Ned Ledoux has big plans with the recent release of his new EP, ‘Forever A Cowboy.’ With being the son of Chris Ledoux, one of country music’s greats, he has some big shoes to fill. However, Ned doesn’t see it as a challenge. This new generation of country music lovers may not be familiar with the name Chris Ledoux, but Ned plans to keep his father’s name relevant by releasing songs that his dad had wrote long ago, while adding his own style of country music to them.
To start things out, a little fun fact about ‘Forever A Cowboy’ is that Ned and his dad, Chris, co-wrote two songs that are featured on the EP. For those who aren’t familiar with Chris Ledoux, he was one of country music’s greats active from 1971-2005, but later passed away in 2005. For Ned to be able to co-write songs with his late father is “pretty special. It means a lot to me. I wanted to stick with stuff that I know, and I thought it was great to finish these ideas that dad had.” The two songs that the father-son pairing co-wrote are ‘We Ain’t Got It All’ and ‘Forever A Cowboy’ – the title track. The title of the EP named itself, Ledoux said. “It’s who I am and it was the last song that was written for the EP. The title just fit along with the other tracks.”
The new single ‘We Ain’t Got It All’ holds a special meaning to Ned and the lifestyle that he lives. “I’m a pretty simple guy,” Ned explained, “I don’t need the material things in life. I only need my faith in God, and my family.” The song, which started out as an idea from Chris Ledoux, was later finished by his son and Mac McAnally. It’s so special to Ned because it was the first song he ever wrote. “It’s so special because the ideas came from dad when he wrote them down years ago. Mac and I just finished it up.”
Ned said working with Mac McAnally on the EP was great. “Mac is such a huge inspiration to me. He gave me so much guidance through songwriting and recording.” McAnally gave Ned the push to record songs that were his dad’s; he thought the idea was more the great. “He makes it look so simple. He is an amazing mentor,” Ledoux said of McAnally.
As far as what fans can expect from the songs written by the Ledoux boys and the rest of the EP, Ned wants to make sure everyone knows that he is creating his own path and going with his own style of country music and not copying his dad’s. Ned explains that the song ‘We Ain’t Got It All’ “has most of the input from dad. ‘Forever A Cowboy’ is wrote about myself, except for one line that was dad’s. Mac helped with this song too.” However, although the song is co-written by his dad, Ned wants to stick to his style of country, which is “sticking to the cowboy way of songwriting.” Ned will continue to play the songs that he learned of his dad’s at a young age the way that he learned them.
Ned can credit his career starting from his dad; “it all started with playing my dad’s old stuff, I’ll continue to carry on with that. I want to let the younger folks know about my dad, where you go back a couple decades with ‘Photo Finish’ and ‘Yellow Stud.’ I want to bring the old stuff back.” Ned played drums in his dad’s band when he was younger. He joked around in saying “I’m actually a better drummer than I am a singer!”
As far as rocking the stage; Ledoux has shared the stage with artists like Randy Houser, Chris Janson and Toby Keith. When asked how opening for these acts have been, he said “it was neat to share the stage with these guys. They’re great. Chris Janson, this guy, he needs to drink more coffee… he needs more energy!” he said laughing. He then proceeded to say that he loved Janson and is good friends with him.
Ned Ledoux’s new EP ‘Forever A Cowboy‘ is out now! You can purchase the EP on iTunes here.
You can follow Ned on Facebook, Twitter and his official website.