The Legendary Stardust Cowboy

With over 40 years of playing music, Norman Carl Odam, also known as the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, still puts on an energy-packed performance.

Norman, or Ledge as his fans call him, was born and raised in Lubbock, Texas: home of the largest contiguous cotton-growing area in the world. His musical inspirations can be attributed to country music legend Chet Atkins.

After mastering the guitar, bugle, kazoo and rub board by 16, Ledge eventually came up with his title. “I thought I was a legend in my own time,” he says of giving himself a stage name. “I was thinking of cowboys and space, and I put the two together.”

Inspired by what else was out there, Ledge took to the road and traveled around playing gigs. Ledge’s 1968 single “Paralyzed” hit the Billboard Top 200. In the 70s, David Bowie used a portion of Ledge’s name for his breakout album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Years later the two would meet and eventually both cover one of the other’s songs.

Since 1997, Klaus Floruide of the iconic punk band the Dead Kennedys, has been playing with bass in the Altamont Boys as Ledge’s backing band. The Altamont Boys also include guitarist Jay Rosen and drummer Joey Meyer.

Ledge has released several albums and singles over the years and continues to play live shows. Artistically gifted but still a bit unconventional, Ledge now resides in San Jose and is one of the city’s finest.

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-Robin

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 at 11:06 am and is filed under Artists, Featured. Tags: Legendary Stardust Cowboy, The Ledge. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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