Purple

I just picked up the new Cross Canadian Ragweed cd, Purple, which was released today. I've heard them do a few of the songs, and have been waiting anxiously for their first release on Universal South.

The Dallas Morning News ran a review of the CD today. Mario Tarradell seems to call it in a little bit, but it's a fair enough review I guess. Ragweed is the sort of band that grows on you, especially the live shows. Their music doesn't sound like anything that's being done much outside of... well, red-dirt country. And I'm sure it doesn't get any airplay to speak of outside of Oklahoma and Texas. But thank goodness there are some independent stations like KNBT (still streaming, by the way, though it can be a little erratic at times) in Texas and Oklahoma that play the stuff (to hell with Clear Channel!).

I've purchased three CDs recently, and aside from Purple I previewed some or all of the music via p2p file sharing. In the case of the Counting Crows, I had already heard some of the stuff on their 2001 mini-tour and had bootlegs, plus they streamed the album to pre-release purchasers on Amazon (smart!), and I managed to capture the whole thing well before it was released. I've been hearing Jack Ingram's stuff from Electric for a while on KNBT and local radio. And I wouldn't have missed Ragweed's Universal South release today p2p or not (although I have heard a few of the songs live).

Contrary to what the RIAA would have people believe, not everyone who uses a p2p client is intent on stealing music. Many of us are just tired of a lot of the crap put out by the big labels, and are discriminating shoppers. The fact that Ragweed has sold 50,000 copies of their previously self-released CDs speaks volumes. I'm sure there are plenty of other similar stories across the country, although Texas seems to have more than its share (and in the case of Pat Green, even managed to make the rest of the country take notice).

[Posted at 21:08 CST on 09/10/02] [Link]