Red Dirt Rangers find their way 'home' to their 27th WoodyFest in Okemah
OKEMAH — Surrounded by a group of fellow musicians they affectionately referred to as their "Dorkestra," it was hard to imagine Brad Piccolo, John Cooper and Ben Han could get more contented than they looked performing folky country-rock songs for an appreciative audience sprawled in lawn chairs and on blankets.
Of course, the core members of the Red Dirt Rangers had plenty of good reason to seem comfortable as they played their Thursday night headlining set on the Pastures of Plenty outdoor stage at the 27th annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival: They were performing at WoodyFest for their 27th year.
"I think back to the first festival, and we only thought we were gonna get to do it one time. So, we were gonna blow it up. It's like, 'Man, we're gonna do this thing right and Woody it up.' And it was a great year. It started off on the right foot, and here we are 27 years later. Who knew?" Cooper said in an interview at the Okfuskee County History Center shortly before soundcheck Thursday afternoon.
"It takes a really dedicated person and people to come to Okemah in the second week of July, when it's 100 degrees every day. ... And I can't think of any place I'd rather be in the entire world than right here with these people."
Legendary singer-songwriter Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie was born on July 14, 1912, in Okemah. So, the festival that bears his name and continues his legacy annually takes place on and around his July 14 birthday in his Okfuskee County hometown, where it draws thousands of Guthrie devotees each year to the rural community of about 3,000 residents.
The venerable Payne County band — Piccolo on guitars and vocals, Cooper on mandolin and Han on lead guitar, with all three on vocals — is one of just a few acts who have made the pilgrimage to Okemah to perform at every single WoodyFest.
"It's more special, because it could be in Oklahoma City or Tulsa, and that just wouldn't be like going to a destination. Just being here, you can go see the foundation of what used to be Woody's old house," Piccolo said. "We all were just over there watching my friend Chris Buhalis in the movie theater where Woody used to watch movies when he was a kid. It's like an interactive Woody exhibit."
WoodyFest 2024 wraps up Sunday, July 14, which would have been the late, great folk troubadour's 112th birthday, with the Hoot for Huntington’s, a fundraiser for the Huntington’s Disease Society of America. Guthrie died Oct. 3, 1967, of the degenerative neurological disorder.
Oklahoma band's favorite WoodyFest memories include playing on after a helicopter crash
Not even a helicopter crash could prevent the Red Dirt Rangers from keeping their WoodyFest streak unbroken.
Just a couple weeks before the 2004 festival, the trio was performing at a birthday party in Cushing where short helicopter rides were part of the festivities. During the Red Dirt Rangers' ride, the helicopter clipped three power lines and crashed into a remote section of the Cimarron River.
The pilot, off-duty Oklahoma City police Sgt. Darrell Jameson, and the front passenger, Nicholas Knigge, of Cushing, died in the crash. Piccolo was able to stay conscious, free his injured bandmates from the wreckage and help them get atop the helicopter, where they waited until a rescue boat arrived more than an hour later.
Although they were fortunate to survive, the musicians' injuries included broken bones, cracked vertebrae and heart problems.
Cooper and Han were still recuperating in Tulsa's St. John Medical Center when their annual WoodyFest set rolled around. With less severe injuries, Piccolo managed to talk his way out of Cushing Hospital so that he could join a group of fellow festival artists and perform at least one song.
"They didn't want me to leave, but I kind of snuck out just so I could come here — and I was on crutches and everything. ... But I didn't want to break that streak; I wanted to represent. And here it is, 20 years later," Piccolo recalled, adding that they all still have lingering aches and pains from their crash injuries.
"I really had never been on crutches. I didn't know how to use them. ... Steve Earle was here that year, and he goes, 'Let me show you how to use those crutches.'"
Although he wasn't actually able to be in Okemah, Cooper said that 2004 WoodyFest set remains one of his favorites.
"I was in a hospital bed in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and a friend of mine was holding a phone up over her head, and he was on stage. I was laying in my bed just bawling. But it was so great because you just feel the love through the phone," he recalled.
"The crash itself was one of those really bittersweet moments. It was horrific for the loss of life, and we were really hurt. But the outpouring of love and affection from around the country and around the world was incredible."
The way their fellow musicians planned benefit concerts to help the Rangers pay their steep medical bills inspired them to help found in 2011 the nonprofit Red Dirt Relief Fund, which provides financial assistance to Oklahoma music professionals in times of crisis. Executive Director Katie Dale said the organization modeled its flagship fundraising event, the Bob Childers' Gypsy Cafe songwriters festival in Stillwater, on the laid-back community spirit of WoodyFest.
"They turned a tragedy into something that has grown into a beautiful thing to help their fellow guys and gals, and we're about to tip $900,000 in grants made. And that kind of blows all of our minds, what this thing has become," Dale said backstage Thursday at the WoodyFest Pastures of Plenty.
"This is the kind of vibe that we want to create, and it really informed the culture of the whole organization ... because this festival is really their home."
Red Dirt Rangers' experiences at 'music Mecca' linger
As twilight settled over the Pastures of Plenty, the Rangers rocked their fan-favorite songs "Under the Radar," "Leave This World a Better Place" and "Red State Blues."
Several of the band's musical pals joined them onstage Thursday night: Fellow Oklahoma players guitarist Terry "Buffalo" Ware, keyboardist T.Z. Wright and fiddler Kevin "Haystack" Foster put their distinctive flourishes on the familiar tunes, while jazz legend and WoodyFest regular David Amram added whimsical pennywhistle solos to many of the numbers.
The Rangers introduced the enthusiastic audience to the buoyant new song "Lighten Up," one of several they've penned for an upcoming album they've been recording at the top-notch recording studio the late Steve Ripley built on his Pawnee County farm before he died in 2019. They hope to release the new collection by the end of the year.
Along with their own songs, the Red Dirt Rangers rounded out their set with personal favorites from Guthrie and the late Red Dirt music pioneer Tom Skinner, finishing it off with "Woody's Road," by the late, great "godfather of Red Dirt music," Bob Childers.
"To me, coming back here, it's like coming to music Mecca. Listening to new acts, you absorb all that. ... Talking to all your friends made over 27 years, it lingers," Han said.
"It's all about the love of music. ... Listening to everybody playing so many places, just about everywhere, by the time you get home and rest your head, it's like, 'Wow, people are still doing it.'"
WOODY GUTHRIE FOLK FESTIVAL
When: Through July 14.
Where: Multiple venues in Okemah.
Tickets and information: woodyfest.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Red Dirt Rangers remember their first Woody Guthrie Folk Festival
