- Ned LeDoux’s new album, Protected Haven, is out now
- It pays tribute to each his late father, Chris, and toddler daughter, Haven
- “I consider that everyone on this world has a spot the place they should go when issues get a bit of too heavy,” he tells ipromiseyoumedia. “And for me, music has at all times been that”
It’s been 20 years for the reason that nation music business misplaced Chris LeDoux — and Ned LeDoux misplaced his beloved father.
“I believe he’d nonetheless be going at it if he was nonetheless right here,” nation singer Ned LeDoux, 47, tells ipromiseyoumedia of the conclusion that his dad would have turned 77 years outdated this yr. “I am unsure if he’d nonetheless be using the bucking machine, however you by no means know. I wouldn’t put it previous him.”
LeDoux laughs, however the disappointment over his father’s loss of life remains to be there within the depths of his voice every time he speaks of the late nation star and rodeo champ. And it’s that voice that’s now featured on LeDoux’s new album Protected Haven.
“That is a wonderful thing about recorded music,” LeDoux says about posthumously collaborating together with his father on Protected Haven, his first album in over three years. “It lives eternally.”
Not solely does LeDoux preserve his legendary father’s reminiscence alive over the course of Protected Haven, however much more so on the only “One Hand within the Riggin’,” which incorporates a vocal observe that was laid down by Chris LeDoux roughly two years earlier than his loss of life in 2005. “It was the final time he stepped foot within the studio and the final music he ever sang within the studio,” explains LeDoux. “So far as I do know, that is the very last thing that my dad ever recorded.”
Because the story goes, the vocal observe that Chris LeDoux put down that day for singer/songwriter Brenn Hill’s single that was by no means used. “It just about sat on a shelf,” says LeDoux. “I received to be mates with Brenn years in the past, and he would say that the timing again then simply wasn’t proper, and that he believed that the Lord had a plan for all the things. And he advised me, ‘I believe what His plan is for this to be a duet with you and your dad.’ So, him giving it to me was a blessing.”
And with the assistance of producer Mac McAnally, LeDoux lastly heard the ultimate model of “One Hand within the Riggin’” final yr. “He plugged in dad’s vocal and blended all of it up,” says LeDoux of McAnally, who truly served because the producer on Chris LeDoux’s closing three albums. “It is simply so cool to listen to my dad’s voice together with mine.”
And whereas his new album was a approach to honor the lifetime of his dad, LeDoux additionally used it as a approach to honor the lifetime of his late daughter Haven, who tragically died at age 2 because of a choking accident again in 2019.
“I had a listing of 10 or 15 totally different concepts for album titles, but additionally on my wall, I’ve received an image of me and my daughter and we’re sitting out on the entrance porch, and the phrases ‘Protected Haven’ simply got here to me,” says LeDoux. “So, the album is in dedication and reminiscence for my daughter.”
So too is the instrumental he calls “Haven’s Lullaby.”
“It was most likely per week or two after she handed,” LeDoux remembers. “Sooner or later, I received my guitar, as a result of I used to be simply eager to play once more. And abruptly, this melody got here out and it was virtually as if Haven was chatting with me as I used to be taking part in the guitar half.” He pauses. “I consider that everyone on this world has a spot the place they should go when issues get a bit of too heavy. And for me, music has at all times been that.”
And whereas LeDoux appears to be like to proceed to file music all through the rest of his personal life, he doesn’t suppose he can have the prospect to sing together with his late father once more.
“I do not suppose there’s the rest when it comes to his recordings,” he concludes. “My dad had a hell of a catalog of music, and I’m proud to hold on the torch and preserve dad’s music and reminiscence alive eternally.”
