Red Dirt Rangers

Dirty Linen

This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #128 (February/March 2007).
The full article is in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.

Red Dirt Rangers

Back to the Roots

by Annette C. Eshleman

Red dirt as a musical genre grew out of the Stillwater, Oklahoma, music scene and has been rising in popularity since the early 1980s. The genre gets its name from the soil in the region, which contains large amounts of iron oxide. Although red dirt music has spread beyond its spiritual home of Oklahoma and Texas, Stillwater remains its focal point.

Combined in its early days with a hippie lifestyle and outlaw attitude, red dirt music has developed into a genre that is not easy to define. Understanding it, however, comes naturally upon hearing Bob Childers or Jimmy LaFave or any number of other red dirt artists perform. It is straightforward, unpretentious music, delivered from the heart. Among the many musical elements comprising red dirt are outlaw country (Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard), the psychedelic rock of the 1960s and 70s (Grateful Dead, the Byrds), and the folk traditions of songwriters like Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie.

It is from this evolving tradition that the Red Dirt Rangers draws not only its name but its musical attitude. Brad Piccolo and John Cooper first played music together for a college talent show during the early 1980s. Their only goal at the time was to have fun and to express themselves. "We hardly even knew how to play our instruments when we started," Piccolo admitted with a laugh. They continued to play together informally for the next several years.

The third member of the group, Ben Han, is originally from the island of Borneo. He learned to play guitar at the age of 13, and in his later teens he performed cabaret, disco, and punk rock. Han married a Peace Corp volunteer and moved to the United States in 1982, and he soon met Piccolo and Cooper. The trio discovered a mutual chemistry and began to jam regularly.

[cover #128]