Cody Canada & Cross Canadian Ragweed Tribute Album Coming
A tribute record to the revolutionary Red Dirt rock country outfit Cross Canadian Ragweed and its frontman Cody Canada is on the way, and it includes a litany of cool artists from Texas and Red Dirt who all paid tribute to the band last winter at the long-running Music Fest in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
Called The Years: A MusicFest Tribute to Cody Canada and the Music of Cross Canadian Ragweed, the 17-song album to be released on January 22nd, 2021 includes live recordings from the in-person tribute at the festival on January 7th and 8th, 2020. Cody Canada joined performers such as Billy Joe Shaver, Guy Clark, Robert Earl Keen, and Townes Van Zandt as tribute artists at the fest.
“I never dreamed when I did my first Steamboat tribute that I’d be one someday,” Cody Canada said at the time. “Humbled would be an extreme understatement. I consider myself a very lucky man.”
Randy Rogers, Wade Bowen, Jamie Lin Wilson, William Clark Green, Reckless Kelly, Courtney Patton, Doug Moreland, and Bri Bagwell are just some of the names that appear on the compilation, with Reckless Kelly’s rendition of “Fightin’ For” already available (listen below).
Of course, it’s not as good as a reunification of the real thing (which you shouldn’t expect anytime soon). But with the legacy Cross Canadian Ragweed still enjoys, and the ample amount of fans eager for anything with the band’s name on it, it will be highly anticipated.
Cross Canadian Ragweed formed behind guitarist and singer Cody Canada, and guitarist Grady Cross in 1994. They burned hot until 2010, helping to establish Red Dirt and Texas country as a viable alternative to Nashville. Cody Canada has continued on as a solo artist and with his band The Departed. Canada has hinted he has multiple projects in the offing himself likely to be released in 2021.
The Years is being distributed by Thirty Tigers.
TRACK LIST:
1. “Constantly” – Parker McCollum
2. “Bang My Head” – Copper Chief (featuring Cody Canada)
3. “Don’t Need You” – Read Southall Band
4. “Fightin’ For” – Reckless Kelly
5. “17” – Jamie Lin Wilson (featuring Dierks Canada)
6. “This Time Around” – Randy Rogers
7. “42 Miles” – Casey Donahew
8. “Sick and Tired” – Wade Bowen (featuring Jamie Lin Wilson)
9. “Carney Man” – Mike McClure
10. “Breakdown” – Bruce Robison
11. “Alabama” – Courtney Patton
12. “Johnny’s Song” – William Clark Green
13. “On a Cloud” – Doug Moreland
14. “Run to Me” – Bri Bagwell
15. “Broken” – Stoney LaRue (featuring Cody Canada)
16. “Dead Man” – Jade Marie Patek
17. “The Years” – BJ Barham of American Aquarium
November 19, 2020 @ 12:26 pm
I got notified of this via Spotify earlier this week and look forward to it although not generally a huge fan of these tributes. I like RK’s version of Fightin’ For. But to be fair, I love me some RK! Ever since Cody came to peace with his CCR legacy his live shows have been white hot. Along with Turnpike, a CCR reunion is always on my wish list but realize neither are likely to happen. In some ways, I can live with that as the memories of each band will not be tainted in case a reunion goes sideways.
November 20, 2020 @ 8:46 am
Turnpike reunion is much more likely to happen than Cross Canadian Ragweed in my humble opinion. It could be wishful thinking, but I just wouldn’t group the two possibilities of a reunion in the same category
November 19, 2020 @ 12:58 pm
Really looking forward to this. They also recorded & released the MusicFest tribute to Robert Earl Keen in 2009 and it was absolutely spectacular. If this one’s half as good we’re in for a real treat!
I do wish Boland was doing “17,” though. Especially since he’s the one who came up with the line “you’re always 17 in your hometown.” 😉
(If y’all haven’t read Josh Crutchmer’s book you should. It’s really good.
November 19, 2020 @ 1:06 pm
The Chris Knight version of “Undone” on the REK tribute is spectacular.
November 19, 2020 @ 3:15 pm
I’ve had “17” stuck on constant rotation in my head for much of this year, for no particular reason other than its a great song.
