|
 Western Underground guitarist Mark Sissel showcases his talent during a guitar solo at Tuesday night's Custer County Fair concert.
By ELLEN MORTENSEN
Chief Assistant Editor
I met Mark Sissel at the historic Arrow Hotel in downtown Broken Bow. He walked in dressed in blue jeans, sneakers and a polo shirt.
The only thing that might give any indication as to who he is, is the name Chris LeDoux proudly displayed across the front of his ball cap. You see, Mark is guitarist and road manager for LeDoux’s band, Western Underground. But, most importantly, he is Chris LeDoux’s friend.
We met Monday morning to talk about the band’s upcoming performance at the Custer County Fair. I have to admit, I was a little nervous. After all, this guy personally knows and/or has worked with the biggest names in country music!
He has played in front of some of the biggest crowds in some of the biggest cities in the country. That is a little intimidating.
Mark met me with a warm smile and a firm handshake. When he put his arm around my shoulder and patted me on the back as we sat down for a cup of coffee, I knew I had nothing to be nervous about.
Mark got his start with a four-piece house band in Utah. It was 1984, and cowboy Chris LeDoux had just retired from rodeo and made the decision to take a stab at a music career.
Chris was looking for a band at the time, and liked what he heard from this house band so he hired them.
“We recorded an independent record with him (Chris),” Mark recalls. “Then he signed with Capital Records and it just took off from there.”
Chris and the band recorded 22 albums on his own Lucky Man label, before signing with Capital in 1992.
Chris named his band “Western Underground,” and set out to make the guys real “cowboys.” He took them shopping for authentic clothing and hats, and Mark says even made them all ride the mechanical bull.
Unlike many artists, Chris never considered his band a backup to him. He insisted the band join him at the front of the stage rather than play behind him in the shadows. Mark says Chris even tried on several occasions to talk the band in to recording their own album.
“He (Chris) always said that the band should try and become independent so that when he retired we could go on,” says Mark.
Mark describes Chris as being “just like a kid” on stage. “He might run around, bounce off of you or elbow you, pull your hat down over your ears - it was just all about having fun,” Mark recalls.
In October 2000, the band was devastated when they learned Chris had been diagnosed with a rare liver condition and would need to undergo a liver transplant. He bounced back from that and after a long break from the music world, the band returned to the stage and picked up right where they had left off.
Then, in November 2004, Chris confirmed that he had liver cancer. He died March 9, 2005, in Casper, Wyo. He was 56-years-old.
Mark and the rest of the band reeled from the news, trying to come to terms with Chris’s death and figure out what to do next. They recalled all the times Chris had told them to make music and “just be a band.”
They decided they owed it to Chris, as well as his legions of fans, to perform a series of farewell shows - just a few. The first of those shows was the Windmill Festival in Comstock, Nebr., in July 2005.
“We wanted to play somewhere where we thought the fans would really get what we were doing,” Mark explains. “The fans at Comstock were awesome.”
The band was concerned that people would think they were just trying to cash in on their friend’s success. Especially apprehensive was Dustin Evans, the young man who took over lead vocals.
Those fears, however, were quickly put to rest once the band took the stage and began playing. For those first shows the band performed strictly LeDoux music, which many have termed ‘rodeo rock-n-roll.’
The band has had such a positive response to their performances, they have since taken the advice of their friend, LeDoux, and began performing some of their own music as well. Mark says their shows now are about 50-50.
For about two hours Mark and I sat, drinking coffee and chatting. He shared wonderful stories as he remembered his friend. There is the one about the time Trace Adkins wanted to meet LeDoux, so Mark introduced them. And the time during a live show that Chris ran up behind Mark as he was performing a guitar solo, and pulled Mark’s hat down over his eyes so far he couldn’t see. Happy memories.
Mark gets emotional as he remembers his last performance with Chris - Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Sept. 2004. And tears well up in his baby blue eyes as he talks about the tribute to Chris the band performed with Garth Brooks in Central Park.
Two of LeDoux’s sons are with the band; Ned plays drums, and Will works the merchandise table. They, along with the other band members, work to keep Chris’s music and memory alive, performing about 20-25 shows each year.
“We want to carry the flag, and uphold the values that Chris so unassumingly represented, while developing our own identity,” says Mark. “There were so many good times, and so much great music, running down the road with Chris. Now, as Dustin sings in one of his own songs, it’s time to look to ‘The Good ol’ Days to Come.’” |
Huskers.com
