On Chris LeDoux’s third album, 1974’s Songs of Rodeo and Country, the beloved bronco rider and part-time singer portrayed the cowboy life as more of an affliction than a calling. “Rodeo, I'm tied to you/You're a woman and you've cast a spell,” he sings on “Rodeo You’ve Cast a Spell.” This album's songs feel real because they aren’t tied up neatly with ribbons on top. LeDoux treats the rodeo life with affection and reverence, but he also lets those sentiments coexist with a deep sense of loss and unhappiness. “True Western Movie” and “The Only Road You Know” are just two songs in which the narrator resigns himself to a future full of uncertainty and loneliness. Yet there's not bitterness in LeDoux’s music, only a deep sense of pride and self-respect. A pair of character portraits—“Oklahoma Joe” and “Joade the Rodeo Clown”—both end in tragedy, but LeDoux sings them not as cautionary tales but as memorials for the great overlooked antiheroes of rodeo society.