Rodeo riders may dream of becoming country stars, but the onetime bareback-riding champ actually lived it, successfully shifting to a hitmaking Nashville career. This "Classic" CD/DVD collection proves even Pioneer awards and platinum album sales could never take the cowboy out of this man.

The late American music legend Chris LeDoux was a steadfast westerner who sang firsthand of rodeo glory and pain while living the life of a bona-fide modern-day cowboy. Honoring his authentic and lasting legacy of cowboy songwriting, recording and performing, Capitol Nashville/EMI will release Classic Chris LeDoux, a new CD/DVD and digital collection of his top recordings and videos, on April 29. Among the 15 audio tracks and 15 videos on the new collection are LeDoux's "Bang A Drum" with Jon Bon Jovi, "Whatcha Gonna Do With A Cowboy" with Garth Brooks, and the music video for "Ridin' For A Fall," making its commercial release debut.

A true cowboy, Chris LeDoux wasn't driven by the prospect of fame or money when he began pursuing rodeo professionally, or when he starting writing and recording his own music. In pursuit of the World Championship in Bareback riding, which he won in 1976, LeDoux spun his stories of life on the circuit into fresh western anthems. Recorded in a true mom-and-pop shop, LeDoux sold his recordings out of his pickup truck at rodeos and quickly found a devoted audience and high praise for his bonfire ballads and lyrical candor.

In 1989, one of LeDoux's more famous fans stepped forward with an endorsement that validated the rodeo champ as a true American music icon, bringing widespread and mainstream attention to his music. Garth Brooks, in his early hit "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)," referred to playing "a worn out tape of Chris LeDoux." That same year, LeDoux signed his own recording contract with Capitol Nashville.

With sales of his 36 albums totaling more than six million units in the U.S., one platinum and two gold album certifications from the RIAA, a Grammy nomination and the Academy of Country Music Pioneer Award, LeDoux's career flew high during his life and continues to resonate after his March 2005 death from a rare form of cancer at the age of 56.

Fans of Chris LeDoux's early recordings have found some of his best tracks on the platinum-certified collection, 20 Originals: The Early Years, released in 2004, and the new Classic Chris LeDoux collection follows Capitol Nashville/EMI's release of twelve original Chris LeDoux albums on six CDs in April 2007. These 'twofer' CDs feature LeDoux's most enduring albums recorded between 1974 and 1993, all 24-bit digitally remastered and presented with their original album cover art.