “The Hawk” just absolutely floored me.
Overall, I think the lyrics could be stronger in some spots, but I really think the question isn’t “is Ned Ledoux talented?” but rather, is he willing to use that talent? I’d say this EP answers that with a yes.
Kevin Smith
December 14, 2016 @ 8:10 am
Don’t forget Ryan Bingham, he’s a former bull rider turned music artist. His songs reflect western themes also.
Taylor
December 14, 2016 @ 4:56 pm
As I stated above in reply to SpeedLimit9’s post, R.L. Hayden formerly Rodney Hayden has a new album out called Western Troubadour.
Leon Blair
December 14, 2016 @ 6:57 pm
Thanks for the information! I’ll be sure to check it out. I always appreciate being recommended new stuff to hear.
Taylor
December 15, 2016 @ 3:40 pm
Your welcome and Me too, discovering new music is always great!! Western Troubadour is a great album, I keep going back to it ever since I got it about a month ago.
Daniel
December 16, 2016 @ 3:27 pm
You should listen to the Diamond W Wranglers. They cover a lot of old cowboy classics but also sing some originals. Their song Deep in the Saddle is one of my favorites.
HighCountry
December 14, 2016 @ 7:29 am
As a Wyomingite, I was thrilled to learn of this release! I hope Ned keeps it up. He sounds a lot like his father.
Kevin Smith
December 14, 2016 @ 8:08 am
I am in awe of this. Ned sounds so much like his dad it’s eerie. This is so moving I am at a loss for words. Count me in all the way on this. I can only hope Ned decides to tour. Yes Trigger, it is indeed the authenticity that sucks you in with Chris and now Ned.
James
December 14, 2016 @ 8:15 am
Goodness, he sounds so much like his dad. “The Hawk” is an amazing tune.
Krakken
December 16, 2016 @ 7:59 am
Ned does tour a good bit. Mostly out west.
Craig
December 19, 2016 @ 8:56 am
This is great. Sounds just like Chris, who I can’t hear without a chill. You can wing singing about a small town but you can’t pretend to sing these songs, you have to live them. And if you live them, then these guys sing right to you, doing something that only a percent of a percent of people are doing anymore.
Kevin
December 22, 2016 @ 7:54 pm
Trigger- I’m curious to know if you’ve ever heard Chris LeDoux’s “New Breed” from one of his early records. I listened to it the other day and couldn’t stop laughing at how brutal it was to the outlaw generation, which we now categorize as “real country”, along with the traditionalists.
Trigger
December 22, 2016 @ 11:54 pm
I just went back and listened to it. Can’t say I’ve thought of that song in years, and not sure what to make of it now. It was released in 1971 on “Songs of Rodeo Life” so you can’t say he was being sarcastic, though maybe he was trying to portray a character. I really don’t know what to make of it.
Kevin
December 23, 2016 @ 2:45 am
Yeah, it’s really something. I got the sense, listening to his old stuff, compared to his later material, that he was trying too hard to be authentic, from the content to the exaggerated accent, so maybe that had something to do with it. I could be way off base though.