Cross Canadian Ragweed

In 1994 the quartet Cross Canadian Ragweed assembled in Stillwater, Oklahoma, taking its name from the members themselves: lead guitarist and frontman Cody Canada, drummer Randy Ragsdale, rhythm guitarist Grady Cross, and bassist Jeremy Plato. From the outset the musicians maintained a demanding schedule of shows across the Texas and Oklahoma region, building a devoted regional following before they eventually reached wider audiences through a string of nationally distributed, rabble-rousing alt-country albums. Although performances began immediately, their first studio recording, Highway 377, did not appear until 2001 on Underground Sound. Two further projects for the same label arrived that year and the next: the concert album Live and Loud at the Wormy Dog and the studio set Carney. A move to Smith Music Group yielded another live document, Live and Loud at Billy Bob's Texas, also issued in 2002. The band joined Universal South in 2004 and delivered Soul Gravy, then followed with Garage during October 2005. In 2006 they issued the double live CD/DVD package Back to Tulsa: Live and Loud at Cain's Ballroom, and their sixth studio album, Mission California, surfaced the following year. Happiness and All the Other Things, dedicated to Willie Nelson's late stage manager Randall "Poodie" Locke, reached stores in 2009.