Few bands or musical acts have some long personal history behind them, and Cross Canadian Ragweed is part of that small number. All four band members have known each other since childhood, and music is one of their common denominators. So far, it's been a fairly successful formula if the group's legion of fans across the nation is anything to go by.

Cross Canadian Ragweed: Stars of Red Dirt

"It seems like every record we make, there's always a theme but it's never really on purpose. It just kind of happens."

Few bands or musical acts have some long personal history behind them, and Cross Canadian Ragweed is part of that small number. All four band members have known each other since childhood, and music is one of their common denominators. So far, it's been a fairly successful formula if the group's legion of fans across the nation is anything to go by.

Cross Canadian Ragweed: Childhood Buds

When guitarist and vocalist Cody Canada says that the band members have "known each other forever," he's not exaggerating. Guitarist Grady Cross, bassist Jeremy Plato, drummer Randy Ragsdale and he all grew up together in Yukon, Oklahoma. The city of less than 30,000 proved conducive for four guys who wanted to start their own band.

After coming together and officially making themselves a band in 1994, the fledgling Cross Canadian Ragweed pulled up its roots and moved to Stillwater, a college town famous as a launching pad for many up and coming music acts in Oklahoma. After much air time on college radio stations, they released Carney in 1998 with independent label Underground Sound. This was followed up by three indie releases: 1999's Live and Loud at the Wormy Dog Saloon and 2001's Highway 377 and 2002's Live at Billy Bob's Texas.

Cross Canadian Ragweed: Up and Coming

The mainstream finally caught up with the band in 2002, when Tony Brown signed the boys on to Universal Records South. Their self-titled major label debut was released in September 2002. The follow-up, 2004's Soul Gravy, did even better, landing at #4 on the country charts of Billboard. This was then followed by the CD/DVD combo of Back to Tulsa: Live and Loud at Cain's Ballroom in 2006.

Mission California, studio album #6, came out in October 2007 and took just 25 days to record in San Diego, California. Happiness and All the Other Things, featuring 3 live tracks on top of 12 studio recordings, is the band's latest album, released August 2009.

Did You Know That...

• ...their major label debut has a nickname? Cross Canadian Ragweed is also known as 'the purple album' because of the cover color, dedicated to Randy Ragsdale's younger sister, who was killed in 2001.
• ...their songs seem to be conducive to baseball? Ryan Doumit, catcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Adam Boeve of the Indianapolis Indians each have a song from the band as their intro music.
• ...they have a playable song on Rock Band? Cry Lonely can be found on the Rock Band Country Track Pack add-on.

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