Songwriters & Tour Riders

Mike McClure is a pioneer of the Red Dirt music scene that began in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He was part of The Great Divide and produced numerous other records for acts like Cross Canadian Ragweed and Turnpike Troubadours. With the pandemic giving many in the music industry a lot more time at home this year, Mike believes his latest solo record, Looking Up, is his most cohesive album yet. The a...

Blackmankidboy , the latest album from Oklahoma City hip hop artist Original Flow, highlights his experience growing up and contrasted with today. While making this record, he lost his mother due to cancer and then was on the verge of giving up music. It threw him into a depression, but out of that grief, came a project that he calls some of his best work. In the episode, he talks about writing so...

The debut record from 25-year-old Daniel Donato brings together jam band music and outlaw country. It comes after about a decade of playing guitar professionally in Nashville. When he was 16, he was the youngest person to ever play with the Don Kelly Band at the historic Robert’s Western World and then toured with musicians like Paul Cauthen. A Young Man's Country was produced by Robben Ford...

One of Bartees Strange's fears is just being one thing. Born in England, Bartees Cox Jr. grew up in a military family that bounced around from place to place until they settled down in Mustang, Oklahoma. His mother is an opera singer and he sang in church choirs and operettas, before taking up football. He even planned to walk-on at the University of Oklahoma. Things changed, but for most of his l...

Tennessee Jet, whose real name is TJ, grew up traveling with his parents on the rodeo circuit. And while in the truck, he listened to traditional country music on the radio. His newest album, The Country, is an ode to country music. Each song represents a different style of the genre, from the ’50s to outlaw to alt-country. He even covered his dad’s favorite song, "Pancho and Lefty." In this episo...

Kyle Nix is best known as the fiddle player for the Oklahoma country band Turnpike Troubadours. While that band has been on hiatus, Nix took that time to work on his solo debut,  Lightning on the Mountain & Other Short Stories . The album is inspired by everything from Spaghetti Westerns and Ennio Morricone soundtracks, to short stories by Ernest Hemingway and Stephen King. And it feature...

Jabee says the idea of his latest album's title,  This World Is So Fragile and Cruel I'm Glad I Got You , "kind of floats throughout the climate we are living in." It comes after a four year period of learning and community work. And while this pandemic has put a pause on most musicians' tours and shows, Jabee has been continually organizing. He helped put together last weekend’s Oklahoma Cit...

Stefan Babcock is the singer and primary songwriter for the Canadian punk rock band, PUP. Their latest album,  Morbid Stuff , was listed on NPR's list of The 15 Best Rock Albums Of 2019 and recently won a Juno award. With songs drawn from his life about things like a camping disaster with his sister, the death of his pet chameleon and destroying his car, the punk rocker translates b...

Samantha Crain recently released her new album. It's an album she didn’t think she would ever going to make. Following three car accidents in 2017, Crain was left with debilitating injuries to her hands. She had to cancel her entire U.S. tour and suffered from depression and anxiety as a result. That period is reflected in the album's title,  A Small Death . Crain talks about what it was like...

A veteran musician and formerly of the band Cheyenne, Beau Jennings turned to a new chapter of his career when he returned to Oklahoma after eight years in New York City. Forming a new band called the Tigers, Jennings released the album The Thunderbird. Jennings is also an architect and documentarian, having made a documentary (and accompanying album) titled The Verid...

Oklahoma City noise rock band Chat Pile takes its name from the large piles of waste of early 20th century lead mining in the northeastern Oklahoma town of Picher, which has been called America's most toxic town. The band released a noisy debut EP titled 'This Dungeon Earth' in May 2019, channeling what happened to Picher. In this episode, Griff and Randy, who also go by stage names Luther and Ray...

On his fifth album,  LP5 , Tulsa singer-songwriter John Moreland teamed up with producer Matt Pence and introduced new instruments into the studio like drum machines. In this episode, Moreland talks about growing up in the Christian punk rock scene in Tulsa, the recording and songwriting process behind LP5 and relearning how to enjoy songwriting amidst new pressures and expectations.

Johnny Manchild is the lead singer, pianist and namesake for the seven-piece piano rock band Johnny Manchild and the Poor Bastards. T he Oklahoma City band spent all of 2019 releasing one song a month, which culminated in their latest LP,  One Big Beautiful Sound. In this episode, Johnny talks about the challenge the band set for themselves last year, plans for their next album, and how colla...

Texas country and blues musician Charley Crockett has lived the life of a traveling musician, busking on the streets of New Orleans, Dallas, New York City and Paris. He has been featured on NPR, Rolling Stone and Billboard and has played the Grand Ole Opry, Austin City Limits, Newport Folk Festival and several venues in Oklahoma. In this episode, Charley talks about his recent open heart surgery,...

Oklahoma City surf-pop band Husbands has been featured on NPR's Heavy Rotation and their song "Mexico" was named the number one song of 2019 by the Oklahoma Rock Show. Drawing inspiration from Devo and Talking Heads, Husbands' new album, After The Gold Rush Party , is about trying to balance their jobs and families with their creative energy. In this episode, Wil Norton and Danny Davis break down...

Oklahoma folk / Americana singer-songwriter John Calvin Abney is everywhere. He's a sideman for folks like John Moreland and Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires and an acclaimed solo artist in his own right. Rolling Stone Country called him an 'Artist to Watch' and his music has been praised by Billboard, Paste Magazine, and No Depression. No Cover host Matthew Viriyapah spoke with John on two dif...