Chris LeDoux's
HORSEPOWER

  MUSIC TRIVIA
Is it true Garth Brooks once opened for Chris LeDoux?

"In about '91 out in California," LeDoux recalled. "I don't know who put us on the same show, but we wound up playin' this little club out in the hills there around L.Athe Cocky Bull in Victorville. [Garth] insisted that he open for me. I don't know why. " 

Was LeDoux nervous about that?

"Yeah! It was one of those magical nights that I'll never forget, just meetin' the guy for the first time and talkin' with himand then seein' him perform was amazing. Yeah, he was kissin' babies and had everybody cryin' ... geez, that man had me bawlin'!

"We had to follow him," said Chris. "I thought, Holy cow! But people seemed to like what we did." Chris let out a laugh of relief. "It was an amazing night. Just a little bitty stage, but it was pretty magical. "

...After seeing Chris LeDoux perform in Cheyenne, you can bet that any concert he does will sure enough be pretty darn magical, and that's something you won't want to miss.
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Among country recording artists there are only an elite few whose work is unmistakably pure cowboyand within the concentrated beam of that spotlight stands Chris LeDoux, dressed in a white shirt, boots and Wranglers. Under the shadows of his cowboy hat, he wears a winning smile.

Warming up backstage before the concert in Cheyenne,  LeDoux and his wife engaged in some light conversation as he limbered up cowboy style, doing a few rodeo-type stretches. At that moment he appears as if readying himself for an eight-second go-round on the back of a rank bronc. A few moments later he will take his place, center stage.

In an earlier conversation LeDoux admitted he gets "real nervous" before the show in Cheyenne.

"It's a legendary place," said Chris. "I've got so much respect for it, and I don't want to mess up there."

In an era when respect for anything seems out of vogue, this guy stands tall; he's a straight-up cowboy.  LeDoux sings from the gut, from the heart, and from experience. Effortlessly, he puts forth his extraordinary talent, translating the cowboy lifestyle into something far greater than a simple tribute in song. He's the troubadour of Cowboy tradition.

In July,the former bronc-buster broke from the chute with HORSEPOWER, his 36th career-album, and 9th with Capitol Records. Months earlier producers Mac McAnally (who penned the album's title song) and Alan Schulman had been busy scouting for songs. The result of their efforts launches LeDoux back into a lyrical arena of dusty rodeos and cattle trails, love-struck cowboys and lonesome places. HORSEPOWER is a collection that plays like a musical joyride through the spirit of the American West, occasionally taking an unexpected turn here and there, making for one heck of a glorious ride.

"I really like the selections of songs that we were able to find," said LeDoux. "They put the feelers out and we had some great writers send some stuff in."

Chris LeDoux gets in tune backstage at the 2003 Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo.

Among the songwriters contributing to the album is Toby Keith, who conjured up a made-for-LeDoux tune to "Rodeo Moon" (the title of the song came from Chris and the song itself first appeared on Toby's UNLEASHED CD). The tune is loosely based on the early days when Chris and his wife traveled the rodeo circuit together.

When asked which song on HORSEPOWER he relates to most, LeDoux's reply was "Feel Like I'm Gettin' Into Something Good," a high-energy song that taunts you and dares you to cut loose. It's a mighty fine choice for a guy who, not too long ago, had been seriously ill and required a liver transplant. (The experience produced last year's reflective CD, AFTER THE STORM.)

LeDoux explained, "I'm feelin' better now, and the song says that. Like the dark clouds have kinda passed on by. ...Yeah, I'm feelin' pretty darn good!"

What's equally encouraging is knowing that his career is as healthy as he is. LeDoux recently received two Gold plaques: one commemorating his 20 GREATEST HITS album and the other celebrating his five million in album sales under the Capitol Records label.

Now LeDoux is revving up with HORSEPOWER. The CD includes some hard-driving rock'n'roll tunes, which are trademark LeDoux, and also introduces several tremendously powerful cowboy songsof which at least three are destined to become cowboy classics in their own right: "A Cowboy Was Born," "The Ride" and "Buffalo Grass."

