Interviews and video: Venerable Oklahoma band Red Dirt Rangers releasing first live album, 'Blue Door Nights'

An abbreviated version of this story appears in Friday's Weekend Life section of The Oklahoman. 

'Blue Door Nights'

Red Dirt Rangers releasing long-awaited live album

Even after three decades of playing together, the Red Dirt Rangers still enjoy marking a new musical milestone.

And if it involves convening a talented cadre of longtime friends, all the better.

The venerable Payne County band -- mandolin player/singer John Cooper, lead guitarist/singer Ben Han and guitarist/singer Brad Piccolo – is gearing up to release its first live album, “Blue Door Nights,” so named because it was recorded over three nights in one of the group’s favorite places: the renowned Oklahoma City listening room the Blue Door.

“It was our kind of moment to do a live record … just kind of where we are as a band now. Through 31 years of being together, it’s gone up and down and sideways and every direction it can go, but we’re in a really zone right now,” Cooper said in a phone interview this week from his home in the rural hamlet of Lone Chimney.

“We’ve played the Blue Door more than any band ever in the history of the Blue Door. It’s like a real second home to us … and obviously, we really trust Greg,” he added, referring to Blue Door proprietor Greg Johnson. 

“He knows us as well as anybody. And Greg has a great ear … that’s obvious by what he does at the Blue Door. So, we felt pretty confident.”

Tragic inspiration

Although the two-disc live album exudes a warm, positive vibe, it actually was inspired by a tragic loss: the 2015 death of renowned Oklahoma red dirt songwriter Tom Skinner.

“Greg had been pushing Tom to do a live record at the Blue Door for a while, and they were always, ‘yeah, we’ll do it, we’ll get to it, we’ll get to it.’ And then Tom died, and there will not be a live record at the Blue Door from Tom Skinner. Then, Greg, a few months after Tom died, said, ‘By God, you guys are coming in here, and you’re making a live record.’ He was adamant, and we agreed,” Cooper said.

After Skinner died, Johnson said heeded the wisdom of Texas songsmith Michael Fracasso, that you never know which way time will go.

“For years and years, Tom Skinner wanted to make a live record. That was one of his dreams. Then, Tom got sick with his heart problems … and we just never got it done,” Johnson said. “You’ve got to get the art done when you can … because you never know. We’ve had such a great history together here, and we’ve been friends forever. And it’s just wonderful that we can do this now.”

Three nights

Of course, “now” is a relative term, in music and in life. Three years ago, just a few months after Skinner’s death, Everett Moran of Rainshadow Recording in Port Townsend, Washington, made the trek to Oklahoma City to record the Rangers over three nights. On the first, the trio and Grammy-nominated Oklahoma singer, songwriter and pianist John Fullbright played acoustic without an audience, and on the second, the quartet performed for a packed house. 

On the third night, the Rangers assembled a powerhouse team of Oklahoma musicians and longtime pals – Fullbright, bassist Don Morris, drummer Rick Gomez, fiddler Randy Crouch and guitarist Terry “Buffalo” Ware -- to put on a full rock ‘n’ roll show for another sold-out audience.

“An eight-piece band at the Blue Door seems almost like a ridiculous notion in a way, but it was as comfortable as putting on an old pair of shoes,” Cooper said. “We did start a couple of songs over, just like, ‘Eh, that’s not feeling right’ … and we were pretty picky. But for the most part those were all first takes, no overdubs.

“And the reason we can do that is because we’ve been together 31 years – at the time, it was 28 years – and we know those songs. … All those guys that were there that night understand our music. They understand us. We’ve known Fullbright since he was 17; the first big stage he ever played on was with us. I think we were all really comfortable in the setting, and we just let the magic come in.”

Once the recording was done, life got in the way.

“It was just a matter of getting everything settled down to where we could get to work on it and get it finished. I said, ‘I’m gonna give myself a two-year deadline.’ I almost made it,” Johnson said with a laugh.

“It just took us a while to get it going, but it was always meant to be.”

Comfort zone

Initially, Johnson assumed the Rangers would want to finish it up and release it on their own; After all, the band even wrote the liner notes and had Piccolo shoot the cover art for its 2013 release, “Lone Chimney.” Instead, the trio opted to have Johnson and Moran produce it, with fellow Oklahoman singer-songwriter Kierston White doing the design work. 

“I think we just wanted a different approach because we have always been so hands-on. It’s like, ‘You know what, let’s do one hands-off. Let’s let somebody make a record on us.” And that’s what we did. We didn’t even hear it until it was just about completed,” Cooper said.

“It’s really nice to step outside of your comfort zone. Because we controlled everything so tightly, I think maybe we got a myopic vision of what maybe we should sound like. It was good to have to someone else’s input that really cared, that really knew us.”

The double-album features Red Dirt Rangers tunes from across the band’s long career, including “Starin’ Down the Sun,” “Lone Chimney,” “Lavena,” “Without My Baby” and “Idabel Blues.” Several interesting covers made it onto the final track list, including Oklahoma folk icon Woody Guthrie’s “California Stars,” the Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses” and fellow red dirt star Mike McClure’s “Tie My Boat.” They also performed two of Johnson’s favorites, Arthur Alexander’s “Every Day I Have to Cry” and Green on Red’s “Time Ain’t Nothin’.”

“He’s told us, ‘If you don’t do “Time Ain’t Nothing” and “Every Day I Have to Cry” every show you play here, you’ll never play again,’” Cooper said. “He’s kidding, but he just really loves those songs, and again, this is really a Greg Johnson project in a lot of ways.”

Fittingly, “Blue Door Nights” ends with a series of anthems penned by Skinner and another late, great red dirt legend, Bob Childers.

“Those two guys in particular mean the world to us,” Cooper said. “We’ve been an organic band since day one. The Red Dirt Rangers kind of just grew up out of the ground. We didn’t plan on having a band, there was never an idea of having a band in the early days, we just liked to play. So, I think doing a record like this that’s just a super-organic record that just, who knows, kind of has a life of its own, just like the band.”

The Rangers are playing an album pre-release shows Friday at the Blue Door, Oct. 28 as part of the Cimarron Breeze Concert Series in Perkins and Nov. 2 at The Shrine in Tulsa. Those shows will be local fans’ only chance to get “Blue Door Nights” before the Dec. 4 release date, and Johnson said they have launched a Kickstarter campaign to pay for production costs and to give the album a national promotional push.

“This record kind of represents the best of how they’ve always been at the Blue Door,” Johnson said. “I’m just very proud of this. I think this is one of the best things I’ve ever been involved with.”

IN CONCERT

Red Dirt Rangers’ “Blue Door Nights” album release shows

With: Kierston White. 

When: 8 p.m. Friday.

Where: Blue Door, 2805 N McKinley.

Tickets and information: www.bluedoorokc.com.

When: 5 p.m. Oct. 28.

Where: Old Church Center, 750 N Main Street, Perkins.

Tickets and information: cimarronbreeze.com.

When: 7 p.m. Nov. 2.

Where: The Shrine, 1738 S Boston Ave., Tulsa.

Tickets and information: www.tulsashrine.com.

-BAM