With their comeback year in the books, Cross Canadian Ragweed are ready to embrace a once unlikely frontier: simply being a band again. “I told everybody, let’s take advantage of our second chance, because we probably don’t get a third one,” frontman Cody Canada says.
Ragweed’s run of sold-out stadium shows last year enabled Canada to cross off a bucket-list item this morning. Rolling Stone has confirmed the band will play its first headlining concert at the venerable Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre outside of Denver on July 24, with an official announcement set for this morning. Tickets will go on sale Friday to the public, and the band will share pre-sale information on its website and via social media.
When Canada and bandmates Jeremy Plato, Randy Ragsdale, and Grady Cross returned to the stage in 2025 following a 15-year hiatus, Red Rocks was not just a goal for Canada, it was the goal. “We have to play Red Rocks” was the first thing he recalls telling his agent, Jon Folk, when they discussed a possible reunion.
“The first time I went, we opened for Dierks Bentley, and it was supposed to be us and Dierks doing High Times and Hangovers,” Canada recalls of Ragweed’s first and only time at the venue on a 2005 tour with Bentley. “Then, they put a guy in the middle — we don’t have to say his name — because he had a song on the radio. We got bumped to the first set, which was about 30 minutes, and man, I was pretty sore about it. I don’t want to be a jerk, but it was kind of bullshit. I always kind of wanted to come back and do a full set just to redeem that moment.”
The concert marks the third date in 2026 with Ragweed alone atop the bill. The band will headline the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo for the first time on March 16 and played the opening night of January’s annual Mile 0 Fest in Key West, Florida, capping off a block party on Duval Street.
Ragweed and the Turnpike Troubadours will co-headline at least four Boys From Oklahoma concerts this year, following last year’s sold-out shows in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and Waco, Texas. The bands will play back-to-back evenings at Akins Ford Arena in Athens, Georgia, on Feb. 27 and 28 (they added a second night after announcing one and selling it out). The Castellows and Shelby Stone will open nights one and two, respectively.
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Ragweed’s last show before Mile 0 happened in late August at Robert Earl Keen’s Applause for the Cause flood benefit in New Braunfels. Canada says he spent the layoff obsessing over what to play in Athens, to the point that he enlisted Ragsdale, the drummer, to ease the pressure.
“You want to know what I’m just really focused on in Athens?” Canada says. “The setlist. I’ve been wrestling with the setlist for a month, and I finally just gave it over to Ragsdale. He likes making it anyway, because of the tempos in the songs.”
The Athens concerts are a prelude to a return to stadiums for Ragweed and Turnpike this year. They will play Stillwater’s Boone Pickens Stadium again on April 11, with support from Stillwater resident Wyatt Flores, along with Shane Smith and the Saints, and the Great Divide. They will also bring the Boys From Oklahoma to Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Aug 22, with Cody Jinks, Flatland Cavalry, and American Aquarium joining.
The full Red Rocks lineup will mark a poignant departure from those bills, which have been loaded with high-profile artists from the Red Dirt and Americana scenes. This one will be a family affair and feature a pair of second-generation Ragweed acts. Waves in April, a New Braunfels, Texas-based metalcore band featuring Canada’s sons Dierks and Willy alongside lead singer Elle Gorman is one opener. The Smokin’ Oaks, a Red Dirt four-piece that includes Cross’s son, Slaid, and nephew, Colton Blake, is the other.
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“I remember Jon telling me, ‘If you get the Red Rocks offer, I don’t see why you couldn’t put all your boys on it,” Canada says. “So, it’s gonna be Grady’s boy and our boys, and I’m probably gonna cry more that night than I did the first night in Stillwater.”
Unlike Turnpike, which has consistently played in arenas and amphitheaters since its 2022 comeback, shows of this scale are still new ground for Canada. Ragweed’s initial run was as a club band and festival headliner until its 2010 breakup. Since reuniting, though, Mile 0 Fest has been the only Ragweed-headlined event not in a stadium or arena.
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“Smaller rooms are more nerve-wracking than stadiums, because there’s no forgiveness. People can hear better and there’s no chatter if you mess up,” Canada says. “When you play these big places, the energy is so full. You’d have to try really hard to blow it, both because it’s so energetic and because it’s like a dream.”
Josh Crutchmer is a journalist and author whose book (Almost) Almost Famous will be released April 1 via Back Lounge Publishing.