Cross Canadian Ragweed

There's plenty of confusion surrounding Cross Canadian Ragweed. For one thing, the band's not Canadian; its name conflates those of Oklahoma-based bandmates Grady Cross, Cody Canada and Randy Ragsdale (joined by Jeremy Plato). Moreover, members of this other CCR have enjoyed impressive success on the country charts — their latest disc, Mission California, debuted in the top ten — yet few country stations will play their music due to an equally strong rock influence. Not that the players plan to change anything to woo programmers. "We make our living from playing live," says Canada, whose complete interview with Westword can be found at blogs.westword.com/backbeat. "We're not going to do the kiss-ass game just to get something played on the radio." This strong-willed attitude exemplifies Cross Canadian Ragweed, joined on this date by the Randy Rogers Band — and it's a big reason that the group's music rings truer than most cookie-cutter country. Sometimes a little confusion can be a good thing.