Justin McBride grew up dreaming of being a World Champion bull rider.

That dream came true. He went on to win a pair of PBR titles (2005, 2007) en route to earning more money than any western athlete in history. Had he not retired in his prime at the age of 29, McBride likely would have won one more title – perhaps more than one.

Instead, he walked away from the bull riding arena and onto the stage at the Grand Ole Opry.

He had never really dreamed of pursuing a country music career, but eventually the winner within led him to doing just that.

“You have to put yourself out there in that situation for [success] to ever happen,” McBride said. “I think there are a lot of people who are so scared of failing, of not being successful, that they’ll never try it on a big stage.

“I’ve seen a lot of really good amateur rodeo guys, who talent-wise had plenty enough to be a professional, but it was almost like they would rather stay an amateur real close to home and win at that level, than take the chance of raising the bar of your competition level and losing.”

This coming Friday, McBride will head to Texas to take on yet another challenge in his professional life.

He will join a growing list of performers – Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard among them – who have recorded a live album at Fort Worth’s famed Billy Bob’s Texas. It’s proof that to McBride, music is no longer about “hanging out with [his] buddies” as they “halfway beat through something” while sitting around a campfire.

“Live at Billy Bob’s Texas,” which is scheduled to be released in October along with its companion DVD, is the follow-up to his debut studio effort “Don’t Let Go.”

‘You just pretty much lie to each other until you believe it’

As a young boy, McBride moved with his family to Mullen, Neb., where he met and befriended John Howell.

The two began dreaming of careers as professional athletes. Howell was set on playing football in the NFL, while McBride spent hours analyzing everything about his heroes Ty Murray, Jim Sharp and Tuff Hedeman.

Howell lettered in football, wrestling (he was a state champion as a senior), track and golf before eventually playing college football as a walk-on at Colorado State University. He earned a scholarship his sophomore year, and in 2001, was the fourth-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Like Howell, McBride played eight-man football and wrestled in high school, but it was bull riding and bareback riding that would become his focus.

“I always use John as an example, not only for him to play football as a career, but then to do that on the highest level and on the biggest stage,” said McBride of his longtime friend, who won a Super Bowl with the Buccaneers. “I mean the odds of that actually happening can’t be very good. I think it really is a pipe dream when you start out.

“I know I was just lucky enough to have someone around like him that was dumb enough to have those big dreams too. You just pretty much lie to each other until you believe it.”

‘I’m not better than you. I’m just better at winning than you are.’

It was Howell who taught McBride to dream, but it was Murray who taught the feisty bull rider how to be a winner.

As good as McBride was – his career riding average was 56 percent and he won 32 events – it wasn’t until his seventh year as a professional that he won his first World Championship.

For years, Murray would tell him, “I’m not better than you. I’m just better at winning than you are.” And while it took some time for McBride to understand what that meant, he never forgot it.

“I always thought about that all the time, and he was right,” McBride said. “He was better at winning than other people were.

“I’ve never seen anybody who was better at winning that he was, and I don’t care if you’re talking about riding bulls, playing shuffleboard or pitching horseshoes—the guy is good at winning. He may not be any good at pitching horseshoes, but he’ll find a way to win.”

McBride finally learned how to win, and has used the same process in finding a way to succeed at performing.

His learning curve has been steep. In a short couple of years, he’s been invited to perform on stage at the Grand Ole Opry, sung in front of more than 46,000 people at Cowboys Stadium, and this week he’ll record a live album.

All because he’s comfortable, and with comfort comes confidence.

“If I’m going to do something, I want to try and do it to the fullest it can be done,” he explained. “When I was riding, I was lucky enough that the PBR had fired up and was going, and so I got to go there, but that’s because I wanted to be as good as I possibly could be, or at least see (how good I could be). And it’s the same way with music.

“I don’t know how good I can do at it or how big it can get, but I’m going to find out.

“The day I think I have it all figured out I’ll quit doing music, and I think I’m just starting to scratch on figuring some of it out. I’ve got so far to go that I don’t even see the end in sight. Like with bull riding, that’s part of the reason I quit. It seemed like about the time I had it figured out, I lost interest in it.”

Obstacles and balance

He has a growing interest in music and the challenges it presents him.

While the obstacles he faces as an adult have grown from the smaller ones he and Howell faced 20 years ago, it was those challenges that set McBride up to believe he could “do the bigger ones now.”

It’s in his nature to “get after it,” regardless of what “it” is, but he always points to the dreams of two boys in Nebraska, who “didn’t know any better.”

“I think it was probably a little bit of both,” McBride said. “I was real lucky having [Howell] around and also the kind of parents that I had around. They really balanced me out.

“My mom fills you so full of [crap] that you’re so great – she just lies to you all the time – that she kind of rubs off on you, and I think that helps having support like that. But then I always had my dad, who was there to keep you in check and keep you grounded, win or lose.”

NEWS and NOTES

Live at Billy Bob’s Texas: The album, which is being recorded at the Fort Worth venue on Friday, July 2, will feature “Don’t Let Go” and “Beer Drinkin’ Songs” from McBride’s first album, as well as “A Cowboy on the Radio” and a cover of the Chris LeDoux classic “Cadillac Cowboy.”

Tickets for the 10:30 p.m. performance are available through www.Ticketmaster.com or at the Billy Bob’s box office. For more information, call 817-624-7117.

— by Keith Ryan Cartwright