Ned LeDeux at Cain's!

Chris LeDeux's son, Ned, is playing legendary Cain's Ballroom

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Yeah, yeah, we're excited tobe playing Canes. I think the last
time we were there was with Dadin two thousand and three, I think,
and The Great Divide open the show. And I still I still have
that poster. Everybody signed it andit's hanging up in my basement. One
O six one The Twister. Thisis my Tulsa with Carla Cantrell one O

(00:21):
six one the Twister. You there, Oh yeah, this is Carla Hey
ned lead. This is Carla canTral. Nice to meet you over the
phone. Yeah, yeah, gettingto meet you. Well, I am
very excited to talk to you.I saw your dad, Chris Laedu a
couple of times and even have autographschool can of his. Oh yeah,
I'm sure there's a lot of thosearound the country. He's a very good

(00:44):
guy. But I'm way excited tohear about you and to hear your story
because I know that you know,this is your third full length album that's
coming out, so it's not likeyou haven't been doing your own thing.
So it's very very nice to catchup with you. Yeah, well thanks,
you're taking the time, No problemat all, all right. So
you were born and raised on aranch in Wyoming, and Ned. I

(01:06):
know that you write story songs.You know, you write songs that mean
a lot to you, that arethe truth. What is your favorite thing
about being a kid in Wyoming?What was the one thing that you're like,
Man, if I could go backand be a kid for this day,
this is what I'd do. Ohman, that's a kind of tough
question. I don't just loved everythingabout it, you know, I mean,

(01:26):
you know, growing up on aranch. I guess at the time,
you know, when you're you know, you know, building fans and
working cows and you know, havingto get up in the mornings and go
do all that stuff, it kindof you don't really want to do it,
you know, but as the yearsgo by, you're and you think
back, you're sure glad that youdid, you know, because it just
made me who I am today.You know, just the work ethic and

(01:49):
and you know, of course workingwith my granddad, you know, he
was a big inspiration to me,big influence. But yeah, just everything
about it, just growing up youknow, out in the country and you
know, you know, being onyou know, riding a horse and building
fans for working cows and and youknow, doing some hand and all that
stuff just uh, it was avery good way to grow up. And

(02:15):
and it spills into my songwriting.You know. I always think back,
you know on all those years ofworking on the ranch and my family and
friends and the landscape and uh andmakes for a pretty good picture. Absolutely.
I'm surprised you ever wanted off thatranch, but you kind of got
it in your blood when you weretraveling with your dad, and even before
that you had your own band,right yeah, yeah, and yeah,

(02:37):
we don't uh like me and myfamily, we don't live in Wyoming anymore.
We've been in northeast Kansas for aboutthirteen years, but we get up
to to Wyoming, h you know, more often than I thought we would,
you know, to help out alittle bit with the maybe be a
part of the branding or doing somehand and stuff like that. But but
yeah, I've been playing music sinceI was just a little kid and h

(03:00):
and I got to play drums formy dad, you know, for a
number of years, you know,from ninety eight until you know he passed
away in a five But but yeah, traveling has always kind of been in
my blood. I guess, wellthat is kind of a that is kind
of a cowboy thing too. Youknow, you know how to ranch and
brand cows, but you also haveto you have to catch the horizon.
You gotta keep going going right.Sure, Yeah, it's kind of hope,

(03:23):
kind of the same deal. Well, you had your first band in
junior high. I want to knowwhat the name of that band was.
Well, it was a band thathad been around for a few years.
Uh. The name of the bandwas Cowtown and uh yeah. So and
the way I'll try to keep itshort, but the way I got in
the band was I think I was, yeah, like eighth grade something like

(03:46):
that, maybe going into my freshmanyear. And it's towards the end of
the year and the parents and theteachers put together it's called Casino a Day
and uh, and so any kidthat was in like you know, perfect
attendance or student of the month orwas on the roll, I got to
you know, leave school and goplay like bingo and black jack and all
this stuff down at the at thebar and there. But it was a

(04:12):
room that was kind of behind thebar, so you weren't actually in the
bar. But but anyway, thesecretary, you know, hollered Off,
you know, all these different namesdifferent students and she called my name.
Well, I wasn't ever student ofthe month. I was a good kid.
I was a good student, youknow everything. But uh, there's
no reason why she would have shouldhave called my name out. So we

(04:32):
get down there and I said,why did you call my name? I
was never student of the month.I didn't have perfect attendance, you know.
I was on the AB on herroll, but not the A on
her roll. And she said,well, I got a favorite to ask
it. I said, there's aband here and they need a drummer.
And said, oh okay. SoI walked in and I knew all the
guys, and me being in beingfrom Casey, Wyoming, everybody knows everybody.

