To Get to Know Chancey Williams, You Have to Meet Uncle Don

Chancey Williams has been making country music – the genuine cowboy kind – for the last 15 years. But his new release is the first time he’s penned a tribute to his Uncle Don, who he told C&I is the best cowboy he knows.

In a call from his place in Wyoming, Williams described his uncle, his father and his grandfather as cowboys who got things done the old-fashioned way: herding sheep, riding bareback, working horses, and understanding how a horse thinks.

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“You’ve heard stories about horse whisperers, but in my eyes, they are the horse whisperers. There’s some sort of magic there,” Williams said. “Their fear of horses is zero. And that’s probably what makes ‘em as cowboy as they are.”

C&I: Assuming that cowboy trait is one you’d inherit, are you as good as your Uncle Don?
Williams: I’ll never be as good as my dad and uncle. And my kids won’t be as good as me. It’s one of those lost arts. Every generation loses it a little. We all rode saddle bronc, we all grew up in the rodeo. But now that I’m making music, I don’t get to spend much time on a horse.

C&I: How far back do those rodeo roots go?
Williams: The rodeo originated back when ranchers would get together with other ranch hands and they’d have competitions like who could ride the best, who could saddle bronc the best, who could ride the horses that bucked the most, who could rope a steer fastest, and eventually, who could ride a bull the longest. I was a ninth grader when I started riding saddle bronc, and I rode through high school and went to college on a rodeo scholarship. Saddle bronc is when you ride horses that just want to buck, and ones that are bred to buck. Either way, it’s in their nature. They know when that chute opens, it’s time to perform. But rodeo’s a young man’s game.

C&I: Is that when you realized you needed a new career?
Williams: I always loved music, but my main focus was rodeo. Rodeo and ranching were my life. But I always had this band that was kind of fun. So after college, I was like, “Do I pro rodeo really hard and make the national finals and be great at it? Or do I choose something I can do long term?” I figured I could do music longer than I could rodeo. But rodeo and music are the same lifestyle: you travel, you perform, then you go to the next town. Now I just get to perform on stage versus the dirt.

C&I: But still, I bet you miss the rodeo.
Williams: There’s nothing like rodeo. Once you’ve done it competitively, it’ll never leave you. I still get the urge to get on a bucking horse, with the adrenaline rush when you’re in a chute, right before you nod, and you don’t know what this wild animal’s gonna do. It’s like stepping on stage in front of 20,000 people.

C&I: What was the first post-rodeo song you wrote?
Williams: “Six Figure Job.” I have a master’s degree in public administration, but I moved to Nashville and my friend Dave Brainard asked, “Man, are you gonna use your degree?” I said I’d rather play music than be sitting in some corner office making six figures. He said, “Let’s write that.”

C&I: And what was the last song you wrote?
Williams: “The Ballad of Uncle Don.” I wrote it with Brice Long and James LeBlanc. We wrote it at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, which is a super cool place where they recorded all those big hits from the 1960s and even now.

C&I: Can you hear the difference between a song about rodeos and a song from an actual rodeo man?
Williams: I’m a real cowboy. I grew up as a rodeo and a ranch kid. So lyrically, they have to be spot on because all my friends and colleagues are cowboys. I can’t fake anything. That’s why I had to write my own songs, because nobody was really nailing what I was trying to say. I am a ranch kid from Moorcroft, Wyoming, and I need to be authentic.

C&I: Which is more difficult, riding saddle bronc or making country music?
Williams: Music. Because with rodeo, you can work out hard, practice a lot, and the harder you work, the more successful you are. But that’s not the case with music. Success in music can be political, who you know, and how you navigate Nashville.

C&I: What did it mean to you to be inducted into Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame with folks like Reba McEntire, Chris LeDoux, George Strait, Garth Brooks, and Brooks & Dunn?
Williams: It means the world. Cheyenne is super special for a rodeo cowboy. It’s the biggest outdoor rodeo in the world. My dad won Cheyenne in 1971. And those buckles are so unique — you can see ‘em a mile away. Back when I was riding bucking horses, I never would’ve dreamed I’d be playing music there someday on that main stage. I felt like I’m too young, so it’s super humbling.

Pre-save “The Ballad of Uncle Don” here.