Ned LeDoux to headline county fair

Published 12:11 pm Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Contributed imageNed LeDoux

Ned LeDoux fell in love with music at a young age.

The son of country star Chris LeDoux, Ned got his first drum kit when he was 5. Now he’s touring the country.

“I just knew that was what I wanted to do at a really young age,” he said.

Ned said he probably spends more time on the road than with his family in northeast Kansas. The traveling, meeting new people and camaraderie of the band make it all worth it, though, and he said there’s a sense of freedom out on the road.

“That’s pretty much what I’ve been doing most of my life,” he said. “There’s not many roads I haven’t been down.”

A handful of Ned’s bandmates played in his father’s band, Western Underground. Chris passed away in 2005 but is still a huge influence on his son’s music.

Ned sings “Johnson County War” on his EP album “Forever a Cowboy.” The song was written by Chris and tells the story of a series of rangeland conflicts in the late 1800s between cattle companies and ranchers in Wyoming. Ned said he wanted to cover the song because of its connection to his home state, Wyoming, and because it was a lesser known song of his father’s.

“I wanted to pick almost like a B-side song,” he said.

In Ned’s song “The Hawk,” he said he believes his father keeps watch over their ranch in Wyoming. As a child his father asked him, if he could be reincarnated as an animal, what would it be? Ned said he would come back as a mountain lion.

Chris said, “I think it would be kinda neat to be a hawk.”

Shortly after his father’s death, his mother found herself constantly followed by a hawk.

“We hardly ever see any hawks. If you do they’re just passing through, but this one decided to stick around,” Ned said. “I always believe he’s still here.”

Ned said he doesn’t feel overshadowed by his father’s music career.

“I’m just proud to carry on the torch,” he said.

He plans to roll out another album Nov. 3. He said it will be roughly a dozen songs with eight originals and a handful of covers. The songs have already been recorded, and it’s just a matter of getting them all together, he said.

Ned loves being on the road playing music, and plans on sticking with it.

“Yeah, I’ve been trying to find that Bigfoot fella,” he jokes. “But no, this is what I’m wanting to do for the rest of my life.”

Ned LeDoux will take the main stage at the Grant County Fair Friday, Aug. 11. Opener Melissa Mickelson will go on at 7:30 p.m. followed by LeDoux.

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