The sold-out concerts are co-headlined by Cross Canadian Ragweed, who are reuniting after 15 years apart. They’re joined at the top of the bill by co-headliners The Turnpike Troubadours, as well as The Great Divide, Jason Boland & the Stragglers and Stoney LaRue.
At Monday’s city council meeting, Stillwater Mayor Will Joyce proclaimed April 7-13, 2025 as “Red Dirt Music Week.” John Cooper of the band Red Dirt Rangers spoke at the meeting, recalling how the Red Dirt brand of music started innocently on the outskirts of Stillwater.
“We started at a little old place out here out west of town called The Farm, with no aspirations of anything other than creating good music for us and our friends to enjoy and have a good time,” Cooper said.
From its humble beginnings of songwriters swapping songs in the 1970s to a dominant form of country music that has spread worldwide, Cooper reflected on the significance of this week’s events.
“This is the biggest moment for our scene,” Cooper said.
More than 170,000 fans are expected at the series of stadium concerts over a four day span, with dozens of other shows happening throught the city before and after each concert.
The event has the City of Stillwater and Oklahoma State University bracing for the equivalent of four football gamedays.
Cody Canada, the frontman for the reunited band Cross Canadian Ragweed, acknowledged the economic impact the event is expected to have.
“The very first thing I told everybody when we signed up for this was ‘We’re going to do our best to bring a lot of money to local businesses in Stillwater,’” said Canada.
Despite the large influx of people to Stillwater, OSU still plans to hold classes Thursday and Friday. Several roads and two dozen staff, residential life and commuter parking lots will be closed due to the concerts.
The weekend will become even more special as four of the featured acts — Cross Canadian Ragweed, Jason Boland and The Stragglers, The Great Divide and Stoney LaRue — will be inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame during the concert series.
Not to be outdone, Turnpike Troubadours – who were previously inducted into the hall in 2022 – are releasing a new album called The Price of Admission on Friday.
Traffic and Safety Details
- Official Site: parking and traffic, bag policies and more.
- The City of Stillwater event page: text updates opt-in, merch, local business specials
- Tailgating map
- Parking lot closure map
Come see KOSU in Stillwater!
KOSU is partnering with Red Dirt Relief Fund each day before the stadium concert to feature Oklahoma singer-songwriters play live in Eskimo Joe’s parking lot. Featured musicians include Hosty, Cassie Latshaw, Jacob Tovar, Monica Taylor and Red Dirt Rangers, among others.
The event takes place Thursday through Sunday, from noon to 5 p.m. It’s all ages and open to the public.
More info about that event can be found on KOSU’s events calendar.
