Cody Canada & The Departed Are Gearing Up To Release A Reboot Of Cross Canadian Ragweed’s 2004 Album, ‘Soul Gravy’

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When it comes to the Red Dirt music scene, Cross Canadian Ragweed were the kings in the early 2000s, quickly garnering a rabid, cult-like following that spread like a wildfire across the states of Oklahoma and Texas, and beyond.

And when you look at some of the guys now crushing the country rock scene down in Texas, guys like Koe Wetzel, Kody West, Dylan Wheeler, Read Southall & more, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone that wouldn’t call Ragweed a major influence in their music.

Although they have a number of stellar hits across their 10 studio albums, perhaps their 2004 Soul Gravy record was arguably their most beloved work during their stretch.

The album saw widespread success, topping the Billboard Top Country Albums Chart at number five, and featuring smash hits like “Sick and Tired” and “Alabama,” both which charted on the Hot Country Charts.

With that being said, the group’s former front man Cody Canada and his band The Departed are putting together a reboot of Soul Gravy that’s slated to drop on July 1st.

The purpose of the reboot is to record the album the way Canada originally wanted to, which wasn’t a possibility back in the day due to their strenuous tour schedule.

Canada himself also weighed in on why he felt the need to give Soul Gravy new life:

“I never was satisfied with the recording of ‘Soul Gravy.’ The songs are still my favorite collection of songs, but the way we recorded it was with digital amps, I wanted to do it with tube amps and we just didn’t have time because we were so busy.

That was a busy year so we recorded fast. No amps. All pod. I didn’t like that idea and got out-voted. This time I did it the way I wanted. I can finally own recordings of these songs again and have them on vinyl.”

Like the original project, Lee Ann Womack will collab once again for “Sick and Tired.” Randy Rogers, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and Kaitlin Butts, who Canada recorded an off-track called “Shut Up and Sing” with, will all be featured on the album as well:

“Randy Rogers and I wrote ‘Again,’ so he’s on it. One of our students from the School of Rock in New Braunfels sings on it, Ray Wiley Hubbard sings on it, and I got another guy that’s been jammin’ with me named Ryan Snipes, he’s all over this thing.

I really wanted to showcase the people that helped me write the tunes. I never really sang a song with Randy that was on one of our own records.”

Buckle up, this is gonna be a good one.

And as always, WE DO NOT SKIP RAGWEED IN THIS CAR:

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