What do you do when you are a rancher whose center pivot won’t pivot and everything is held together with baling wire and twine? If you’re Cody, Wyoming, country singer-songwriter Kalyn Beasley, those ranching realities become a song.
Beasley has released his new song “Ranchin’ Rich,” which features friend and rising country music star Ned LeDoux. It’s a tribute to all the ranchers who have run from debt collectors and dreamed their tractors would start in the winter.
This all-too-true, but comical, song was inspired by a conversation Beasley had at a bar last fall with a rancher who also happens to be his best friend and drummer in his band, Levi Luoma.
“Levi and I were just kind of talking about how much fun it'd be to be a rich rancher someday and not have to worry about equipment breaking down and having to go see a banker about a loan,” Beasley said. “Just being able to ranch with basically infinite funds.”
The idea of ranching rich instead of poor inspired Beasley to pick up his pen and start writing. His buddies Luoma and Kaine Peters also put their fingerprints on the song.
“I wrote this song with a little bit of background and a little bit of knowledge of how things work, and really just wrote it for those people out there doing it every day, feeding our nation,” Beasley said.
Beasley was also able to partner on his new song with a family friend who shares his love of Wyoming and the ranching life.
“We were lucky enough to get Ned LeDoux to jump on and sing a couple verses and a chorus on there,” Beasley said. “I think the song resonates with Ned and his background growing up in Kaycee.”
LeDoux told Cowboy State Daily that the story does indeed resonate with him and he enjoyed working with Beasley on the song.
“He’s quite the songwriter,” LeDoux said. “I suppose the idea of ‘Ranchin’ Rich’ is not having to worry about the Almighty Dollar. It’s something fun to talk about but never really happens.”
It may be great to fantasize about “Ranching Rich,” but that’s not real ranching in Wyoming, says Cody singer-songwriter Kalyn Beasley. Buddy Ned LeDoux is featured in his new song, an ode to real ranching in the West. (Courtesy Kalyn Beasley) 
It may be great to fantasize about “Ranching Rich,” but that’s not real ranching in Wyoming, says Cody singer-songwriter Kalyn Beasley. Buddy Ned LeDoux is featured in his new song, an ode to real ranching in the West. (Courtesy Kalyn Beasley)
A Rodeo Cowboy
Beasley’s journey to songwriter and singer began at the rodeo.
“I was about 4 years old getting on a miniature bull at the Cody Night rodeo,” he said. “I don't really ever remember a time that I wasn't riding horses or swinging a rope in in the corrals. From the time I was born, I was trying to be a cowboy.”
His dad, Justin Beasley, was beside him every step of the way as Beasley graduated to bigger challenges in the rodeo arena. While his mom wasn’t as enthusiastic about her son’s career in rodeo, Justin said he was going to let that be Kalyn’s decision.
“He grew up in a cowboy hat,” Justin said. “I told his mom if he wants to do this, I'm not going to encourage him, but I'm not going to have him doing it behind my back and getting on something in somebody's backyard and getting hurt.”
When he was a teenager, Kalyn decided to compete in the Buffalo night rodeo and asked his dad to sign him up.
“First bull he's ever been on,” Justin said. “He gets on and this bull jumps out and turns around and beats him around the corner. He knocks him off in about 3 or 4 seconds.”
According to Justin, Beasley scrambled back into the chutes with the bull right in his hip pocket.
“Kalyn’s just staring right at my face,” Justin said. “He told me that's wild.”
However, that didn’t deter his son. Two days later, Kalyn competed in the junior bull riding in Cody.
“I'll be damned if he didn’t win the damn bull ride,” Justin said.
All through high school and college, Beasley continued to compete but admitted it was a tough way to make a living.
“You get thrown into fences, mashed in shoots, stepped on, kicked, and thrown on your head,” he said. “Rodeo is a very serious and dangerous sport when you're talking about getting on wild animals like bucking horses or bulls.”
Beasely said that to ride well, that you have to crave the excitement of riding even after you have been hurt and banged up.
“I've had a few surgeries, and the lead was getting taken out of my pencil at that point for craving bucking horses anymore,” he said.
When he was 24, he stopped riding broncs and was looking around for another career.
After The Rodeo
During all those years of hanging out at the rodeo, music was a major part of life as well for Beasley. That was because his dad had a band he had named “After The Rodeo.”
“My dad would oftentimes be riding bucking horses or roping at the rodeo,” Kalyn said. “He'd then go play either under the grandstands or at the bar on the same night that he was rodeoing.”
