Cross Canadian Ragweed is the red dirt alt/country musical quartet that hales from Yukon, Oklahoma. The name is derived from a mixture of three of the four member’s names Grady Cross, Cody Canada, and Randy Ragsdale. Shortly after forming in Yukon, the band moved to the hopping college town of Stillwater, Oklahoma.
The band released its first album, Carney, in 1998 while already receiving considerable airplay on college radio. This was due to their relentless touring of Oklahoma and Texas. Their second release was their live album from the Wormy Dog Saloon, which is in Oklahoma and is a bar that I was kicked out of one fateful trip to Oklahoma. Their second studio album Highway 377 was released in 2001. All of the above mentioned albums were released on the bands independent label Underground Sound.
Cross Canadian Ragweed, also known as the Purple album, cleverly assigned, due to the purple cover, was the bands major label debut. The album cover’s color was attribute to Randy Ragsdale’s little sister who died prior to the album’s release.
In 2004, their sixth release Soul Gravy debuted on the county charts at #4. Their next studio album, Garage, yielded their first top 40 hit on the country charts with “Fighin For”. It also contains a tribute song “Dimebag” for the late, great Dimebag Darrell from the cowboys from hell, Pantera!
Mission California is the bands ninth album and has two great cover songs. “Cry Lonely” is a Chris Knight cover of and they also cover Todd Snider’s “I Believe You”. Their tenth album Happiness and All Other Things was released in 2009 and was dedicated to Willie Nelson’s late, longtime stage manager Randall “Poodie” Locke.
Cross Canadian Ragweed Discography:
- Carney
- Live and Loud at the Wormy Dog Saloon
- Highway 377
- Live and Loud at Billy Bob’s
- Cross Canadian Ragweed
- Soul Gravy
- Garage
- Back to Tulsa – Live an Loud at Cain’s Ballroom
- Mission California
- Happiness and All Other Things
Top 5 Cross Canadian Ragweed Songs:
- Proud Souls (Caney)
- Breakdown (Garage)
- Broken (Cross Canadian Ragweed)
- Flowers (Soul Gravy)
- Jenny (Mission California)
Their sound is a nice blend of country swagger and southern rock that is evocative of band such as the Marshall Tucker Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd. They tend to tour and travel with like minded folks such as Randy Rogers Band, Stoney LaRue, and Wade Bowen (who is married to Cody Canada’s sister).
This year, Cross Canadian Ragweed will grace the hallowed grounds of Bonnaroo Music Festival!
Check out Cross Canadian Ragweed at www.crosscanadianragweed.com
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkFtl50kqYE
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFVCMIyE9gw
Great music awaits!
Music you should be listening to! 