Cody Canada and the Departed brought Red Dirt Country to this small town in the foothills, just north of San Diego, CA and the townsfolk loved it. The historic Ramona Mainstage Theatre in Ramona, California was the setting for a night filled with old school, Texas style, country music.
First up was local favorite Farm Truck. Farm Truck is headed by Craig Fischer, a Ramona local. They play a few covers, but mostly originals written by Craig. One of my favorites is a new song called “Highway 67.” https://www.facebook.com/farmtruckmusic/
For those not familiar with the area, Highway 67 runs right through the heart of Ramona.
Micky and the Motorcars hailing all the way from Austin, Texas are led by brothers Micky and Gary Braun. The band has been together for 13 years and host a major music festival in their home state of Idaho every year, called The Braun Brothers Reunion. Two other Braun brothers, Cody and Willy front another well-known Americana band from Austin, Reckless Kelly. https://mickyandthemotorcars.com/
Headlining this evening of good ol’ fashioned country music was Cody Canada and the Departed. Cody formed this band after his band Cross Canadian Ragweed broke up in 2010. Besides Cody, the Departed is made up of former Ragweed member and longtime friend, Jeremy Plato on bass and vocals and drummer Erik Hansen. The band covered a little bit of everything from Ragweed’s self-titled first album from 2002, to the Departed’s latest album, 3, released last year. https://thedepartedmusic.com/
The crowd thoroughly enjoyed the entire evening. There was dancing and singing and plenty of beer drinking going on. If I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought I was back in a little Texas watering hole.