Chancey Williams plays with the Ranchmans on July 9

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If the Calgary Stampede were to invent the perfect musical guest for the world’s greatest outdoor show, he would probably resemble Chancey Williams.

Not only did the country singer spend 16 years perfecting a neo-traditional country sound popular with Stampede audiences, but he was also a champion saddle bronc rider. He never competed in Calgary, but his father, Dennis, did at the 1971 Stampede.

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He is even friends with Alberta’s favorite country rodeo rider Corb Lund and Alberta’s bronco riding champion Zeke Thurston.

But as it turns out, Williams’ July 9 performance at Ranchmans will be his first and only appearance in Canada.

“I grew up here and am friends with a lot of Canadian bronco riders,” Williams said in an interview from his home in Wyoming. “We know all of these guys from the Stampede, we just never got to ride or play there.”

The singer-songwriter decided to hang up his spurs as a competitor nearly a decade ago, but as a musician he is still a favorite on the American rodeo circuit. Williams and fellow songwriter and rider Chris LeDoux from Wyoming are the only two artists to have performed on the main stage and competed at Cheyenne Frontier Days.

He began releasing albums in 2008, offering a slate of songs with titles that wouldn’t be out of place on a Calgary Stampede playlist: “The World Needs More Cowboys,” “Rodeo Cold Beer,” “A Cowboy Who Would” and “Fastest Gun in Town.”

This trend continues with Williams’ latest song, wonderfully titled “One Bad Mutha Buckaroo.” It covers the familiar theme of defending the authentic rural cowboy. It even mentions the late LeDoux, who was not only a hit song writer in the neo-traditionalist style, but also dabbled in the Stampede-like passion of bronze sculpture. He was also a Hall of Fame inductee rodeo competitor and a friend of Williams’ family. He died in 2005.

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“Chris is the king of Wyoming, so everyone here always looked up to him,” Williams says. “When I was a little boy, my dad and Chris rodeoed together. I knew him and his family since I was a kid. So he helped me get started when we were young. He had us perform a few times. He was definitely one of my heroes that I looked up to in music.”

Music was always a part of Williams’ life growing up on a ranch outside the small town of Moorcroft in northeast Wyoming, where he and his brothers helped raise sheep and cattle and competed in rodeos on weekends. His grandfather played in a band and Williams began making music in his high school years, influenced by 1990s country stars like George Strait, Toby Keith and LeDoux.

He released his first album in 2008 after a visit to Nashville. Like many young singers coming through the Music City machine, Williams initially left the songwriting to the Nashville professionals.

“When I first started, I didn’t really write,” he says. “We were just a cover band that turned into an artist. I just recorded songs from outside. So we recorded a few albums and eventually I started writing. The stuff I wanted to sing about, it was hard to find good songs that really fit me, so I decided to write them myself. I met some great songwriters in Nashville and I write with a handful of guys there.”

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This includes the new single “One Bad Mutha Buckaroo,” one of eight new songs Williams has recorded for an album he plans to release later this year or early next year.

“It’s a song about a guy that everyone knows,” he says. “He’s a really good cowboy, but he rarely comes to town. He drives an old ranch pickup with a dog. It’s just a fun song. Everyone can picture this guy in their head.”

Rodeo and music were not the only options for Williams, who still calls Wyoming his home. He attended Casper College and the University of Wyoming on a rodeo scholarship and eventually earned a master’s degree in public administration.

But it soon became clear that music was his first love.

“I had a band in high school and college for fun, a cover band that played rodeo dances, fairs and square dances,” he says. “But the rodeo always took a back seat. At some point I had to make a decision. I chose music.”

Much like his friend Corb Lund, Williams recently made his Grand Ole Opry debut. He has performed three times since April. He had always heard about Calgary from Lund and others on the tour and felt he would fit in well. He plans to attend rodeo shows as a spectator before and after his Ranchman performance before returning home to perform in Wyoming, North Dakota, Montana and Nebraska.

“I’m friends with Corb Lund and some other Canadian artists and I always thought, ‘Man, I need to go there,'” he says. “It feels like we have the same fans: Real cowboys, people who really love rodeo and the western lifestyle. I think we’ll fit in well in Canada.”

Chancey Williams plays at Ranchman’s Cookhouse and Dancehall on July 9th.

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