By Moira Blazi
Chancey Wiliams literally grew up singing and riding bucking broncs in the rodeo. He is a real singing cowboy, the authentic article. Recently named entertainer of the year at the Rocky Mountain Country Music Awards, Williams also just won the RMCMA”s album of the year award for his most recent offering “Rodeo Cold Beer”, which has debuted at #7 on the iTunes Country Albums chart. The title song video from that album, about life on the road for a touring band, got over 350,000 views on Facebook in its first two days.
These days, life on the road agrees with him. “ It feels normal for us to be on the road now, we get home for 3 or 4 days and we get restless”, he said. But he is used to it, since he used to travel the rodeo circuit as a bronc rider. “I don’t compete anymore, if I was to get hurt, it would kind of derail my musical career”, he told the Montanian, but he added, “ I definitely miss it, I have a lot of friends that are still involved.”
Top: Chancey Williams Bottom: Chancey Williams band performing in Libby. Photos by Moira Blazi, The Montanian
Growing up on a ranch in NE Wyoming, Williams and his drummer Travis DeWitt played music all through college, although he says back in those days music took a back seat to the rodeo. Musically inspired by classic country legends like George Strait and Dan Seals, Williams and DeWitt honed their chops, got together a fantastic band and took to the road. Beginning in the Rocky mountain region of Montana, Wyoming and North Dakota. They produced 4 albums in Nashville and never looked back. Friday night’s appearance at Libby Memorial Center is part of a wide-ranging tour to promote the new album and have fun. Coming in from Laramie, WY the day before they had a wonderfully successful show last week down in Scottsdale AZ. When they left here they were headed to Sioux Falls SD, Casper WY and eventually down to San Luis Obispo CA to share their brand of “modern day traditional country”.
Williams writes a lot of his songs, and he “knows a good song when I hear it”. He writes and sings about hard working ranch people like himself. He knows they can relate to his music, “We write songs for our fans who are just like us” he said. “Our fans really are just like us.”