"Good Ride Cowboy" is a single, released in 2005, by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 artist Garth Brooks

Garth Brooks

Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...

. The song is a tribute to Chris LeDoux

Chris LeDoux

Chris Ledoux was an American country music singer-songwriter, bronze sculptor and rodeo champion.During his career LeDoux recorded 36 albums which have sold more than six million units in the United States as of January 2007...

, another country musician and friend of Brooks'. Released in late 2005 as a single, the song went on to peak at #3 on the Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

 charts.

Content

Brooks briefly emerged from retirement in late 2005 to record the upbeat "Good Ride Cowboy", shortly after the death of singer Chris LeDoux. Brooks first performed the song at the CMA

Country Music Association

The Country Music Association was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of only 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre...

 awards show, while the CMA Chairman's Award of Merit was presented in LeDoux's honor.

In an interview conducted with CMT

Country Music Television

Country Music Television, or CMT, is an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming includes music videos, taped concerts, movies, biographies of country music stars, game shows, and reality programs...

, Brooks stated, "I knew if I ever recorded any kind of tribute to Chris, it would have to be up-tempo, happy ... a song like him ... not some slow, mournful song. He wasn't like that. Chris was exactly what our heroes are supposed to be. He was a man's man. A good friend."

Chart positions

"Good Ride Cowboy" debuted at #18 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart for the week of October 22, 2005. The song set a record at the time for the highest debuting single on the country charts since the inception of SoundScan in 1990. Keith Urban

Keith Urban

Keith Lionel Urban is a New Zealand-born Australian, country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose commercial success has been mainly in the United States and Australia. Urban was born in New Zealand and began his career in Australia at an early age...

 later broke the record with his 2006 single "Once in a Lifetime

Once in a Lifetime (Keith Urban song)

"Once in a Lifetime" is a 2006 song by Australian country music artist Keith Urban. It was the first single from his album Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing....

," and Kenny Chesney

Kenny Chesney

Kenneth "Kenny" Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer and songwriter. Chesney has recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S...

 broke it again with 2007's "Don't Blink

Don't Blink

"Don't Blink" is a # 1 Billboard country, top 40 hot 100 single by country music artist Kenny Chesney. It is the second single from his 2007 album Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates, and Chesney's thirteenth Number One single on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs charts.The song debuted at #16 on the...

;" Brooks reclaimed the record one week after Chesney did, when "More Than a Memory

More Than a Memory

"More Than a Memory" is a song written by Lee Brice, Billy Montana and Kyle Jacobs. It was recorded by country music singer Garth Brooks and released in 2007 as his 51st single. It is the first single from his 2007 compilation The Ultimate Hits. On the U.S...

" debuted at Number One.

Chart (2005-2006)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs	3
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	56