Chris LeDoux
(Q)Did you ever meet Roy Rogers or Gene Autry?
Chris LeDoux (CL)- Yes I did one time I met Roy and it was an amazing time. Growing up Roy was one of my heroes when I was little. And, I sort of had forgotten about him as the years went by. So one day somebody set up an opportunity to meet him out in California at his museum. So we went to his museum and I was thinking the whole time prior to going there,’ Well, it would be kind of nice to get the opportunity to meet Roy.’ And, then after seeing his museum and looking at this entire memorabilia, it finally sunk in. I realized,’ This is the man. This is the guy.’ (he laughs). So when I did met him, it was almost hard to keep from choking up. You know as the time drew near for me to meet him, I thought, ‘Well I’m older now, it won’t affect me, I won’t get all emotional.’ But, when the time came, it was hard for me to keep from getting’ all choked up.’ He was still a hero. Meeting him was an unbelievable experience for me. Looking back at all of his achievements today, you kind of don’t realize just how huge (in popularity) they (Roy and Gene) really where.
(Q)-His contribution to country music tends to be overlooked these days.
(CL)- You know, you look at Roy and while there were a lot of things about the Hollywood westerns that weren’t all that authentic, still there was that one fiber of honesty and truth and facing your demons head on…. all of that cowboy stuff was there in Roy Rogers. He gave us a cowboy code of ethics that was really important then and hopefully still is today.
(Q)-It’s almost as if nothing’s changed for Chris LeDoux. He’s right where he wants to be and while country keeps changing, his audience and songs stay the same. Right on track with stories of freedom of the individual and the west.
(CL)- I am what I am and it’s kind of weird at times, but they (the fans) just keep flocking to what I do. Now I’m so close to it that it’s really kind of hard for me to understand at times. We just do what we do and I am what I am. I’m so close to it, that I don’t tend to think about it all that often.
(Q)- Do you see the portrayal of the ‘cowboy” lifestyle and the independence that the cowboy life portrayed in country music, drying up at major record labels and with country radio?
(CL)- I’ve gotten to the point where, while it would be nice to hear some of my new stuff at radio, it doesn’t matter anymore (he laughs).
(Q)-Being a “cowboy” is more about an issue of the freedom of an individual then anything else these days. It’s more about that then actually working a job description as one, isn’t it?
(CL)- Yeah. I mean the reason for being a cowboy is the freedom that you have. It’s just like being a traveling gypsy, you do what you want to do and go where you want to go. There’s nobody telling you need to be here or that you need to be there. Hopefully I’ve portrayed that through these songs. And I guess one of my intentions whenever I first started (song) writing was to let people know what it was like living this whole lifestyle (that of a modern-era cowboy). I love it so much that I had to have sort of an outlet to let folks know how much I loved this life. So that’s where it basically all began.
(Q)-Do you agree that the issue of freedom of the individual is an important touchstone as to what the definition of a country song is?
(CL)- Yeah, absolutely. Now it doesn’t matter if it’s rodeo or ranching or you know, being a farmer. There’s an element of nature involved in that (definition) too. Being outdoors with the weather and the life stock and the trees, sagebrush and the prairie, all that sort of stuff that, I think that if you’re living in the city, you sort of miss out on. Or if you have a job in some town where you’re indoors all of the time. Now whenever we go to LA, or especially the west coast, we get a lot of people who come out to our shows, who I think would love to be living that (the cowboy) lifestyle that I have. So they can sort of live their fantasies through the music that I record and from coming out to see us live. So, its a little taste of what they sort of wish they could have done.
(Q)-What is it like watching your son ride in rodeos?)
(CL)- I’ve done a lot of thinking about why I let my son do it, or should I discourage him. But I have come to realize, man I did it and I’ve got all of these great memories along with these injuries. But man it’s kind of like OLE Braveheart told those fellows standing on the battlefield. ‘You can either take this opportunity now and win your freedom or you can live the rest of your life and die in your bed thinking,” Maybe I should have taken that chance.”‘ That’s kind of how I look at it. God gave me this body to use and if you’ve got the athletic ability then you should go for it.