Just LeDoux It

Chris LeDoux (1948–2005) was a rodeo world champion and country music legend who embodied the Western way of life more authentically than almost any other artist of his era. Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, LeDoux grew up moving frequently as his military family was stationed at various bases. He discovered rodeo in Wyoming and fell in love with the sport. In 1976, he won the World Champion Bareback Rider title at the National Finals Rodeo — a pinnacle achievement in the sport he had pursued since his teenage years.

Equally impressive was LeDoux's music career, which he built independently — recording albums in his barn and selling them from the back of his truck at rodeos for years before he was "discovered" by mainstream country music audiences. His songs celebrated the cowboy life he actually lived: rodeo riding, ranch work, open spaces, and the code of the West. When Garth Brooks mentioned LeDoux in his 1989 hit "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)," LeDoux's recordings suddenly sold by the hundreds of thousands overnight. He subsequently signed with Liberty Records and became a genuine country music star.

LeDoux lived near Kaycee, Wyoming — a small community in Johnson County — until his death in 2005 from a rare liver disease called primary sclerosing cholangitis. He remained deeply connected to Wyoming throughout his fame and chose to raise his family there rather than in Nashville or elsewhere. His authentic cowboy identity, his independent spirit, and his extraordinary dual achievement as both rodeo champion and recording artist made him a beloved figure throughout Wyoming and the broader Western states. "Just Ledoux It" — the tribute statue and community statement in his honor — captures the Wyoming spirit of doing things your own way.