Stw : You mention having been almost too into the scene to cover it without blurring lines journalistically , but your experiences seem to have allowed you to write a book with angles that few people could . What took you so long to put it all together ?
JC : I wanted to wait until I personally felt the time was right , and from the time I graduated in 2001 until , say , 2018 , the time simply was not right . When Ragweed was in their heyday — major-label deal , selling out shows coast-to-coast and charting in the Top 40 — they were doing a pretty good job of spreading the word on their own . What was I going to write that made any difference at that point ?
So I just committed a lot of my experiences at that time to memory and took to heart the notion of , I ’ ll come back and tell the story of this scene when it needs to be told .
Fast-forward to 2018 , and the scene has lost Jimmy LaFave , Tom Skinner and Brandon Jenkins in a short time frame ( and would soon lose Steve Ripley ). The Turnpike Troubadours are carrying the torch for Oklahoma , but they ’ re just starting to go through the tumult that ultimately leads to their hiatus .
LaRue and Boland are still doing well , but Ragweed has been broken up for eight years , and a great many of their fans do not realize that Cody Canada is still out there making the same music , and suddenly the time feels a lot more right . On top of that , the phrase “ Red Dirt ” has become less of a description of Stillwater music and more of a term of art that gets used in radio slogans and concert promotions across Texas , and it ’ s obvious that the original plot is getting lost .
Take all that together and the time was right . For those who know what Red Dirt is , the time
“ IT ’ S original MUSIC , TIED TO PAYNE COUNTY , AND IT MOVES YOU spiritually .”
—
JOSH CRUTCHMER
John Cooper of The Red Dirt Rangers performs a the 2013 Gypsy Cafe in Stillwater .
Jamie Lin Wilson at The Bowery Electric in New York City , 2019
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STILLWATER OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE