Following two well-received albums on their own label, the Rangers return with their best album yet, full of unpretentious rockin' country that owes nothing to Nashville or any alt country scene, for that matter. While this will be the first time for many listeners outside the Southwest to hear the band, Rangers' Command is really just a continuation of what the band has been doing for years. Opening with the melodic "Cold December Wind" all the way through to the closing "The Day The Mandolin Died" this is a record that will appeal to folk, rock and country fans alike and anyone who prefers a more organic sound amid the homogenized sound that populates country radio today. Other songs such as "Rainbow Rocker," the spirited and funky homage to old hippies everywhere, combine with country swing ("Hey Whattaya Mean"), down-home populism ("Nickels & Dimes" and "Steel Rail Blues"), great story songs ("Arizona State Line") and philosophical homilies ("Neighbors" and "Times Have Changed") to make up a sound that is refreshing and positive.
With this new album, the Red Dirt Rangers have positioned themselves at the forefront of today's more roots oriented folk and country scene without even trying to be anything other than what they have been for over ten years. Trends come and trends go, but the Rangers simply play for the love of the music. It shows on every cut here, and with help from friends Stuart Cochran, Alvin Crow, Dale Watson, Jason Roberts and Cindy Cashdollar they have made one of the best records you will ever hear. So, grab your favorite beverage, sit outside under the stars and listen to Rangers' Command; you will feel a whole lot better if you do.
To learn more about the Red Dirt Rangers' first release, "Oklahoma Territory" click here Check out the Red Dirt Rangers' site here
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Copyright ©1999-2000 Lazy S.O.B. Recordings |
"Best
Oklahoma Sound 1999" -- Tulsa World Awards
Austin, TX -- For over a decade, the Red Dirt
Rangers have been one of the most popular roots music bands in Oklahoma
combining great original songs with spirited covers of everyone from
Prince to Bob Dylan to Woody Guthrie. In fact, the title of their new
disc from Austin's Lazy S.O.B. Recordings comes from a great old Guthrie
cowboy song "Rangers' Command," that the boys reworked
as a rock & roll rave up. Since they first started singing this
song at a "Tribute To Woody Guthrie" concert in Austin six
years ago, it has become almost a theme song for the band, and now with
this new recording, it sounds better than ever. It's only one of many
great songs that make this one of the most anticipated Americana albums
of the year. 
whatever (just listen to "Cadillac
Eight") creating their back-porch friendly roots music that
is a far cry from many more trendy alternative country bands who have
jumped on the left-of-center movement. 
A bluegrass
re-working of Prince's "1999" is just in time for the
new millennium, and from the band's greatest songwriting hero comes
Guthrie's "Cadillac Eight," from a nearly lost lyric
he never put into song. Coming off like a hobo's dream, the song shows
the great depth and diversity of Guthrie, and the Rangers remind us
that the Okie song-poet is more than the dusty depression-era icon we
remember.