Randy Erwin's yodeling skills are showcased in the Disney
animated feature Home on the Range
Yodeling for Disney
Randy Erwin takes his talent to the big screen
By NICK ROGERS
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
In Disney's animated film "Home on the Range," Alameda
Slim is a self-described pioneer Pied Piper in 10-gallon underpants who
speaks with the dusty, dusky voice of actor Randy Quaid.
But the sound of Slim's yodeling, which the evil land-grabber uses to steal
cattle away from their ranches, fell to a different Randy.
Randy Erwin, who moved with his family to Springfield about a year and a
half ago, has been a professional yodeler for more than 20 years. And his
work in "Home on the Range" won't be confined to the song "Yodle-Adle-Eedle-Idle-Oo"
and the incidental off-screen yodel.
"There'll be the soundtrack, the sing-along-karaoke, read-along CDs,"
Erwin says. "All that they can come up with."
And Erwin's yodeling will go global as the film premieres worldwide throughout
the year. Because he spoke no English in the film, he was allowed to re-record
for the film's 32 different foreign releases, unlike other featured vocal
talent such as Quaid, Judi Dench and Cuba Gooding Jr.
"It's almost never done, but I guess they tried to find other people
in other countries and they couldn't match it up," says the 46-year-old
of his yodeling. "When your adrenaline's going, it's real easy to redo
32 takes. It's the benefit of speaking gibberish."
In 1980, Erwin graduated with a radio, television and film degree from the
University of Texas at Austin, with a specialization in music and effects
for radio and film. He worked at a radio station and TV station there for
a couple of years before deciding it wasn't for him.
A Texas native, Erwin often heard yodeling recordings when growing up in
the state's Gulf Coast area, but didn't sing much until he was in his 20s.
"It wasn't until then that my voice had matured into a yodeling voice,"
he says.
Moving to Dallas to yodel professionally, Erwin played business conventions
for several years before joining Cafe Noir, "a classical gypsy"
band that sang songs inspired by Django Reinhardt.
Erwin recorded two solo CDs, as well as two with Cafe Noir, and also had
a cameo in "True Stories," the 1986 film directed by Talking Heads
front man David Byrne. He also lent his voice to several television commercials,
including Home Depot ads. For the past seven years, he has performed shows
for children as Cowboy Randy, combining his yodeling with trick roping at
libraries, schools and parties in Texas and Illinois.
He got wind of the "Home on the Range" job through an Austin agent
who recommended him to the film's producers. They flew him to Los Angeles
to record a demo at Disney's animation division. A few weeks later, he was
hired for the job.
"They really needed the right kind of voice to match Randy Quaid's,"
Erwin says. "He was born in Houston, and I was born about 80 miles
south."
Over the course of four recording sessions, Erwin got his tracks finalized.
The most memorable moment came early, when he went straight through "Yodle-Adle-Eedle-Idle-Oo"
in one take, with its Oscar-winning composer Alan Menken on hand.
"Right in the middle, I could see through the glass, and Alan starts
doing this jig," Erwin says. "Everybody's clapping and jumping
up and down. At that moment, my life had just kind of flipped around from
being a bottom-feeder to being one step above a bottom-feeder." (This
moment is part of behind-the-scenes footage from the film, which can be
viewed through Erwin's Web site at http://web2.iadfw.net/a0027072/gettingthere.html.)
Erwin laughs a bit, calling Disney's "pay better than scale."
"Since it's a real specialty thing, they were kind," Erwin says.
"They gave me a premium price to do it. And the residuals will be nice
when the DVDs come out. I'm kind of at the top of the food chain."
He says taking his family to the film's premiere in L.A. was probably the
best thing he's ever been able to do with them.
"When Disney throws a party, it's 100 percent the best thing you've
ever seen," says Erwin, who got to walk down the red carpet in front
of the El Capitan Theatre along with Gooding Jr. and actress Estelle Harris.
It has been said that "Home on the Range" will be Disney's final
hand-drawn animated film. If that's true, Disney will end its animation
run as it came in, with a midmovie round of yodeling.
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' (Disney's first full-length animated
feature) had yodeling right in the middle of it, too," says Erwin.
"It's kind of odd that things would turn out that way."
And even if Disney doesn't require Erwin's yodeling services, he's confident
it will be a good calling card.
"I'm not sure how much demand there is in Hollywood," he says.
"But if they need more yodeling, here I am."