Biography
Texas Hippie Coalition fuses punk, grunge, and melodic hard rock into a Southern-inflected metal style that recalls Molly Hatchet and Charlie Daniels while pursuing the same raw spirit Lynyrd Skynyrd once embodied alongside Pantera. After building momentum on Billboard’s heatseekers chart, the group reached the Top 200 for the first time with the 2014 album Ride On. The band kept sharpening its Texas outlaw-metal approach on the later releases High in the Saddle in 2019 and The Name Lives On in 2023.
The group’s self-coined “red dirt metal” grew directly out of regular performances in Chickasha and Denison, Texas, towns situated close to the Oklahoma border in Red River Valley country. Formed in 2008, Texas Hippie Coalition features Big Dad Ritch, John Exall, Wes Wallace, Timmy Braun, and Randy Cooper. Its independently issued debut Pride of Texas came out that same year; shortly afterward the band secured a deal with Dallas-based Carved Records. The Dave Prater-produced Rollin’ followed in 2010, then Peacemaker arrived in 2012 and climbed to number 20 on Billboard’s Hard Rock Albums chart. Bob Marlette and Skidd Mills helped intensify the already rough-edged sound on Ride On, the band’s first project to enter the Billboard Top 200. The red-dirt metal momentum persisted through the fifth album, 2016’s Dark Side of Black, and carried forward into the bold High in the Saddle in 2019. Early 2023 brought the single “Hell Hounds,” the opening track from the seventh album The Name Lives On, which appeared that April.
The group’s self-coined “red dirt metal” grew directly out of regular performances in Chickasha and Denison, Texas, towns situated close to the Oklahoma border in Red River Valley country. Formed in 2008, Texas Hippie Coalition features Big Dad Ritch, John Exall, Wes Wallace, Timmy Braun, and Randy Cooper. Its independently issued debut Pride of Texas came out that same year; shortly afterward the band secured a deal with Dallas-based Carved Records. The Dave Prater-produced Rollin’ followed in 2010, then Peacemaker arrived in 2012 and climbed to number 20 on Billboard’s Hard Rock Albums chart. Bob Marlette and Skidd Mills helped intensify the already rough-edged sound on Ride On, the band’s first project to enter the Billboard Top 200. The red-dirt metal momentum persisted through the fifth album, 2016’s Dark Side of Black, and carried forward into the bold High in the Saddle in 2019. Early 2023 brought the single “Hell Hounds,” the opening track from the seventh album The Name Lives On, which appeared that April.
Albums
Gunsmoke
2024
The Name Lives On
2023
High In The Saddle
2019
Dark Side Of Black
2016
Ride On
2014
Peacemaker
2012
Rollin'
2010
Pride of Texas
2008
Singles
