Remembering Chris LeDoux

I was listening to music on my iPad last weekend and Riding For A Fall came up on the playlist. It made me think about the great music provided by Chris LeDoux, and what we lost when he died of cancer in 2005.

LeDoux was a rare talent – a world champion rodeo cowboy and a six-million-record-selling musician whose high-energy shows inspired one Garth Brooks to up his onstage game. (And the way Brooks returned the favor is a great story in itself; scroll down the bio page linked above to read it.)

Following are three examples of his music. Riding For A Fall contains one of the great phrases in all of country music, and LeDoux writes about the downside of being and aging and ruggedly independent loner.

Why doncha turn back,
Just saddle up and backtrack
You know you’ll never find a love quite like hers.
On a cold and lonesome evenin’
What the hell good’s your freedom?
Don’t you think it’s time you hung up your spurs?

What’cha Gonna Do With A Cowboy was recorded as a duo with Garth and it, too, paints a pretty accurate picture of the challenges of living with one of those guys. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a video of the two of them doing the song; I’m guessing that the recording was a studio project only. (And here’s a bit of Gazette trivia: in an inexplicable lapse of judgment several years back, I recorded my own version of this song and posted it on the blog. Fortunately for all, that post has somehow been “lost.”)

The final video is For Your Love, and it shows a side of LeDoux that can only be described as zany. I think he and his band had a lot of fun making the vid, and while it’s not the pinnacle of cinematic achievement, it’s also a lot of fun for his fans.

RIP, Mr. LeDoux. Thanks for the songs, amigo.