For a rare and lucky few, their lives are so pioneering, record-breaking, and downright fascinating that they manage to earn a spot in country music fame without a massive catalogue of hits, and Chris LeDoux is undoubtedly one of them. The country music legend released 28 albums from 1970 to the early 2000s. He sang songs about cowboy life, the rodeo, and the West. But unlike other country artists who never grew up in the country, that was a life he knew intimately as a hall of fame rodeo champion from Wyoming.
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If there were ever a Western Renaissance man, it would be Chris LeDoux, born in Mississippi on October 2, 1948. His first passion was horses, which he learned to ride while staying with his grandparents in Wyoming. LeDoux had a natural talent that landed him in junior rodeo competitions before graduating to state, national, and worldwide rodeos. He retired in 1980, four years after winning the world bareback riding championship at Oklahoma City’s National Finals Rodeo. By that time, LeDoux had already begun supplementing his rodeo career with his other hustle: music.
LeDoux started writing and recording music to compensate for the expenses he lost while traveling the country as a professional rodeo cowboy. The cowboy-turned-musician sold tapes, which he recorded in a friend’s basement and released on his own record label, American Cowboy Songs, from the back of his truck at rodeo events.
Garth Brooks propelled LeDoux to international stardom by name-dropping him in his 1989 track, “Much Too Young (to Feel This Damn Old)”. “A worn out tape of Chris LeDoux, lonely women and bad booze, they seem to be the only friends I’ve left at all.”
Garth Brooks Once Offered Chris Ledoux Part of His Liver
After Garth Brooks mentioned Chris LeDoux in his 1989 song, “Much Too Young (to Feel This Damn Old)”, the retired rodeo cowboy decided to seize on the sudden influx of notoriety by accepting a record deal with Liberty Records, a subsidiary of Capitol. His second major label album included a duet with Brooks, “Whatcha Gonna Do with a Cowboy”, which would become LeDoux’s first and only Top 10 hit. LeDoux began collecting musical accolades to add to his impressive rodeo award collection, including the Academy of Country Music’s Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award, a Grammy Award nomination, and two gold and one platinum RIAA certifications.
LeDoux would release nine albums through Liberty, including Western Underground, Whatcha Gonna Do with a Cowboy, Under This Old Hat, Haywire, Stampede, One Road Man, Cowboy, After the Storm, and Horsepower. The artist never strayed from his roots. He wrote about what he knew, and what he knew was how to be a cowboy. That didn’t change even when he began recording material that other people wrote.
In 2000, doctors diagnosed LeDoux with primary sclerosing cholangitis. Treatment included a liver transplant, which Brooks volunteered to donate. Brooks was an incompatible donor, and doctors located an alternate. LeDoux recorded two more albums after his transplant. Ultimately, LeDoux would die of cholangiocarcinoma, or bile duct cancer, on March 9, 2005. It was a tragic loss for the music and rodeo communities. But there was much to celebrate, too. In the 56 short years of his life, Chris LeDoux experienced and saw more than most people could ever hope to witness. He was a true pioneer: a record-breaking, award-winning rodeo cowboy who broke into country stardom after decades of being a DIY musician. “A man’s man,” Brooks later recalled.
Photo by Beth Gwinn/Redferns/Getty Images
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