(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) —
Late singer/rodeo champ Chris LeDoux will receive the CMA Chairman's Award of Merit posthumously during the live CBS broadcast of the 39th annual CMA Awards on November 15 from Madison Square Garden in New York City.
"Chris embodies everything that's great about Country Music," said CMA Chairman Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn, who will present the award. "He lived with passion, integrity and a commitment to big dreams. It's how he rodeoed and it was how he made his music. Chris wasn't larger than life, he was life — and that's what the very best of Country Music is made of. It is my pleasure, and my honor, to present the inaugural Chairman's award to someone I respect so much."
Brooks has enlisted the help of Garth Brooks to perform his personal tribute to LeDoux, "Good Ride Cowboy," during the awards show. Garth will perform "Good Ride Cowboy" with LeDoux's band, Western Underground.
LeDoux passed away in March following a lengthy battle with cancer. –Jane Cohen and Bob Grossweiner
