“Red Dirt” royalty Cross Canadian Ragweed is set to bring its beer-brawling, raucous alt-country road show to State Theatre tonight along with Austin compadres The Band of Heathens.
Cross Canadian Ragweed, or simply Ragweed to fans, may have not written the book on self-promotion or touring but definitely edited a few chapters. The perennial touring band does not tour to support albums, it tours to play more shows.
Catching up with Ragweed frontman Cody Canada while readying for a show last week in Peoria, Ill., he spoke of new albums, regrets and winding down a year’s worth of touring with a final seven-week run of tour dates.
On The Road
Nearly a year after the release of the band’s latest album Mission California, Canada said fans have warmed up to the album which initially for some was not an easy pill to swallow.
Still, for the faithful, the album held some songs that were undeniably Ragweed, such as the single “Cry Lonely,” penned by Kentuckian and alt-country hero Chris Knight and featuring country maven Lee Ann Womack on backing vocals.
“People have got [Mission California] now, you know,” Canada said. “We’ve had a pretty good response, and it has been cool watching [Chris Knight] fans come to our show.”
Still, while on a tour that has taken them into venues some would consider outside the realm of alt-country fandom, the band has ventured into northern markets to find as many hardcore fans as they would in their home turf of Texas and Oklahoma.
“We went up to Michigan, and we haven’t been up there in 10 years,” Canada said. “Now playing New York was fantastic. We played the New York Jazz Festival, and there were like 6,000 people there. And they pump up the bands that aren’t jazz. Playing in New York anytime is cool.”
Venturing into seldom seen territory is not a new concept for Ragweed, as the band has taken a newer approach to songwriting in preparation for an upcoming album due next spring.
According to Canada, who mainly handles songwriting duties for the band, he has been penning more songs on the road and polishing them up while out there than waiting for studio time.
“The songs for the new album have been coming together, and we’ve been writing a lot more this time than other albums out on the road than in the past. I used to wait before until we got off the road and have some time alone with the songs,” Canada said.
Songwriting Sentiments
For what most would consider a meat-and-potatoes, red-state bar band, Ragweed has not been without its fair share of sharply penned songs critical of current affairs.
“When I get home and get caught up on things in the news that I missed when I was out on the road that’s when I get fired up,” Canada said.
Although, Canada said the politically-penned songs have now succumbed to band wagon jumpers who write a crafty song to turn a buck.
“I feel like now everybody’s [singing about politics],” Canada said. “I’ve said my piece on the last couple of songs.”
Referring to songs such as “Brooklyn Kid,” “When Will It End,” “Lawrence” and “In Oklahoma,” Canada does not relent on showing his opinion on war, poverty, oil and politics.
The dusky songwriter puts his blue-collar outlook on these issues and toes the line when it comes to putting his sentiments into music.
A personal encounter led Canada to his outlook critical of the Iraq war.
“I met a guy in San Antonio. He joined the military, got married, shipped off and blown up. I talked to him at the show, just the heartbreak of his story really affected me,” Canada said. “You could see it in his eyes that he was glad to be alive, but it hurt to be alive. Disfigured, maimed at 23 years old it made me think.”
The driving force behind Ragweed’s songs is the anger Canada feels at times when he writes.
“A lot of songs I write out of anger, but they’re not necessarily angry songs,” he said. “I can listen to my songs and remember the spark that made me put time in it.”
Nashville By Way of Texas
Despite being signed to a Nashville record label, Cross Canadian Ragweed enjoy a control over their music that’s unheard of in Music City. For many fans Ragweed’s signing to a Nashville label signaled the beginning of the end as fellow alt-country icons Pat Green and Jack Ingram “sold out” to the big labels.
“One thing is it kind of hurts a little bit because these guys have been bitching about the ‘machine’ for years and now they’re part of that,” Canada said. “The other thing is all the fans that have seen those guys sell out and expect us to do it and we don’t. That just makes us that much cooler.”
Still the band has enjoyed exposure by way of Nashville stars like Dierks Bentley (Canada named his son Dierks in honor of Bentley) and Gary Allan as their fans discover Ragweed either as an opening act or a blatant mention in a song by Bentley.
CROSS CANADIAN RAGWEED
Ragweed is set to take the State Theatre stage after opening act The Band of Heathens at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15. For more information call 324-4900 or visit
statetheatrestarkville.com.