Chris LeDoux’s legendary cowboy song

The relationship between country music and cowboy hats is a fickle one – they stay in style for a decade before the next generation considers them passé, and after that revivalists seeking credibility start wearing them on stage. But cowboy cool was never a trend for Chris LeDouxthe most uncompromising hat act of the ’90s and – strictly speaking – the most successful real cowboy in country music. So it’s fitting that his best-known song is “This Cowboy’s Hat”: The cinematic tune is a cowboy’s pledge of loyalty to (what else) his hat and, presumably, to life on the ranch and at the rodeo. Although the song never became a chart hit, over the years it became an anthem for listeners who thought Nashville’s version of frontier music was inauthentic and a symbolic entry into LeDoux’s extensive catalog.

The singer-songwriter made headlines early on because he was a real singing cowboy – not a Hollywood type like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry or a Bakersfield buckaroo like Buck Owens. LeDoux, who was introduced to rodeo when his family moved to Austin and continued riding when they landed in Wyoming, became a bona fide rodeo star, first at Eastern New Mexico State University and then as a world champion bareback rider in 1976. By that time he had already self-released five albums of Western songs, which, legend has it, he sold from the back of his pickup truck at the rodeos he attended.

Listen to “This Cowboy’s Hat” by Chris LeDoux now.

“This Cowboy’s Hat” came to LeDoux’s mind as his rodeo career was winding down. His rodeo buddy and fellow songwriter Jake Brooks wrote the tune in the early 1980s, and LeDoux was the first to record it for his 1982 album. Used to want to be a cowboyPorter Wagoner’s song reached the bottom of the country charts a year later, but otherwise it was as unknown as LeDoux’s numerous other records from this period – which became increasingly popular among rodeo fans and country fans and brought the singer-songwriter a steady income.

An unexpected signing changed all that: “A worn-out tape of Chris LeDoux, lonely women and bad liquor/Seems to be the only friends I’ve got left,” sang Garth Brooks on his 1989 debut single, “Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old),” and instantly made the popular cowboy singer a symbol of authentic country music—and the obvious choice for any Music Row label looking to cash in on the neo-traditional trend. Around the same time, LeDoux’s first music video was put in rotation on CMT, highlighting his cowboy qualities. Liberty, the Nashville subsidiary of Capitol Records, signed him shortly thereafter; 19 albums into his career, LeDoux recorded his major-label debut, which included a re-recorded version of “This Cowboy’s Hat.” The core of the song was the same – its theatrical spoken lines about a cowboy being mocked by bikers in a saloon and then giving them a quick dressing down, its determined nasal drawl – although the Nashville version was, of course, a little more sophisticated.

“It has so much depth,” LeDoux told Dallas Morning News in 1997. “At first, people thought it was just about the confrontation between this cowboy and these bikers. But the real message is that we all have these things in common, no matter what culture we come from, how we dress or talk. It’s a wonderful song. It’s become something of an anthem for us and our fans.”

Despite Garth’s support, LeDoux didn’t do well on the radio – and certainly not with “This Cowboy’s Hat.” Nevertheless, the song has become part of the country canon: a tribute to the real, independent characters that make up the American myth, created by an artist who practiced what he preached more than most. “This Cowboy’s Hat” showcases LeDoux’s devotion to cowboy poetry and storytelling – a practice he saw as entirely consistent with lassoing and horseback riding.

“(Cowboys) are idealistic, basically poetic, or whatever you want to call it,” LeDoux said in 1977, fresh from his rodeo title. “In such a world of reality, they are unrealistic. They dream of winning the world championship and becoming famous. It’s a romantic life.”

Listen to “This Cowboy’s Hat” by Chris LeDoux now.