Champion wants to see more yodelers
Wednesday, June 15, 2005 7:15 AM CDT

By Robyn Hoffman/Staff Writer

LAVERNE - She does it with ease.

She said everyone else can, too.

"Anybody can yodel if they try hard enough," Chelsea Beck said. "All you have to do is try. Once you get it, it's really easy.

Beck obviously got it. The Laverne 12-year-old's yodeling talent helped her win the recent Patsy Montana National Yodeling Competition in Pineville, Mo. It's an art she admits is dying and not all that popular among the younger set.

"Not very many kids yodel," Beck said. "But I love it. I have a lot of fun doing it."

Beck's love for yodeling rooted during a talent competition in 2004 when she sang "Cowboy's Sweetheart," a Patsy Montana song. She then sought out Janet McBride, the yodeling coach for county music superstar LeAnn Rimes. A year and a half later, Beck has cut her first CD, "Cowgirl at Heart," and continues to perform everywhere from Texas to Kansas and Colorado to Missouri.

"It's absolutely awesome to learn from Janet," Beck said. "It's exciting to know that she coached someone like LeAnn Rimes."

Yodeling is an easy art, Beck said. You just have to know where to get that wind and sound. It's not that tricky.

"When you yodel it comes from the diaphragm and not the throat," she said. "And you don't do it with your mouth, it's in your tongue. It's really easy, but you learn that practice makes perfect.

"I didn't just get up one morning and start yodeling."

The yodeling cowgirl is passionate about classic western music and loves learning about the heritage. Her great grandfather Leroy Hibbs was a cowboy and rode his horse Billy Boy in No Man's Land. She wrote "Cowboy Roy" as a tribute to him and included it on her CD.

"I like trying to keep the western heritage alive," Beck said. "It's part of who we all are."

She is doing her part to keep it alive. Beck's CD has been distributed to 130 radio stations across the United States. Her music will give people the opportunity to hear the reasons why she has been nominated for Yodeler of the Year and for Rising Star in the Academy of Western Artists and the Western Music Association.

"I think we need more young people yodeling," she said. "The more younger kids we have, the better [chance] we have to keep the heritage alive."