On this day (March 9) in 2005, Chris LeDoux died of cancer at the age of 56. He was the real deal. Before LeDoux was a renowned country singer and songwriter, he was a rodeo champion. He recorded his first albums in his parents’ basement and sold copies out of his truck while on the rodeo circuit. In the late 1980s, Garth Brooks helped introduce him to a massive audience, bolstering his music career.
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LeDoux began competing on the national rodeo circuit in 1970. His music career began almost simultaneously. He started writing songs to help pay his travel expenses. Two years later, he and his father formed the label American Cowboy Songs, and he recorded his first album, Songs of Rodeo Life, in his parents’ basement. “I was playing rhythm guitar and singing, and some rancher was playing lead, and a highway patrolman was playing bass,” LeDoux recalled of the recording session.
[RELATED: Top 10 Chris LeDoux Songs]
After he recorded the album, his parents duplicated the tapes in their kitchen. LeDoux sold them out of the back of his truck at rodeo events. His sales increased after he won the world bareback riding championship in 1976. With that win under his belt, no one could doubt the authenticity of his songs. Four years later, his rodeo career ended, and he turned more of his attention to writing and recording new songs. He also began playing concerts, which featured a mechanical bull and fireworks.
Chris LeDoux’s Reluctant Rise to Fame
By the end of the 1980s, Chris LeDoux had independently released more than 20 albums. He gained enough popularity that multiple record labels offered him recording contracts. However, he refused to sign. Instead, he wanted to remain independent.
In 1989, Garth Brooks released his debut single, “Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old),” which became a top 10 hit. The song is about an aging rodeo cowboy. In the second verse, Brooks sings, A worn out tape of Chris LeDoux / Lonely women and bad booze / Seem to be the only friends I’ve left at all.
This brought LeDoux to the attention of listeners across the United States. Less than a year after the song was released, the two artists finally met when they shared a bill in California. Brooks, a huge fan of LeDoux, convinced his label to give him a deal. Soon, he inked a contract with Liberty, a subsidiary of Capitol Records.
After two decades of self-released tapes, LeDoux released his major label debut, Western Underground, in 1991. The next year, he released his most successful album, Whatcha Gonna Do with a Cowboy. It peaked at No. 9 on the Top Country Albums chart. The album’s title track, a duet with Brooks, became his only top 10 single. It also brought both artists Grammy and ACM Awards nominations.
He continued to record and release albums throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. His final album, Horsepower, dropped in 2003.
Featured Image by Beth Gwinn/Redferns
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