Cross Canadian Ragweed

Cross Canadian Ragweed:

No Nonsense Country-Rock

Cross Canadian Ragweed: Highway 377

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Track List

1.	Look at Me Canada/Ragsdale 3:59
2.	42 Miles Canada 3:13
3.	One of These Days Canada/P/R 4:02
4.	Back Around Canada/Roberson 5:07
5.	Bang My Head Canada 5:19
6.	Jimmy and Annie Canada/Larue 3:05
7.	Highway 377 Canada 4:46
8.	Time to Move On Evans 3:48
9.	Long Way Home Canada 3:56
10.	Run to Me Canada/Canada 4:30
11.	Alabama Canada/Roberson 3:38
12.	Johnny's Song Canada/Canada 7:35

Country-rock. Hick rock. Y'alternative. Even red dirt. Whatever it's called, the music that Cross Canadian Ragweed produces is good. It's solid music that comes from the hearts and souls of four guys - Cody Canada, Grady Cross, Randy Ragsdale, and Jeremy Plato - and flows out with an earnest sincerity that is so rare in country music today.

For seven years, CCR has been playing the bar scene in central Oklahoma, mostly in the Stillwater area, as well as opening for the likes of Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Robert Earl Keen, David Allen Coe, Chris LeDoux, and others. They have two other discs to their credit, "Carney" and "Live and Loud at The Wormy Dog Saloon." "Highway 377" is their third release, and it is largely an autobiographical trip of self-searching for Cody Canada, lead singer and guitarist. Canada writes the bulk of the songs presented on "Highway 377." Notable amongst them is the title track, which speaks of an accident on Oklahoma 377 in August of 1999, when Canada and two friends lost control of their truck and shot off the highway to land 60 feet below, miraculously alive to tell the tale.

It's difficult to categorize CCR. Their music is extremely drum-driven;
but their lyrics are rich and poignant, deeply religious on one hand;
darkly cynical on the other. About the best place to put them is "just
good music."

From the tough opening lines of "Look at Me": "I've got a one hundred
dollar bill/It's all shiny, crisp, and clean/And it's burning a hole in the
pocket of my jeans/I think I'll spend it on some pills/Instead of gasoline" to the final, sweet and gentle tune "Daddy's at Home" (from the pen of drummer Ragsdale), CCR doesn't let up on either the hard-driving tunes nor the intensity of their lyrics.

I can't wholeheartedly recommend this album to just everyone. It requires a certain desire, a certain tilt of mind. It may not appeal to everyone looking for solid country music - it may bother a strict traditionalist, it may not please the southern rockers or the rebel outlaws. But if you like a good line, a sound hook, excellent musicians, and fine lyrics to a hard-driving Western beat, then you will like Cross Canadian Ragweed. And if you're in the other camp, don't be afraid to give them a try. You might like what you hear.

Kathy Coleman Take Country Back March 2002

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