Cody Canada and Cross Canadian Ragweed are all the way BACK.
Ahead of their sold-out reunion shows in Oklahoma and Texas, the Cross Canadian Ragweed frontman stopped by the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast to talk about what led them to the reunion and how that all came to be, being a huge part of the rise of the Red Dirt scene, his career in music after Ragweed ended, raising kids who have the music bug and much more.
It was a wonderful conversation with a man who is quite literally a Red Dirt legend. He’s too humble to say it himself (that was mentioned in the podcast), but Cody Canada truly played a role in popularizing and spreading the sub-genre of Red Dirt all throughout the country music world and beyond.
While not the first on the scene, one could argue that Cross Canadian Ragweed – the band that Cody acts as the frontman for – helped pioneer the Red Dirt movement more than anyone or anything else. We’re talking about a band who inspired the likes of Turnpike Troubadours, Wyatt Flores, Southall and more in the Red Dirt world, as well as artists like Koe Wetzel, Kolby Cooper, Dylan Wheeler, and many other Texas country rock acts. The list is much, much longer… that’s why it felt like such a loss when the group disbanded back in 2010. That being said, country music fans rejoiced when – after over a decade of no signs of CCR getting back together – the band announced their reunion in September of 2024.
With that announcement came the news of a number of reunion shows that have completely sold out in Oklahoma and Texas. Their initial reunion shows were announced to be played in Oklahoma State’s Boone Pickens Stadium, which has a capacity over 53,000. The demand was so feverishly high, they had to add three additional nights of shows (and another encore concert in Texas).
And to add to that excitement, it seems as though we’re even getting some new music from Cody Canada and the Departed.
During our time with the legendary Red Dirt artist for the podcast, he graciously performed two songs. One was a Cross Canadian Ragweed classic – “Dime Bag” – and the other was a song that hasn’t seen the light of day… until now. Canada played a song called “Paper Moon” for us, and we’re now sharing that with the rest of the world that’s been chomping at the bit for anything new from Canada.
It’s a wonderfully paced track that’s sure to become a fan favorite. And the lyrics have that depth and flow that perfectly matches up with the catalogues of Cody Canada and the Departed and Cross Canadian Ragweed have always been known for:
“Communication breakdown
Will be the end of us, yet
Being alone in this place, without seeing your face
Scares me to death.
And the night is falling heavy as a stone
It’s bringing me further down that I’ve never known
And when the morning comes and the light fills up our room
It’s all behind us just like a Paper Moon.”
I don’t know about you, but I simply can’t get over how nice it is to have Cody Canada and Cross Canadian Ragweed back in our lives. How lucky are we that the Boys from Oklahoma were able to set aside their differences and get the band back together? New music from Cody Canada is just icing on the cake.
You can get an exclusive first look at the unreleased song below:
“Paper Moon”
