Cross Canadian Ragweed

Cross Canadian Ragweed is an American Red Dirt quartet. The name of the band came from the combination of three band members' names, Grady Cross (guitar), Cody Canada (guitar, vocals), and Randy Ragsdale (drums). Jeremy Plato's (bass) name was not involved in the band naming. Despite rumors of preceding bassist contributing to the band name, Jeremy Plato was a founding member of the band, according to Cody Canada.

History

After forming in Yukon, Oklahoma, they moved to the college town of Stillwater, Oklahoma, where acts like Mike McClure's The Great Divide and singer-songwriter Jimmy LaFave had established enough of a local scene to earn Stillwater the nickname North Austin.

The group had already received significant college radio airplay before it released its first album, Carney in 1998. They soon released Live and Loud at the Wormy Dog Saloon in 1999 and Highway 377 in 2001, all on their own independent label Underground Sound.

With the release of a self-titled album also known as "the purple album" due to its cover color, which is a tribute to the band's "little sister" . who had recently died in an auto accident.

Their 2004 offering Soul Gravy debuted at #4 on the Billboard Country charts. In October 2005, the band released their album Garage, which featured the single "Fightin' For." The single became their first top 40 hit on the country charts, debuting at an impressive #45 and reaching #39. The band released a double live CD and DVD on October 31, 2006, Back to Tulsa - Live and Loud at Cain's Ballroom. Cross Canadian Ragweed recorded Mission California, their sixth studio album, at the end of March 2007. They spent 25 days in the studio; the first 5 cutting 15 tracks, the next 20 polishing each. It was recorded in San Diego, California. Lee Ann Womack laid down background vocals on 4 of the tracks to include the Chris Knight cover "Cry Lonely." Mission California was released on October 2, 2007. Ragweed's tenth album, Happiness and All the Other Things was released on August 31, 2009, commemorating the band's 15th Anniversary. It includes 12 new studio tracks and 3 live tracks. Recorded in California, this album includes a track entitled "Blue Bonnets" which is dedicated to Cody's oldest son Dierks. Happiness and All the Other Things was officially dedicated to the late Randall "Poodie" Locke (Willie Nelson's long-time stage manager) who died on May 6th, 2009.

Notable appearances

The band frequently plays with country music star Dierks Bentley and other stars of the Red Dirt scene including Stoney Larue, Micky & The Motorcars, Reckless Kelly, (Canada's brother-in-law) Wade Bowen, No Justice, Johnny Cooper and Brandon Rhyder. Bentley referenced the band in his song "Free and Easy (Down the Road I Go)", singing that "Ragweed's rockin' on the radio".

Minor League baseball player Adam Boeve uses "Anywhere But Here" as his intro music. Pittsburgh Pirates catcher, Ryan Doumit, comes to bat to their song "Alabama".

"Cry Lonely" is a playable track in Rock Band Country Track Pack.

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Original Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross Canadian Ragweed