Although Kalyn was more interested in the rodeo itself, Justin saw the stirrings of a musical interest in his son when Kalyn was just three years old.
“I was sitting there singing this song and he goes, I wanna do a song, dad,” Justin said. “He got down into his little repertoire of music. It was just cute as hell.”
Beasley got into songwriting while he was in college at Montana State University.
“There's a lot of people that say rodeos and guitars kind of go hand in hand,” he said. “The more I got fed up getting thrown off bucking horses, the easier it sounded to stand in a bar and sing songs all night.”
He had an aptitude for creative work and writing which he began to apply to his music.
“Pretty early on I was making up my own songs up and they weren't the worst songs in the world,” he said. “I had a enthusiasm for my music and a little bit less for riding bucking horses.”
Songwriter and singer Kalyn Beasley’s inspiration for all things rodeo and music was his dad, Justin Beasley, who sang in his own band, After the Rodeo. He's also been inspired and encouraged by dad, Justin Beasley. (Courtesy Kalyn Beasley) 
As a toddler, Kalyn Beasley began competing at the rodeo and continued to ride in tougher competitions until he was 24 and began making music his full-time career. His latest single, “Ranchin’ Rich,” features family friend Ned LeDoux. (Courtesy Kalyn Beasley) 
Kalyn Beasley loved to compete in rodeos but said that it was a young man’s sport. By the time he was 24, he had stopped riding bronc and his passion turned to songwriting and singing. (Courtesy Kalyn Beasley) 
Kalyn Beasley said that his song “Ranchin’ Rich” was a group effort with friends such as producer Cody Braun and bandmember Levi Luoma. (Courtesy Kalyn Beasley) 
Kalyn Beasley became a songwriter and singer after a short career as a bronc and bull rider. He said that making a living singing is much easier that being stomped on in the rodeo arena. (Courtesy Kalyn Beasley) 
Kalyn Beasley recently wrote and released “Ranchin’ Rich” featuring Ned LeDoux. It is a satirical song about the dreams of ranching with money rather than the reality of ranching poor. (Courtesy Kalyn Beasley) 
Kalyn Beasley recently wrote and released “Ranchin’ Rich” featuring Ned LeDoux. It is a satirical song about the dreams of ranching with money rather than the reality of ranching poor. (Courtesy Kalyn Beasley)
The LeDoux Connection
Having LeDoux perform on his latest song “Ranchin’ Rich” came about because of family connections and a love of rodeo.
“My dad was looking for a drummer when I was a kid and Ned joined him for a couple of years just playing bars and county fairs and rodeos around South Dakota and Montana and Wyoming,” Beasley said. “Ned was just kind of always around.”
“I had a fun run playing with Justin Beasly and the After the Rodeo band,” LeDoux said. “It’s really cool to see Kaylen doing his own thing.”
Growing up, Beasley was influenced by Chris LeDoux’s music and said it wasn’t unusual to see Chris out and about Johnson County.
“We didn't really think it was a wild, special thing,” Beasley said. “But now I know that it really was at the time.”
For Justin, the friendship with Ned’s dad Chris LeDoux was also about music and paying it forward. He said that what makes the LeDouxs so special is that they are just a modest ranching family.
“The guy could sing or do anything,” Justin said. “But if you saw him on stage and saw him on the street, you thought you had identical twins that were polar opposite.”
He said that Ned is a class act just like his dad. When Chris needed a drummer, Ned didn’t want to leave Justin in a bind.
“He told me what happened and said that his dad wanted him to go on the road with him and drum,” Justin said. “I said, are you wanting my blessing? Get the hell out of my band! That's just the humble kind of the people that the LeDoux’s are.”
Hitting A Nerve
“Ranchin’ Rich” resonates with folks like Ned LeDoux, Beasley said, because they can identify with the hardships and humor that he highlights in the song.
“There’s a lot of the people that are generational ranchers that are land rich and cash poor that really grab on to the song,” Beasley said. “They probably wish themselves they'd had a little more financial freedom.
“They probably also know the non-resident billionaire who is able to fulfill those dreams of ranching rich that they probably will never be able to.”
For Justin, he enjoys the humor in the song and said gets a kick out of the truth that his son has highlighted.
“It’s the culmination of all those years being around ranchers,” Kalyn Beasley said. “I’m just trying to write a song that people resonate with.”
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
