Red Dirt Rangers Appear at the Poncan Theater

The Red Dirt Rangers appeared in a free concert this evening at the Poncan Theater courtesy of the Ponca City Arts and Humanities Council and there was a good audience - probably 500 people - and the band was well known to the audience.

[Click on the photos to enlarge them.]

All the members of the band were excellent musicians but I was especially impressed by fiddle player Randy Crouch and by some of the sounds he was getting out of his instrument during the extended jams. I talked to Randy during intermission and asked him how he got the effects - he sounded like Jimi Hendix on the fiddle. Randy told me that he was using a wah-wah with his fiddle just like Hendirx did on his earlier records and added that he considers Jimi Hendix to be one of his main musical influences and that the resemblance between his sound and Henrix's was intentional. Randy told me that he tries not to overdo it with the special effects and asked me if I thought he was using them too much. I told him that I had noticed him using the wah-wah on just two of the band's songs and I thought that was about right.

As an interesting side note the band said that they had played in Ponca City in their second public appearance twenty years ago so to them playing again in Ponca was like a homecoming for them.

Take a look at my photos from the show by the Red Dirt Rangers at the Poncan Theater. Click on each small photo to enlarge it - or take a look at our slide show of the performance.