CROSS CANADIAN RAGWEED BIOGRAPHY
Cross Canadian Ragweed knows all about the ritual of keepin' on -- and leaving nothing in reserve. The Oklahoma quartet has been pushing it to the metal for 13 years, through four studio albums, an equal number of live sets and 260 or so nights on the road every year. They don't skimp. They don't compromise. They play, and live, with genuine abandon and wouldn’t have it any other way.
"Man, there were never any other options but to stay together and play music," says frontman and songwriter Cody Canada. "We've always wanted to do what we're doing. We never thought we would be Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, but we always wanted to be around for along time."
"We figure if we've been around for 13 years, we'll be around for 30."
The key is that Canada and company -- guitarist Grady Cross, bassist Jeremy Plato and drummer Randy Ragsdale -- keep doing it better each time out. The latest evidence of that is mission california.., the most ambitious and accomplished album CCR has made to date and a triumph by any musical measure. Its 14 tracks -- from roadhouse rockers like "Record Exec," "Smoke Another" and "Deal" to the buoyantly poppy "NYCG" and gentler moments such as "Dead Man," "Soul Agent" and "Lawrence," which features longtime friend LeAnn Womack -- find the group assured and upbeat, even when Canada's lyrics are attacking personal turmoil and music biz tribulations.
"I think it's the most personal album we’ve ever recorded," Canada says. "Lyrically it's more personal. A lot of the songs I write are about what's going on around me and not about myself; this one I had some things happening within my family that made me kind of step back and look at what's going on in my life and write about it."
Canada adds that "time and sobriety" were the keys in making mission california. successful. For starters, CCR chose to again work with fellow Okie Mike McClure formerly of the Great Divide, a longtime compatriot who was newly sober as the band started to work on its new songs in December. "He was with us on our first gig. He knows exactly what we sound like and want to sound like," Canada explains "We'd never been shitfaced in the studio before," Canada notes, "but when (McClure) was drinking we'd drink with him just to cope."
"But this time around he was three months focused and 100 percent sober. That helped a lot. We felt born again on a lot of these songs on the record."
CCR and McCLure hit Strate Studios in Santee, California, near San Diego, in March. They cut the basic tracks in five days, then spent the next 20 polishing them and making adjustments -- a luxury the group never had before.
"We never really had time to do studio stuff 'cause we were always worried about getting back on the road," Canada says. "This time we'd record, sit back and listen and say, 'Nah, that's too digital. Let's yank that and do something different.' It was us sitting back and really listening for once and really harnessing it on a studio record."
CCR has been working towards this point since forming in 1994 in Yukon, Oklahoma, and subsequently developing its craft in the potent Stillwater scene and building an audience with its relentless touring schedule. The band had built a buzz on college radio even before its debut set, Carney, came out in 1998 on its own Underground Sound label. The group's self-titled 2002 set brought it into the Universal Records South family, which also released 2004's Soul Gravy and -- 2005's Garage -- both of which debuted in the Top 10 of Billboard's Top Country Albums chart --and last year's concert souvenir Back To Tulsa: Live And Loud At Cain’s Ballroom.
"The years," Canada says, "have taught us to be patient and you'll find yourself." And, he adds, "it's no small matter that the four members of Ragweed have made that journey together."
"We’ve been friends since we were 10 years old," Canada explains, "so all the penny-ante bullshit, the arguing over stupid things, we got that out of the way a long time ago. We're lucky to have the same group of guys in the band for so long and get along so well."
"Sometimes we overlook it. But when we stand back and look at the whole picture and realize how lucky we are to have grown up together first and then had a band and still be together after all this time. It's a pretty special thing." Cody Canada talks about the songs from mission california. Record Exec (Cody Canada)
"We asked a producer to come in and co-produce with Mike (McClure) because he's got a great rap sheet and has worked with the biggest of the biggest, a lot of people we were influenced by. He was there for two days and didn't do anything and left. He said, 'Man, you guys got it under control. You don't need me.' That made us feel really good. So he went home and said, 'Send me finished product.' So we sent a song called 'This Time Around' and we got it back and they basically took everything out but my vocals and built a song around it. It sucked. I called the producer and said, 'Man, not to be rude, I respect what you do -- but it sucks!' We're the wrong band for you.' He called me back an hour later and said 'I want to thank you for telling me no. No one has told me no in 30 years.' I said, 'Well, when you're wrong, you're wrong,' He said, 'Well, I bet you get a good song out of this,' and I said, 'It's already in the works...' "
Dead Man (Cody Canada)
"I have two sisters and kind of a 'Wizard of Oz' family. I have a good sister of the South, who's an angel, then I have the wicked witch of the North, who is the other sister, and that's who 'Dead Man's' about. She crossed my line and, I hate to say it, but I wrote her off. Without going into too much detail, there's only so much a guy can take."
Deal (Cody Canada and Mike McClure)
"This is a song Mike and I wrote during the Garage sessions. I loved the music, but didn't like the lyrics. I told him I'd like to attack it on the next record. He forgot about the song, but when I played him the riff he was like, 'Oh, yeah, I remember that.' There's really no deep-seeded meaning behind it; it's just one of those shit or get off the pot kind of songs."
