Paralyzed

The Legendary Stardust Cowboy

The Legendary Stardust Cowboy (w/ Klaus Fluoride on bass)
Emily Rose & The Rounders

Norman Carl Odam was born in Lubbock, Texas in 1947. Inspired by Chet Atkins, he learned to play the guitar, and started playing on the steps of his high school, attracting crowds of kids before school started for the day. Realizing that Lubbock, Texas, was far from the action he decided to go to New York City, so that he might appear on the Johnny Carson Show.


The Ledge, as he is affectionately known to his friends, loaded up his car, grabbed $160, and headed towards New York City.  While stopping in Fort Worth, he was spotted in a
parking lot by two guys who worked at a vacuum sweeper repair shop. They were intrigued (who wouldn't be?) by his demeanor, and spirited him to the local recording studio.

At the helm of the studio was T-Bone Burnett, who must've been all of about 20 then, and not yet famous. All were intrigued by the sound of the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, recording engineer and vacuum cleaner repairman alike. The Ledge played "Paralyzed", and the frenzy began. T-Bone played drums, the tapes rolled, and the first single was recorded.

The studio was located on the first floor of a building that housed an AM radio station on the second floor. T-Bone took the master tape upstairs to his pal the DJ, and played it for him. T-Bone says that he waited several minutes for a response, expecting the worst, but the DJ screamed, "This is it! This is it! This is the new music!"

All day long the radio station hyped the single tantalizing listeners with the promise that it would be played at 5pm. Finally the moment arrived, and the station was flooded with more calls in 30 minutes than in any entire day prior to the time the Legendary Stardust Cowboy got into town. They knew they had something. T-Bone quickly pressed 500 copies of the 45 rpm record, and the Legendary Stardust Cowboy hit the happy trails to success. Less than a week later, he was signed to Mercury Records, "Paralyzed" hit the Billboard Top 200, and the world was a changed place.

The Ledge was then invited to appear on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-in, reaching millions of viewers nationwide. His unique lyrics, singing and over the top performances have inspired many musicians. A young David Bowie was so taken by the Legendary Stardust Cowboy that he fashioned a name for his alter ego to pay homage and Ziggy Stardust was born. The Ledge has become a cult figure and has recorded extensively and toured worldwide, appearing on national TV in Australia and Germany. The Gun Club, minus Jeffrey Lee Pierce was his backing band for a tour of England in the early 80s.
Bowie recorded a version of the Ledge’s “I Took a Trip on a Gemini Spaceship” for his Heathen album and invited the Ledge to open the Meltdown Festival he curated in London in 2002.

His latest release, Tokyo on Crack'd Piston records and is the studio now working on his next album. His current band, the Altamont Boys, features Klaus Flouride from the Dead Kennedys on bass, Joey Myers on drums and Jay Rosen on guitar.

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The Legendary Stardust Cowboy

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