This band were kind of an anomaly, in being an authentic/red dirt band who had a legitimate crossover hit. Lets hope this album gets a new audience or two interested by their music.
November 19, 2020 @ 7:31 pm
Yes it is. You really can’t go wrong with Chris Knight doing, well, anything.
I like a lot of those songs better than the originals, as blasphemous as that may be. I bought it for Cody Canada’s “Shades of Gray.” I think I’d first heard it on Sirius and thought, “HOLY CRAP THIS IS AWESOME.”
The rest of it was just as good.
November 19, 2020 @ 1:38 pm
Absolutely right. Probably the best tribute album I’ve heard. As I understand it they do a live tribute every year at the Steamboat Springs festival. I wonder why they haven’t released other tributes.
November 19, 2020 @ 7:35 pm
That’s the way I’ve understood it as well. I bet those other tributes were really good. May well be too much work to record them all, though
November 19, 2020 @ 4:44 pm
Agreed on the Crutchmer book. Really a great insight into Red Dirt and the history of it.
November 20, 2020 @ 6:47 am
Yes, exactly! So much of it made me think back to when I was first getting into that music, right about the time what they call Texas Music 2.0 was getting off the ground….
November 19, 2020 @ 7:02 pm
them boys from oklahoma rite there comments all wrong
November 20, 2020 @ 7:08 pm
Was just delivered yesterday. I’m really looking forward to it!
November 21, 2020 @ 7:50 am
You’ll like it. It is an absolute must-read for any fan of Red Dirt music.
November 19, 2020 @ 1:04 pm
I never saw the Great Divide at their peak, but caught them on one of their first reunion shows in Stillwater. Maybe they rushed the comeback or it was nerves, but the musicianship was not the best. Luckily most people didn’t care because just seeing them together and reliving the memories was good enough.
Curious how some of these songs may be reinterpreted.
November 19, 2020 @ 2:12 pm
I miss Cross Candian Ragweed…some of my favorite shows.
November 19, 2020 @ 3:34 pm
Let’s get this thing in the top 10. The bigger success this album is the better chance of a reunion. The Eagles got back together for Gods sake. “Hell Freezes Over AGAIN” your anyone?
November 19, 2020 @ 5:59 pm
Boy, with a line up like that my expectations are very high so I hope they get met.
November 19, 2020 @ 6:20 pm
Nice thing about it to me is how genuinely nice Cody is now. So friendly, outgoing. He did himself a disservice when Ragweed broke up by being so angry, but it’s how he felt and he didn’t hide it well. Chased off fans. I hope all those people give him another chance. He plays all the old hits, and some new tunes too. Laughs, witty, smiles in between songs. The live shows are fire again.
November 20, 2020 @ 7:28 am
This looks to be a great tribute album, though I will say, I wish RRB was doing a different song than “This Time Around.” Randy co-wrote it and it has been on two different live albums by them as well as “Roller Coaster.” Love the song and their version of it, but I would love to hear them do something different.
November 21, 2020 @ 7:56 am
I thought about that too. Cory Morrow covered “I’ll Go On Downtown” on the REK Musicfest tribute album and it wasn’t bad, but I liked the cut of it from CM’s first live album better (and not just because I was in the audience when it was recorded).
November 20, 2020 @ 8:15 am
Gosh I had forgotten about CCR but I used to listen to them constantly back in the day. Good to see them properly recognized. Think I’ll go listen to Carney.
November 20, 2020 @ 12:20 pm
Looking forward to this. Not as good a a reunion album, but I’ll take it.
November 29, 2020 @ 2:38 pm
Curious that Boland and the Stragglers aren’t on this. They’ve been alongside Cody from the very beginning.
May 11, 2021 @ 8:00 pm
I wish I could thank Dierks Bentley for name-dropping them. It was the Bentley song, “Free and Easy” that exposed me to Ragweed. Ragweed led me to Ray Wylie Hubbard and, between these two and Pandora, my ears were opened to lots of good stuff.
Based on how I understand their breakup, I wonder why an occasional local show doesn’t happen when they happen to all be home.