Lawrence (Cody Canada)
"We were in Lawrence, Kansas, in December of last year. I was walking down the street and there was a homeless family sitting and singing for tips; the dad had a guitar, the mom had a tambourine and there was this little one-year-old baby sitting in a stroller, really dirty, singing along like it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. I told my wife, 'I really need to write this song. It's getting under my skin.' I felt like I owed it to that kid. Once I got home and let it settle a little bit, I locked myself up in my room and wrote it for him. I named it "Lawrence" 'cause we didn't know the kid's name.
In Oklahoma (Cody Canada and Stoney LaRue)
This is a song me and Stoney LaRue have been wanting to write for a long time. I've never really written about history a lot; I've mostly written about the present. Stoney came up with the riff and we got to talking about the history of Oklahoma, from the Indians, to Woody Guthrie, to the oil boom. It's just a little, short history of Oklahoma. We had a verse we were gonna use for the Oklahoma City bombings, but it seemed too soon."
Cry Lonely (Chris Knight and Gary Nicholson)
"’Cry Lonely’ is a Chris Knight song. I was on my way to a bus call in Texas, about 30 minutes late, and I heard it on the local Americana station and couldn't get enough of it. I heard it once and turned around and went to a local music store, brought it to the bus and told the boys, 'I think we've got to do this song,' not only 'cause it's Chris Knight, but it's also a very well-written cry wolf song. I wish I'd written it."
Smoke Another (Cody Canada and Mike McClure)
"This song evolved from a joke. We still party on the road like we're 18 years old, and one night I walked up to the microphone and in my raspy, smoky, whiskey voice said 'Smoke another cigarette, get some more booze, check, check, one, two...' Everybody laughed about it. I told McClure, and he said, 'Man, we can really write around that,' so we went for it and wrote it in about 10 minutes."
Soul Agent (Scott Evans)
"This song is written by Scott Evans out of Stillwater, Oklahoma. This is the first time Jeremy, our bass player, has sung lead on a record. After every gig we stay up 'til the sun comes up, playing guitar, and I always ask Jeremy to play that song 'cause I want to go to sleep with it in my head. He's a phenomenal singer and it's a phenomenal song; it almost made it onto Soul Gravy but there was some legal aspect we couldn't get past. This record, Jeremy said, 'Man, can I have this song?' I told him, 'I would love for you to, and the hell with the legal stuff -- let's just do it!'"
Walls To Climb (Cody Canada)
"We had a night off and it was icy and snowy, real crappy weather. I rented a hotel room by myself to see if I could write a song. The first half of it is what was going on around me -- everybody went to the bar but I didn't want to 'cause I was partied out. Then I started thinking about something that happened a few nights before with this kid in Colorado who wanted my help in the music business and the next day stabbed me in the back and slandered my name everywhere. There's a lot of different parts to that song."
The Years (Cody Canada)
"The first song I ever wrote that actually made me feel like I'm getting older. 100% of this song is true -- my mom and her dirtbag Mexican boyfriend, the part of Texas that was a sanctuary for all of us kids, working in the oil fields, coming back to Oklahoma and making my way to Stillwater, where the music was hot...It’s an autobiography, probably the most personal song I've ever written."
Jenny (Cody Canada and Mike Shannon)
"'Jenny' was probably the third song I ever wrote. It didn't have anything to do with anybody; I'm just driving around Stillwater, probably around 17 years old. I'd just met Mike McClure and all of our songwriting buddies. Everyone was writing killer songs and I felt like I needed to step up a little bit. We recorded it on the Carney record, which was a really good record, but the production was really poor. We swore everything we liked on that record would be on our new record. 'Jenny' was one a lot of fans asked us to re-record. There'll be another one on the next record."
I Believe You (Todd Snider)
"It’s just an old Todd Snider song we’ve been playing since ‘96. He was a big influence on us. We felt like we needed to record it since we’ve been playing it for so long.
NYCG (Cody Canada, Mike McClure, Anthony Aquino)
"This was the last song we wrote for the album. McClure said, 'Hey, I got this song I started writing awhile back about a hooker in New York City -- and of course he had our 100%, undivided attention. He sang me the chorus, and I said, 'Man, I'm all about it, let's finish it.' The whole attitude of the record was kind of a Tom Petty feel, like the Traveling Wilburys or something. We have folk songs and hard-core rock songs, and now we have a pop song."
Right Path (Cody Canada)
"I'd been in a pretty dark place for about a year -- dealing with some stuff with my sister, my wife and I had had better years...I just felt like things were crumbling around me. One day I slapped myself out of it and said, 'You know what, you're getting to a point where you're letting the bad shit get you down.' I was starting to drink more, starting to not care about what was going on. I had a reality check and locked myself in the back of the bus and told everybody 'don't bother me 'til I come out.' It's another personal song about self pity, pissing and moaning about how bad it's been and then all of a sudden saying, 'I think I'm OK. Stop bitching and get on with it, man...'"
