By 'Providence,' Oklahoma Red Dirt band The Great Divide is playing an OKC concert
As hard as it might be to believe, the seminal Red Dirt band The Great Divide has been playing its second act almost as long as it did its trailblazing initial iteration.
"When we all believe something together, we can make it work and make it happen. And that's always been with The Great Divide," said singer, songwriter and guitarist Mike McClure.
"But also there was the part of us coming apart at the seams back in the early 2000s — and that was not a fun time for any of us. But it was a change that happened and needed to happen, just like it needed to happen for us to come back together."
So, it's no accident that the band's first album of new material in 20 years is titled "Providence."
Who is The Great Divide and how is the band continuing its reunion?
Formed in Stillwater in 1992, The Great Divide — McClure, drummer J.J. Lester, his brother, rhythm guitarist Scotte Lester, and bassist Kelley Green — are credited with taking Oklahoma's distinctive Red Dirt sound national by landing a major-label deal with Atlantic Records.
The label re-released the band's independent album “Break in the Storm,” followed in 1999 by "Revolutions," but dropped the group after that. In 2003, McClure left The Great Divide to pursue a solo career as a singer, songwriter and producer.
Micah Aills joined The Great Divide as the band's new lead singer, and the group released the 2005 album “Under Your Own Sun” before calling it quits.
More than eight years after its original lineup broke up, the bandmates reconciled and reunited in 2011. They've been touring ever since, releasing a 25th anniversary compilation album in 2018, followed by "Providence" last fall. The new album's first single, "Good Side," went to No. 1 on the Texas regional charts, and the current single, "Infinite Line," has reached the top five on the Texas Country Music Chart.
Touring in support of the new 10-track collection, The Great Divide is playing an Oklahoma City concert July 21 at The Criterion that will be filmed for a forthcoming documentary about the band.
A 2022 Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame inductee who hails from Tecumseh but now is based in Seymour, Texas, McClure chatted with The Oklahoman on a June afternoon about The Great Divide's ongoing reunion, new band member, Bryce Conway, the new album and more:
Q: We talked at length a couple years back, during the pandemic, about yoga. Are you continuing with that?
McClure: Yeah, I still do my yoga and cardio and stuff. I turn 52 this summer (on July 6). It really ties in wonderfully to The Great Divide's new single, "Infinite Line." That talks about looking at how quickly half a century has gone up in smoke and how short I really think the last half (of life) is gonna be and just trying to make the most of each day and feel as physically good as I can. That's been a new priority since I got sober four years ago.
Q: How do those words feel rolling off the tongue: a new Great Divide single?
McClure: Especially with the amount of time that passed in between. It was 20 years since our last studio record. We did (2002's) "Remain" out in Nashville, and 20 years later, it all came about really because of Bryce Conway, our new keyboard player. Bryce played keys for No Justice, fabulous keyboard player, and he always wanted to play in The Great Divide. He always would hit me up, "Hey, man, I want to come sit in with you guys," and I was like, "Aw, we're fine as a four-piece."
So, one New Year's Eve, I think Bryce had hit up J.J., and J.J. hit us up to say, "Hey, Bryce wants to come sit in for New Year's." So, I said, "Yeah, bring him on; let's give it a try. It's New Year's, it'd be nice to have an extra guy up there holding it down with keys." So, he came and just knew all of our songs by heart — like the old records — and it was just super fun playing with him.
And he brought this excitement because he was Great Divide's biggest fan, so now he's in the band and he can't believe his luck. So, his excitement definitely rubs off on all of us. And he kept going, "Man, y'all gotta go make a new record. It's been 20 years. You guys deserve to be relevant." ... He just kept pushing us and being super excited about it — and he's stubborn and wore us down. So, we were like, "OK, let's do it."
Q: How was it to get the band back together in the studio again?
McClure: We went down to Denton, Texas, where we've done a little bit of recording before. ... We all sat in the studio, gathered around in a circle working songs that I'd written from the ground floor up. I'd have like a chord progression and lyrics, and we'd talk and we might add a section here or there. But it was just like we always did, and it was a lot of fun. Everybody had a blast doing it, and what came about is a set of 10 new songs.
Some of them were older songs of mine. ... I got 20 years of writing outside of being in The Great Divide, and once in a while I'd write a song and then I'd think, "Ah, that'd be pretty cool Great Divide song." ... And it just really inspired me to write again, and to write from a perspective of being 52 years old in the same band that I was doing in my 20s.
A lot of The Great Divide songs people know are songs I wrote in my 20s and early 30s, and so to be able to speak from the life experiences I've had up 'til now — and the experience all of us has gone through as a band — it was cool to be able to do that. And the first song that I wrote from that perspective was "Good Side," which is our first single that went to No. 1 in Texas. That was amazing.
Q: The Great Divide reunion has lasted almost as long as the band's original run at this point. How do you all approach being in the band differently?
McClure: Everybody is extremely grateful. We started out as just a garage band, making some racket and trying to write some songs. And to go as far as we've done, and to still keep going, we're super grateful for that. When we were younger, I think we took some things for granted. I think that's typical, after you've done it for a few years, and being able to step away from it and come back to it is really nice.
To see younger generations listen to that music is inspiring, too, and then to see the people sing along with the new ones. ... That's probably my favorite part of it is the challenge of getting down and writing something worthwhile.
THE GREAT DIVIDE
When: 8 p.m. July 21. Doors open at 7 p.m.
Where: The Criterion, 500 E. Sheridan Ave.
Tickets: https://criterionokc.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: The Great Divide's OKC show will feature first new songs in 20 years
