Buena Vista - Red Dirt Rangers - Live at The Lariat
Red Dirt Rangers - Live at The Lariat
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The Red Dirt Rangers have been carrying the banner and “spreading the gospel” of Red Dirt music since 1988 taking it from Stillwater to cities and towns from coast to coast and border to border as well as European tours and cities around the globe. It all began in a two-story, five- bedroom, funky old place called THE Farm. Ben Han, John Cooper, and Brad Piccolo became an integral part of the Farm’s musical brotherhood, trading songs and licks with the likes of the late and legendary Jimmy LaFave, Tom Skinner, and Bob Childers and today still, with Red Dirt icon and bandmate Randy Crouch. As Rangers mandolinist-vocalist Cooper has noted, “The Farm was as much an attitude as a physical structure. It allowed a setting where freedom rang and all things were possible. Out of this setting came the music.” The Red Dirt Rangers continue to carry the torch for Red Dirt music: that funky mix of Americana meets Rock and Roll meets Woody Guthrie and Bob Wills. Thomas Conner of the Tulsa World says, “The Rangers always have epitomized and expanded on the Oklahoma red dirt sound – the elusive stew of country, folk and whatever else is laying around…” The Rangers are returning to the studio in June of 2023 to work on a new album and are continuing to play shows and festivals around the state of Oklahoma, regionally and nationally. You can catch them at their upcoming weekly residency at Mercury Lounge in Tulsa, Oklahoma as well as festivals and events throughout Green Country this year. Now celebrating their 35th year, the Red Dirt Rangers are one of the hottest live bands around still playing more than 100 dates a year around the country and with some of the finest musicians from around the world sitting in. It all began in a two-story, five- bedroom, funky old place called The Farm. Although the farmhouse burned down in 2003, it’s place in music history is defined. “Bands and artists would keep on coming in, every weekend, and whoever was playing music at the time, we’d just chime in,” recalls Ranger lead guitarist- vocalist Ben Han, whose journey to the Farm began in far-away Borneo. “Living-room jams became jams for beers, and then it was, ‘Hey, we’ve got something going on.’ We just proceeded with what we already had, called a couple of friends, and the next thing you know, we’re pickin’ and grinning.” Later, acts such as Mike McClure, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Jason Boland and the Stragglers, Cody Canada, Monica Taylor, Stoney LaRue, Brandon Jenkins and more learned their craft jamming with the Rangers, Skinner, Childers and whomever happened to be staying out at the Farm that night. The Farm just made everybody better and that is reflected in the hundreds of hours of music that has evolved from the Red Dirt scene.
That casual approach to becoming a band is the very antithesis of the ambition- driven grab for the stars that makes shows like The Voice possible. But the Rangers’ laid-back, road-less-traveled style splendidly evokes the musicians who honed their chops in the living room, front porch, garage (aka “The Gypsy Café”) and campfire-dotted acreage of the Farm, where the sheer joy of creating music with friends transcended everything else.
In the summer of 2004, the three Rangers all went down in a near-fatal helicopter crash, suffering broken bones and debilitating injuries that affected their lives and their perspectives on life. Their 2006 album, Ranger Motel, was their way back to life and a thank you kiss to all the friends and fans who supported their recovery. Guitarist-vocalist Piccolo believes the helicopter crash helped the band return to its Stillwater roots.
“A lot of times, you’re just kind of rambling along, and it takes an epiphany like that, a defining moment, to let you know what your purpose is,” he explains. “Now, I just want to make good music and send a good feeling out there to people.”
In 2012, the band helped found the Red Dirt Relief Fund, Inc. to help serve music people in times of need. In its first decade, the 501(c)3 non- profit organization has provided more than $640,000 to 800+ music people in 39 Oklahoma counties. Recipients' situations have ranged from loss of property due to wildfire and tornado to loss of work after accidents or medical emergencies, such as the COVID crisis when RDRF was able to disburse funds to hundreds of Oklahoma music people in need during the expansive loss of work. To raise money for the fund, the band helps host two concert events annually featuring the best songwriters in Oklahoma at the Bob Childers’ Gypsy Café in Stillwater and Tom Skinner’s Skyline Music Festival in Tulsa.
The Rangers were inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 2017, joining Childers, LaFave, Skinner and Crouch as representatives of the Hall for Red Dirt Music.
In the fall of 2018, the band released its 10th recording, “Blue Door Nights,” recorded live at the Blue Door in Oklahoma City over two beautiful nights in 2015. The double-album celebrated those days at the Farm while remembering those who have gone before along with the help of young singer- songwriter John Fullbright.
Facing the lockdowns and evaporation of the music scene due to COVID lockdowns in spring of 2020, the Rangers had to get creative. Outdoor concerts and online streaming shows bridged the gap for a time, and the Rangers were grateful to come through that time with their fanbase still intact and with an appetite for live shows. Their first BIG show back to the scene was the Mile 0 Fest in Key West, FL in April of 2021. The Rangers are an originating group for this annual festival, helped book the very first festival, and it seemed fitting for this show to be the originating, post-COVID event. The last two years have seen a return to a packed live show schedule across the state and region.
As their song says, “Kick back and enjoy the ride”...and most of all, keep on spreadin’ the dirt!
