Biography
Jason Boland stands among the foremost figures in the Red Dirt movement, a self-sustaining circuit that fuses honky tonk, outlaw, and contemporary country through relentless road work. That sound traces its roots to Texas and Oklahoma, the latter the birthplace of Boland and his longtime band the Stragglers, who later relocated to Texas in pursuit of wider success. While press and listeners often slot them squarely inside the Red Dirt category, the musicians have maintained since their earliest days that they operate as a straight honky tonk unit steeped in country & western lineage.
The group’s 1999 debut Pearl Snaps earned steady regional spins on college and public radio outlets. Their signature blend of pedal steel and fiddle, paired with high-energy performances, quickly drew capacity crowds even in support slots, propelling them to headliner status. Amid nearly constant touring they still completed two additional studio sets, Truck Stop Diaries and 2004’s Somewhere in the Middle, the latter moving enough regional copies to register on the country charts. Boland & the Stragglers then joined songwriter Bruce Robison’s Sustain Records, which released The Bourbon Legend in 2006, produced by Pete Anderson of Dwight Yoakam renown; the album climbed further up the country rankings.
Their reputation as a live act soon extended past the original Red Dirt circuit into the broader American West and onto the East Coast. The 2008 album Comal County Blue, their first for Thirty Tigers, marked a national breakthrough and reached number 30 on the country charts while also becoming their initial entry on the indie charts. Shortly before its release Boland suffered a vocal-cord rupture onstage, necessitating surgery, rehabilitation, and an extended period away from performing. Once healed, the band captured High in the Rockies across four consecutive Colorado concerts in January 2010 and issued the recording that April. Their next studio effort, 2011’s Rancho Alto, was co-produced by the group alongside Shooter Jennings and outperformed every prior release on the charts.
By then Jason Boland & the Stragglers had become fixtures at festivals throughout the United States and Europe. Their 2011 release Dark & Dirty Mile, also co-produced with Jennings, found them moving substantial numbers of records overseas; the set further distinguished itself by featuring two songs from foundational Red Dirt songwriters—Oklahoma’s Bob Childers on “Blue Diamonds” and Texas’ Randy Crouch on “They Took It Away”—and registered as the band’s strongest showing to date across multiple charts.
When the group announced Squelch in August 2015, they had already surpassed one million records sold worldwide, a notable tally achieved through an independent approach that bypassed conventional industry channels. Co-produced with Jim Ward, the album represented the band’s tenth release and debuted at number 11 on Billboard’s Country Albums chart following its October street date. Hard Times Are Relative arrived in 2018.
The group’s 1999 debut Pearl Snaps earned steady regional spins on college and public radio outlets. Their signature blend of pedal steel and fiddle, paired with high-energy performances, quickly drew capacity crowds even in support slots, propelling them to headliner status. Amid nearly constant touring they still completed two additional studio sets, Truck Stop Diaries and 2004’s Somewhere in the Middle, the latter moving enough regional copies to register on the country charts. Boland & the Stragglers then joined songwriter Bruce Robison’s Sustain Records, which released The Bourbon Legend in 2006, produced by Pete Anderson of Dwight Yoakam renown; the album climbed further up the country rankings.
Their reputation as a live act soon extended past the original Red Dirt circuit into the broader American West and onto the East Coast. The 2008 album Comal County Blue, their first for Thirty Tigers, marked a national breakthrough and reached number 30 on the country charts while also becoming their initial entry on the indie charts. Shortly before its release Boland suffered a vocal-cord rupture onstage, necessitating surgery, rehabilitation, and an extended period away from performing. Once healed, the band captured High in the Rockies across four consecutive Colorado concerts in January 2010 and issued the recording that April. Their next studio effort, 2011’s Rancho Alto, was co-produced by the group alongside Shooter Jennings and outperformed every prior release on the charts.
By then Jason Boland & the Stragglers had become fixtures at festivals throughout the United States and Europe. Their 2011 release Dark & Dirty Mile, also co-produced with Jennings, found them moving substantial numbers of records overseas; the set further distinguished itself by featuring two songs from foundational Red Dirt songwriters—Oklahoma’s Bob Childers on “Blue Diamonds” and Texas’ Randy Crouch on “They Took It Away”—and registered as the band’s strongest showing to date across multiple charts.
When the group announced Squelch in August 2015, they had already surpassed one million records sold worldwide, a notable tally achieved through an independent approach that bypassed conventional industry channels. Co-produced with Jim Ward, the album represented the band’s tenth release and debuted at number 11 on Billboard’s Country Albums chart following its October street date. Hard Times Are Relative arrived in 2018.
Albums
