Red Dirt Rangers – Rangers’ Command
Versatility has always been a hallmark of Oklahoma’s Red Dirt Rangers, both in live shows and on disc; these five shitkickers — John Cooper, Kenny Earley, Ben Han, Bradley Piccolo and Bob Wiles — have even been known to perform children’s shows, exposing kids to the intimacies of Woody Guthrie and the mandolin. Rangers’ Command is their best showcase for that musical flexibility yet, with a set of a dozen polished traditional alt-country tunes that swerve from original ballads (“Cold December Wind”) and genuine Western swing (“Hey Wattaya Mean”) to a wonderfully whimsical bluegrass cover of Prince’s 1999.
Of particular note here is “Cadillac Eight”, a “lost lyric” by Guthrie put to music for the first time. One imagines Guthrie would have jazzed up this ditty about competing brands of automobiles, a la his “Car Song”, but the Rangers give it a serious bent, complete with swelling organ and haunting Native American chants buried in the mix.
Guest artists include Austin ringers Cindy Cashdollar, Dale Watson and Alvin Crow, as well as Stuart Cochran on keyboards. One imagines producers Dave Sanger (drummer for Asleep at the Wheel) and Lloyd Maines deserve credit for putting a shine on the sound and giving the disc focus, but it’s the hard-working, hard-driving Rangers that bring it to vivid life.