Thursday, March 10, 2005

COUNTRYOBIT: Chris LeDoux

The death has been announced of Chris LeDoux. Originally a rodeo star - his speciality was bareback riding - LeDoux drew on his experience in the world of cows and clowns for his musical material, producing a style he described as "western soul, sagebrush blues, cowboy folk and rodeo rock 'n' roll."

LeDoux had produced 22 albums and seemed destined to remain a largely undiscovered specialist taste when, in 1989, Garth Brooks mentioned him in the lyric of Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old):

"A worn-out tape of Chris LeDoux, lonely women and bad booze/seem to be the only friends I've left at all."

Brooks had often claimed LeDoux as an influence; this musical tribute was all that it took to spark life into LeDoux's career - the pair even worked together, spawning a country hit, Watcha Gonna Do With A Cowboy. Toby Keith was another fan; he, too, would work with LeDoux when the pair wrote Rodeo Moon together. By the end of his working life, LeDoux had recorded an impressive 36 albums

In 2000, LeDoux had returned to touring after a liver transplant, but this time round he was fighting cancer of the bile duct. He was 56.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't know Chris had died. I emailed his song "The Ride" to a friend of mine who has been diagnosed with cancer. I wanted to tell Chris "thank you". I'm too late.

Anonymous said...

he didnt die ....he lives on in all our hearts day after day as 1 helluva cowboy & a great singer / songwriter

Post a Comment

As a general rule, posts will only be deleted if they reek of spam.