Cody Canada was “humbled” when he and his bandmates from Cross Canadian Ragweed – Grady Cross, Randy Ragsdale and Jeremy Plato – received an overwhelming demand for tickets to their reunion concerts.
What was originally going to be a one-day event at Boone Pickens Stadium in April of this year, quickly turned into a four-day party that was also followed by a sold-out encore at McLane Stadium on the Baylor University campus in August.
“This is gonna sound cheesy, but it was very nice to see that we were missed,” Canada said this week in a phone interview with The News Press. “People have told me over the past 15-16 years that we miss Ragweed.
“There was times where it was actually disheartening to me because I was working my ass off with Departed songs and records, and to see the reaction of us coming back, it was like, ‘OK, I get it.’”
And with such a desire to see the band reunite this year, they felt it was only right to give the fans more of what they want with another round inside Boone Pickens Stadium.
“I told the guys in the band, this is also gonna sound cheesy, but ‘Man, we have a second chance,’” Canada said. “And this has already been better than the first one. … I think that if we didn’t come back for Part 2, it would be a big mistake.”
But another concert may not be the only thing fans get a chance to witness at The Boys From Oklahoma Round 2. The April 11, 2026, return to Boone Pickens Stadium – which still has tickets available for purchase – quite possibly could see the debut of new music from the band.
Canada, who continued writing music since forming Cody Canada and The Departed following Ragweed’s original split in 2010, told The News Press that he has been working on new music since the reunion with his old Ragweed bandmates.
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FILE – Grady Cross, lead guitarist for Cross Canadian Ragweed, waves to the fans during The Boys from Oklahoma event at Boone Pickens Stadium in April. The band will return to BPS next spring for another round, with a “promise” by Cody Canada of new music.
“Will there be a record? When will there be a record? I don’t know,” Canada said. “It’s almost like starting over again, but the excitement’s back and we just want to keep it up. … I love the fact that the guys trust in my songwriting because I can bring it to the table with the way I wrote it and then we start changing it, and I trust them with that, too. …
“It’s a brotherhood again, and it feels wonderful.”
Canada mentioned that while preparing for the six concerts this year, there were times where different members would drop new riffs in rehearsals or during sound checks, which gave him a sense of the old days where the same thing would happen and it would “lead into a song that we have played for 20 years.”
He also said he has written about “half a record worth of music” that the band has yet to sit down with and truly flesh out.
But the Ragweed front man said he has already canceled the yearly concerts The Departed would play in January, with the purpose of putting together the concepts he has been texting with Cross, Ragsdale and Plato. So will some of that new music be developed in time for Round 2?
“By Stillwater, I promise you there’s gonna be at least two new songs,” Canada said. “There’s two that I keep pounding into the dude’s heads through text messages … and they like it. So it’s just going to be sitting down and working out the parts.”
It’s not just his bandmates that he wants to touch this new music, though.
He wants to get their longtime producer Mike McClure – founding member of The Great Divide, which is slated to perform in Round 2 after taking part in the original Boys From Oklahoma event – to put his magic touch on their music as he did in the past.
Mike McClure (copy)
FILE – Mike McClure, lead singer of The Great Divide, was the longtime producer for Cross Canadian Ragweed. According to lead man Cody Canada, he wants McClure back in on the band creating new music since their reunion.
“I have to sit down with him, too, because Mike’s always good about taking our idea and making it bigger,” Canada said. “So we’re gonna have to sit down and do some rehearsing with him.
“It’s shaping up to be a really awesome year, so far. There will be new music, I just can’t promise how much.”
New acts for Round 2
Aside from featuring a few new songs from Cross Canadian Ragweed, Round 2 will also be a chance for Red Dirt music fans to see a set from Stillwater’s own Wyatt Flores.
The 24-year-old rising country music singer and songwriter was one of the guest appearances during Ragweed’s set for the first Boys From Oklahoma concert at Boone Pickens Stadium. But this time around, he is scheduled to be one of the opening acts, along with The Great Divide, as well as Shane Smith & the Saints, prior to headliners Turnpike Troubadours and Cross Canadian Ragweed taking the stage.
“We wouldn’t be anywhere without people helping us,” Canada said about including Flores in Round 2. “… Not only is Wyatt extremely talented, extremely kind and his parents are sweet – I’ve known his dad for a very long time – but his music is good. So why wouldn’t you support that? Especially coming from Stillwater, and especially coming from a town that’s known for camaraderie. …
“Because of the climate of the world today, everybody’s in it for themselves and everybody’s pissed off and everybody’s divided, I think it’s just you need to support each other if you want the movement of music to live on.”
The 2026 version of The Boys From Oklahoma nearly had another local headliner to pair with two of the top Red Dirt bands of the past 25 years.
When talking with The News Press about the long line of musical talent to blossom in Stillwater, the topic came about of the resurgence of The All-American Rejects via a viral social media campaign of the rock band from Stillwater playing house parties across the country.
“I saw them last week in California do a festival we went to and they had a massive, massive crowd, and I don’t know if five or six years ago they would have had that spot or that crowd,” Canada said. “They killed it.
“And for the record, we did try to get them for Stillwater Part 2, but they’re on tour.”
The Rejects are currently on an arena tour with the Jonas Brothers, which includes a stop Thursday night at Tulsa’s BOK Center.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com ’
