Red Dirt Rangers record live album at The Blue Door

November 2015

Tonya Little

Oklahoma City- After being together for 28 years the Red Dirt Rangers have decided to record their first live album together. They recorded it over three sessions at the Blue Door, two of which were live shows in front of an audience on October 29th and 30th. The show on the 29th was an acoustic set, and the 30th was a full band, and both were sold out. They had special guest John Fullbright play with them both nights as well. “We’ve always talked about making a live record, and now’s the time. And it has to be here, it’s our favorite venue,” said Brad Piccolo. “We started here. It’s very gratifying to come here and it be sold out. We were one of the first bands to play here, and we’ve played here more than any other band, it’s nice to come full circle,” added John Cooper. “From what I’ve been told we hold the record for the highest attendance show here as well as the lowest, we played a show with zero paying tickets,” chimed in Piccolo. “Well that’s a tie with others for the lowest too, we aren’t the only ones who have played an empty show here,” interjected Cooper.

Over the three recording sessions for this album the Rangers actually recorded about thirty songs, so there is a possibility for more than one CD. The band is hoping to have the new album out by spring or summer of next year.

I was able to attend the acoustic night, which was a lot of fun. The guys played many of their older songs, and the crowd was very receptive and interactive. The Rangers dedicated that night of music to Bob Childers and Tom Skinner, and proceeded to put on one heck of a show. Fullbright even piped in that the Rangers were the very first guys behind guitars that were nice to him, and that they invited him to play with them when Fullbright was very young and new onto the scene. I enjoyed hearing the different stories the Rangers told that evening about their songs and shows. “We started the band before we knew how to play our instruments,” laughed Piccolo from on stage. “It’s called on the job training,” chimed in Cooper.

 I happened to sit next to a couple who flew in from Bend, Oregon that day and were catching the show on a whim. Phil and Dory Hetz were in town for the weekend to celebrate the 100th birthday of Dory’s grandmother. I asked them if they had ever seen the Rangers and they said no, “I just queried it last week, I typed in ‘live music Thursday night’ and this popped up and I bought our tickets right away,” explained Dory. “I already love this venue. We’re looking forward to getting a little red dirt on us,” said Phil before the show started. They thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the Red Dirt Rangers gained a new set of fans that evening.

The Rangers have been keeping busy, they just wrapped up festival season and have had an active playing schedule. “Music is going on really good down here in Oklahoma right now, it’s really a good time for music here,” said Cooper. ”In a way it is a family thing, a whole community,” said Ben Han, referring to the Oklahoma music scene. “We’re also blessed here to have good public radio, NPR and KOSU, with great programming for Oklahoma music,” added Piccolo. They might be a little biased since they have their own radio program on KOSU called Red Dirt Radio Hour on Sunday nights at 9pm, but I wholeheartedly agree with them that KOSU is a great source of Oklahoma music for our state.

If you missed these two great nights of music with the Rangers at the Blue Door, they will be back on December 20th for their 23rd Annual Kids Christmas show. Tickets are $5 and available online at www.bluedoorokc.com. You’ll also be able to hear the Live at the Blue Door album once they get it finished and released. Keep your eyes out for it.