The new father-son collaboration is available now.
An underground “King of Country” throughout the ’90s, Chris LeDoux thrived selling copies of his self-released recordings out of the back of his truck at stops along the rodeo circuit, a grind that continued all the way up to his 2005 death by cancer.
Chris’ legacy lives on in his son Ned, who drummed in his father’s band Western Underground from 1998 on and is now carving out his own solo career in country music. The latest chapter in that journey came on December 4 when he released the song “One Hand In The Riggin,’” a duet with his father 21 years in the making.
According to LeDoux, the opportunity came about when he ran into one of the song’s co-writers, Brenn Hill, at the Cowboy Poetry Gathering this past February. Hill recorded the song in 2003 for his album Endangered and originally asked the elder LeDoux to join him on it. Although Chris recorded vocal tracks for it they never saw the light of day until that fateful evening in Elko that set its current revival into motion.
“We got to talking about the song and [Brenn] said ‘the timing with the song just wasn’t right back then, but the Lord has a plan for everything, and I think his plan for this is for it to be a duet with you and your father,’” LeDoux tells C&I.
In a process similar to George Jones’ latest posthumous release, Ned recorded his parts for “One Hand In The Riggin’” in Nashville before producer Mac McAnally dropped in his father’s vocals. LeDoux could hardly hold himself together once he listened to the final version.
“I’m glad I wasn’t driving when I heard it [laughs],” says LeDoux. “It was both emotional and really exciting bringing the song back to life. I’d never heard our voices side-by-side like that before, so hearing that and realizing just how similar they are to one another helped me to understand where people’s comparisons were coming from. It’s two different voices, but you really have to listen to pick up on the subtle differences between them.”
Just as emotional was the up-and-down journey of bringing the song to life, which ran into technological hurdles when it came to working with Chris’ vocal — which was recorded back in the day on RADAR, a precursor to the now industry standard ProTools. This resulted in Hill having to send the tapes to McAnally through snail mail rather than email before he was able to work his magic on them.
Ned Ledoux
“I imagine Brenn was just sweating bullets,” says LeDoux of the less than ideal scenario. “He probably insured that thing for as much as he could just hoping it would get to Mac. Luckily it did and everything turned out well.”
Just as good has been the response to the song itself, which LeDoux debuted live on December 5 at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. The venue couldn’t have been more appropriate given his father’s connection to the Western sport as a 2005 inductee to the ProRodeo Hall of Fame both for his bareback riding and his contributions to the sport through his music.
“I’m proud to carry the torch of his legacy. Nothing is cooler than hearing from fans after a show ‘I really loved your dad’s stuff, but what you’re doing is just as good.’ It makes me feel like I’m actually reaching some people with the stuff I’m writing myself, a lot of which I’m confident my dad would have recorded too if he were still around.”
“One Hand In The Riggin’” is setting the stage for what’s shaping up to be a big year for LeDoux in 2025, which will see even more new music on the horizon as well as the singer’s on-screen acting debut in Buffalo Daze. The film – based on the times and life of Jim Grinder — will showcase LeDoux in the role of Sheriff William O'Connell alongside Yellowstone star Mo Brings Plenty.
Listen to the new single here.