(04:54):
Uh, I said, yeah,you guys went to jam. They
said yeah, come on up.And so we just just played maybe an
hour or so, and and theysaid, well you want to join the
band? I said, well,yeah, so when's our next concert?
And they just kind of laughed andsaid, well, but we don't play
concerts, ned we play gigs,So what what what what's the difference?

(05:15):
And he said, well, youknow, concert that's about an hour and
a half. You know, I'vegot a lot of people that chow up
what we do are playing gigs.We played from about nine o'clock until closing
time. I said, little Sheet, I'd rather play gigs and a concert
you get to play for four hours. I'd rather do that. So course,
being thirteen, fourteen years old,you know, that was that was

(05:38):
what I wanted to do. HolyNo, So were the guys were they
like high school kids or were theyolder than that? They're quite a bit
older than me. Yeah. Yeah, I think every band I've been in,
I've always been the youngest in everyband I've ever been in. But
uh, and it was the bandwas made up of just, you know,
a bunch of ranchers and I thinka truck driver and a retired school

(05:59):
teacher. Yeah, little student thereyou go. Yeah, Oh that's awesome.
I love it that the new himCowtown. That's a great story.
I was so glad that you gotto play in the band. That's awesome.
Yeah. So I was in thatband all through high school, and
we didn't really play very many gigs. You know, everybody had more important

(06:20):
things going on, So we probablyplayed maybe a dozen gigs every year.
But then once I graduated, Ijoined up with a different band that was
playing almost every weekend. And thename of that band was called after the
Rodeo Band, and it was kindof based out of Buffalo, Wyoming,
and so yeah, we played alot of rodeos, County fairs, a

(06:43):
lot of bars, and so yeah, that was that was fun, just
knowing that I had a gig toplay almost every weekend. Man, that's
awesome. Well, and now lookat you. You're on your third album
already. And I read a quotefrom you. I don't even know if
you remember saying it, but yousaid, I want people to know that
they should never give up on adream. There's always time. Just keep
on going. I thought that wasso great. Yeah, yeah, that's

(07:06):
I think I remember saying that.It's just out of the way I've always
lived my life. You know,just keep on going after it. You
know, you know you'll eventually getthere. You just you just can't.
Just don't quit. What's on thehorizon for you? Now? What's your
next bucket list? What's what's yourdream right now that you're that you're striving
for. Well, I'm kind ofgetting back into doing some more writing,

(07:30):
you know, like you said,you know, I got three albums out
and it's been a while since uhuh, you know, that last album
came out, so I've been,you know, trying to piece a few
ideas together for some a new album. I did get to do a little
acting in June, which I neverthought i'd be a part of. But

(07:53):
there's this docu film. I'm notsure when it's going to be coming out
or anything, but uh they theyasked me if I could be the sheriff
in this thing. So it's uh, it's I guess it's basically a Western,
but it's based on a true story. It's about this, you know,
a certain guy and all the characterssurround him. And uh so,

(08:15):
yeah, we did the film andmy part was in Cody, Wyoming,
and so it was it was reallycool. I got to spend most of
the time horseback and uh so,yeah, that might be something I'd like
to get into a little bit more. He Yeah, that's awesome. Well
you're already in Wyoming. You shouldjust screw it over the Yellowstone set and
see if you can get a gigon there too. Yeah. Yeah,
yeah, I think they're probably goodover there with their cast. Oh that's

(08:39):
awesome. So the docu film,do you know what outlet it's going to
be on, Like is it ParamountPlus or Netflix or do you know?
I don't really know for sure.Yeah, I talked to the director,
you know, a couple of monthsago and asked, like, because he
sent us like a little sizzle reel, you know, just a little kind
of a preview thing, and andbut yeah, they they don't really know

