Self-released

****1/2

This is my kind of country music. Unashamedly retro, but fizzes with an energy that retools classic country as a vibrantly post-modern American folk-art, NEXT IN LINE is nigh-on irresistible. It’s always tough for a singer to follow in the footsteps of a famous parent, but in a few short years Ned LeDoux has shown that he can walk tall in the boots of the late Chris LeDoux. Ned plays country the way it is meant to be played, with emotion, musicianship, and earthy, clever songwriting. He imbues each song with the trail dust and vast vistas of his beloved American West, and celebrates the unique bond humans should share with nature and the land.

Ned began his music apprenticeship some twenty years ago playing drums in his father’s Western Underground band. He embarked on his own solo career a few years later and has been moulding a musical style that merges his passion for love, life and storytelling since his debut release FOREVER A COWBOY in 2016. Old Fashioned starts the album with warm, robust vocals paying homage to the moral lessons he learned growing up that have served him so well. Worth It is in similar style as he praises the ethics of being a working man and the fulfilment that results. The good-timey Dance With Your Spurs On, a co-write with Canadian Corb Lund, is a kick-up your heels fiddle-driven tune extolling the work and play hard way of life he believes in. A Cowboys Is All is rough, ready, rhythmic, passionate and full of bounce as he recalls the life of a cowboy who’s now ready to hang up his spurs and take life easy. He maintains the western theme with Where You Belong, all about the guy who tried his luck out in the big wide world but finally realises that back on the ranch is really where his heart is. Sensitive fiddle and piano lay the foundation for Path Of Broken Dreams with a thoughtful, moving country spirit; wonderfully gruff and oozing with emotion and raw honesty this demonstrates that Ned LeDoux really is a great songwriter.
Mention should be made of Mac McAnally, who not only produced the album but also had a hand in co-writing four of the songs, three of them with Ned. Mac sings harmony vocals on Just A Little Bit Better, a song that he co-wrote with Chris Stapleton. With an infectious melody and lacing it with sharp, unforgettable hooks, this catchy song leads neatly into Ned’s excellent version of John Fogerty’s Almost Saturday Night, that will have your feet tapping almost without you realising it. Chris LeDoux introduces Homegrown Western Saturday Night, a feel-good celebration of another successful week of work. A good ol’ fashioned barn-dance fiddle-driven number that may be old hat to many but reminds me just why I first got involved in this whole country music thing. A million miles away from Music Row, but what the heck, it’s all so damn good!

www.nedledoux.com

December 2019