"They really paint a picture," said LeDoux. "Maybe the older you get the more you kinda wish things would quit changin' so much. I think I've been drawn more and more to these things, and just realizin' how precious the old nasty cowboy is," LeDoux joked. "And just the whole lifestyle, the attitude. Man, it's as American as you can get."

You bet!

"A Cowboy Was Born," brings LeDoux back to the kind of song he was born to sing. It is composed by Jeremy Spillman and Clint Ingersolltwo songwriters we look forward to hearing more from in the future. What they've written here proudly speaks to the legacy of the cowboy, conveyed through the humble beginnings of two very different kinds of cowboys who come into the world a hundred years apartone born on a cattle trail:

And the longhorns lowed him a welcome

As a new voice cried from the buckboard

And the Irish they sang sad and lonely

'Cause they knew a cowboy was born

and the other born to the rodeo:

'Cause a young boy in Kansas caught breeze one day

In a five-second rush he was fightin' for eight

He saw it all so clear through the dirt on his face

He knew he was born to ride

A great collaboration trio to keep an ear open for in the future is that of Andrea C. Crimmins, Clay Canfield and Willie McCulloch. Those who are familiar with the long, lonesome winters up in the high country where the snows often mesmerize one to reflect on life, will especially relate to "Buffalo Grass," which is a strongly visual and touching tale about a widower. The stark, chilling beauty of this song is how the lyrics, combined with the Native American influences of the wood flute, magically pulls in those who may be unfamiliar with life on the prairie. The song draws them a bit closer to the woodstove where they become witness to the silent, wintry wishes of a man who yearns for the past while anticipating change and contemplating his own fate:

The ponies are shaggy; their coats have grown long

With their heads down, they huddle together as one

At the window my breath forms a mist on the glass

As I patiently wait for the buffalo grass

Then there's "The Ride," a charming song written by Sonny Tillis and Sam Weedman, that offers a memorable melody along with some sensible cowboy advice for all, young or old:

Sit tall in the saddle, hold your head up high

Keep your eyes fixed where the trail meets the sky

And live like you ain't afraid to die

And don't be scared, just enjoy the ride

Though LeDoux feels at home "just about everywhere" he feels especially connected to the Lone Star state. The inclusion of "Bluebonnet Blues" on this CD is in honor of those ties. "Texas is where I really felt like my cowboy-self was born," LeDoux explained.

And then as mentioned earlier, there's the unexpected entry. Cajun gets a double-dose of happy and fun when Chris LeDoux teams up with the legendary Jo-El Sonnier (Son-yeah) and his squeezebox in a reprisal of Doug Kershaw's "Pass My Hat."

"It's hard to stand still when you've got that kind of music going!" LeDoux noted.

Yep. In fact this cut couldn't be any spiciereven if they had included a pound or two of boudan with the CD.

But why a Cajun song?

"I can remember in the early seventies, Doug Kershaw was in Wyoming and played at the Casper rodeo. And we'd never seen anything like thatever." LeDoux chuckles. "And it was maybe a few years later I was drivin' to Kaycee, my hometown, and we have some Basque sheep guys and they kinda speak a French language, and they had this song playin' on the jukebox and aimed out into the street and they were out there dancin' to it. And they played [that song] over and over and over again, and it was one that just sorta came to mind. Our band is from Louisiana and southeast Texas area, and maybe just his influence made me think about it. And then [Doug Kershaw] knows Jo-El Sonnier, and ...we talked. He agreed to play squeezebox and sing some French for us. "

Hitting the Road: the HORSEPOWER TOUR
Along with several other songs from this CD, fans can also look forward to hearing "Pass My Hat" live in LeDoux's concert tour this year.

"I went ahead and bought the squeezebox and have our piano player, Bobby Jensen, playing it," said LeDoux.

Piece of cake. Only problem was the piano player had never played the squeezebox prior to this. Nonetheless, Jensen cowboyed-up to the challenge.

"He figured 'Oh, this'll be a breeze.'" Chris laughed, then added, "But he says he feels like Arnold Schwarzenegger on the armsit's really a work out!"

Copyright © 2003 Taylor Fogarty.
No unauthorized reproduction or transmission by any means whatsoever permitted under federal criminal law.