(09:00):
when it's going to be done.It's basically a pilot, I think,
you know, so they'll kind ofsend this out to a bunch of different
people. I guess, you know. I can't really say too much because
I don't really know too much aboutit, but uh, but I think
it's gonna be pretty good. Dude, that is super exciting. Yeah,
that's awesome. Well, okay,and since you are like, you know,

(09:22):
writer extraordinary, you're like basing everythingon your life. What is what
is your favorite song you've ever written? N Well, that's tough. It's
you know, because I spent yeah, yeah, kind of, you know,
because I spent so much time withevery song that I've written. I

(09:43):
know exactly where I was when Iwrote this one and that one, and
where I came up with the differentideas. But I guess if I had
to pick one, I'd probably sayForever a Cowboy. That was on my
first album, and sage Brush wasthe title of that one. And one
thing I've been very fortunate in is, uh my producer is Mac mcinally,

(10:09):
and he's produced everything I've ever done. He also produced the last three albums
that Dad put out. So he'sthe one who really kind of opened up
the door on how to write asong, you know, because before I
didn't know what I was doing.You know, I was just playing drums,
you know, that's all every wantto do. And but my dad
had these ideas. Nothing was finished, Leah. Not long after Dad passed

(10:33):
away, my mom was doing somecleaning and some organizing, I guess,
stuff like that. She came acrossthis box and there's all these little ideas,
just scribble, you know, butnothing was finished, and so she
sent me a few ideas and likethese are kind of cool, you know.
So I tried to finish one,and then Dad's management, who also

(10:54):
manages Mac mcinally, got a holdof Mac. And then Mac got a
hold of me and said, hey, man, I'm here. You're trying
to work on one of your dad'sold ideas, but yeah, I'm just
not sure what direction to go.I got this part done, but to
watch come on down. We'll tryto finish it together. And so this
would have been in to twenty fifteentwenty sixteen. And so there's this idea

(11:16):
that Dad started, and I thinkall it had was a driver rested pickup
truck with post and barbed wire.We got firewood in the stack. I
guess money's all we lack. Andso we kind of ran with that idea
and the title of the song iscalled we Ain't Got at All. And
so from that point on, aftersitting with Mac for about an hour and

(11:37):
a half, I just started writing. And one thing that Mac told me,
he said, you know, Ithink at the time I was about
thirty seven or thirty eight. Hesaid, you know, if you've had
all this life of experience and differentplaces you've been and you've done, he
said, you're gonna pull from thoseexperiences and turn them into a song,

(11:58):
and it's to flow like water.It's gonna be great, you know.
But then when you're working on yoursecond album, that's when you're gonna have
to drill another whale somewhere, yeah, and come up with new ideas.
But yeah, Mac have been abig help for me. But yeah,
to answer your question, yeah,forever a cowboy probably be probably one of

(12:20):
my favorites. That's awesome. Well, and I'm so glad that you have
people that surround you like a lotof people would have been like, you
know, I'm in my thirties,I'm not gonna start writing now. So
I'm so glad you had like inspirationfrom your dad and inspiration from Mac mcinnelly
that you can't ask for, youknow, better guys than mentor you.
Huh. Yeah, that's yeah,pretty good inspiration to pull from for sure.

(12:43):
Well, we cannot wait to seeyou, ned La. Do you're
gonna be at Cane's Ballroom Thursday,September fourteenth, just in case you forgot
where you're going, because I knowyou're touring all over the place now,
right, Yeah, Yeah, we'reexcited to be playing Canes. I think
the last time we were there waswith Dad and two thousand and three,
I think, and the Great Divideopen the show. And I still I

(13:05):
still have that poster. Everybody signedit and it's hanging up in my basement.
Again. It's gonna be a funnight September fourteenth, ned thank you
so much for your time. Ireally appreciate you. Well, thank you
so much. You have a wonderfulday. Anything else you want to tell
people? Oh, if they wantto check out the website, you can
go to needldo dot com. That'sprobably the best place to go for you

(13:26):
know, the tour schedule and alsofor merchandise or we're also on all the
social media platforms as well. Allright, ned Le dou thank you so
much. You have a great day. Okay, all right, you two,
thank you. This has been myTulsa with Carly Cantrell Abailable now on
the iHeart Radio app one oh sixone. The Twister