‘Boys from Oklahoma’ tease ‘repeat performance’ next year in Stillwater: What they said

Recently reunited Red Dirt band Cross Canadian Ragweed is already planning a “repeat performance” next year in Stillwater after making history in spring with its “Boys from Oklahoma” stadium show series at Oklahoma State University.

The members of Ragweed — lead singer and guitarist Cody Canada, guitarist Grady Cross, drummer Randy Ragsdale and bassist Jeremy Plato — continued their successful reunion Saturday, Aug. 23, with the sold-out “The Boys from Oklahoma Texas Encore” in Waco.

Almost 40,000 fans packed Baylor University’s McLane Stadium to hear Ragweed, co-headliners and fellow Oklahoma Music Hall of Famers Turnpike Troubadours, North Carolina band American Aquarium and Texas acts Wade Bowen and Shane Smith & The Saints.

Before Ragweed closed their Baylor set with a cover of Guy Clark’s “LA Freeway,” Canada and Turnpike Troubadours frontman Evan Felker teased a 2026 Oklahoma encore in Stillwater.

“Why don’t we just do a repeat performance, and we’ll see you guys in Stillwater in, let’s say, April,” Canada said as the Texas crowd cheered.

“I would like that very much,” Felker responded.

“Evan would like that very much, so that means we’re gonna do. How about this? We’ll see y’all next year,” Canada told the audience with a grin.

An enormous note emblazoned with the words “See you next year … in Stillwater” was even posted on the giant video screens flanking the stage.

How did the initial ‘Boys from Oklahoma’ stadium shows at OSU become the biggest concert event in state history?

Four and a half months ago, an estimated 200,000 music lovers flocked to Stillwater to be part of the first full concerts together in a decade and a half — and the first stadium shows ever — for Cross Canadian Ragweed, after the beloved Red Dirt band set off a frenzy last fall by announcing its reunion nearly 15 years after splitting in 2010.

Featuring a lineup of five beloved homegrown Red Dirt acts — Ragweed, co-headliners the Turnpike Troubadours, Jason Boland & The Stragglers, Stoney LaRue and The Great Divide — the initial “Boys from Oklahoma” stadium shows in Stillwater became what’s believed to be the biggest concert event in state history.

“The Boys from Oklahoma” sold out four consecutive shows April 10-13, drawing a total of about 180,000 fervent fans to OSU’s Boone Pickens Stadium.

“‘Why wouldn’t we keep “The Boys from Oklahoma” in Stillwater going? It went off so well.’ … That’s everybody’s feeling on it,” Canada told The Oklahoman in a spring interview.

“There were people from all over the place … and it was just a lovefest. I couldn’t get enough.”

Visit Stillwater President and CEO Cristy Morrison called “The Boys from Oklahoma” the biggest event she’s seen in Stillwater in her 35 years of promoting the college town. She noted that the Payne County community saw a marked increase in visitor spending, hotel and short-term rental occupancy and sales tax and visitor tax receipts over the four-day stadium series, which spawned several additional live-music showcases across Stillwater.

When OSU Athletics staffers crunched the numbers, they found “The Boys from Oklahoma” had attracted concertgoers from all 50 U.S. states and five Canadian provinces, plus two ticketholders from Israel and one from Argentina.

Oklahomans made up by far the largest group of ticketholders, followed by fans from Texas, Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri and Colorado.

“One of our takeaways, for sure, was the idea that only 31% of all the tickets sold were to people that had previous connections to OSU,” said OSU Athletics spokesman Gavin Lang, who called the stadium series “the Woodstock festival of Red Dirt.”

“People who saw Cross Canadian Ragweed play at the bars on The Strip and at the Tumbleweed, you’re expecting a lot of that. But for only 31% to have those ties really tells you how big the genre is — and for them to descend on Stillwater like this really says a lot.”

Where is the recently reunited Cross Canadian Ragweed performing next?

Following the band’s April OSU stadium stand, Ragweed headlined the opening night of the two-day Professional Bull Riders’ Last Cowboy Standing July 21-22 at Colorado State University’s Canvas Stadium in Fort Collins, Colorado.

The Red Dirt rockers played the bull-riding and concert event on July 21 in place of superstar Tim McGraw, who was forced to cancel his performance due to a recent back surgery, while Jon Pardi was the headliner for July 22.

The members of Ragweed — including Oklahoma expatriates Canada and Plato, who have long lived in the Lone Star State — continued their successful reunion by selling out “The Boys from Oklahoma Texas Encore” Saturday, Aug. 23, in Waco.

With more than 35,000 fans in attendance, Baylor officials called the concert the “biggest non-football event in McLane Stadium history.”

To celebrate the Baylor show, Ragweed teamed with the Waco-based Bowen Family Foundation to make a $20,000 donation to REACH Therapeutic Riding Center in Waco. The donation was made in memory of Ragsdale’s special-needs son, JC, who died last November at age 25 from complications of a rare form of epilepsy called Lennox-Gastaut syndrome.

Next, Ragweed will continue its reunion run by playing “Robert Earl Keen and Friends: Applause for the Cause,” a Texas benefit concert in response to the deadly summer floods in Kerr County.

Presented by Buc-ee’s, a beloved chain of Texas-based travel centers, the sold-out “Applause for the Cause” is set for Aug. 28 at Whitewater Amphitheater outside of New Braunfels, Texas.

A legendary Lone Star State singer-songwriter from Kerrville, Keen will hit the stage with special guest Tyler Childers. A special trio set from Miranda Lambert, Jon Randall and Jack Ingram is included on the bill, plus performances by Cross Canadian Ragweed, Randy Rogers, Ryan Bingham and more.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: At Waco show, Cross Canadian Ragweed teases 2026 encore in Stillwater