Last year, Cross Canadian Ragweed sent waves through the country music world when they announced they would reunite for a string of shows in Stillwater, Oklahoma this April. Then, in January, the band shocked fans everywhere when they took the stage at Mile 0 Festival in Key West, Florida for a surprise six-song set.
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Recently, Cody Canada sat down with American Songwriter to discuss the Cross Canadian Ragweed reunion set, future shows, and more. During our conversation, he revealed that he was just as surprised as everyone else to see the band back together on the stage that night.
How the Cross Canadian Ragweed Reunion Set Happened
Cody Canada and the rest of Cross Canadian Ragweed didn’t go to the festival with plans to take the stage. However, the stars aligned and they took it as a sign to play a few songs.
“I have known Kyle Carter, the guy who runs Mile 0 Festival, since high school. We went to high school together. I’ve been playing Mile 0 since the first year and it has become one of my favorite festivals,” Canada said. “It’s hard to not be happy when you’re playing in paradise,” he added.
“It was a surprise to me,” he said of the reunion set. ”He’s been asking for years if we were going to do it and just as late as last summer I told him ‘It’s not gonna happen.’ He was there from the very beginning of Ragweed,” Canada explained.
“He wanted to do a tribute from everybody to us as kind of a ‘Welcome back’ kind of thing. I saw the lineup and he asked if we thought we would play and I said, ‘I doubt it, but we’ll see what happens.’ Then once I saw the setlist and everything, I thought ‘F**k it. Why not?’” Canada said of how he and the band decided to take the stage.
How Cody Canada Feels About the Reunion
Cross Canadian Ragweed split up more than a decade ago and the guys in the band went their separate ways. Cody Canada shared his feelings about getting the band back together.
“I went 15 years not playing with that band and, honestly, 12 years of being in my feelings about it and being mad about the breakup and really not trying to do anything about it because I thought the ship had sailed,” he said. “So, I went from being not happy about a lot of sh*t to being happy,” he revealed.
This reunion is more than a band getting back together. It’s a group of longtime friends burying the hatchet and once again hanging out and doing what they love doing. Canada feels as though a weight has been lifted from his shoulders. “I didn’t know that I had a weight until there was reconciliation. I had no idea,” Canada said. “My mother-in-law came to a Departed show last week and she said there’s something different. I said, ‘I’m not worried anymore. I’m not losing sleep thinking that we could have been kind to each other,’” he added.
“It feels great to forgive and forget and grow up and to play those songs again,” he said about his current state of mind. “I’ve been playing those songs for the last 12 years but it’s nice to play them with the guys again. We brought each other to the dance. There’s a very gigantic blanket of calm around the Ragweed camp and family.”
The Future of Cross Canadian Ragweed
We asked the question that all Cross Canadian Ragweed fans want the answer to. “What does the future look like for the band?” Canada said nothing is set in stone. At this stage of the game, he’s not promising anything. However, they have the four-night run in Stillwater, Oklahoma later this year with Turnpike Troubadours, The Great Divide, Jason Boland & The Stragglers, and Stony LaRue. Then, they’ll play another show at McLane Stadium at Baylor University in Waco, Texas on August 23. The show will also feature Turnpike Troubadours, American Aquarium, Wade Bowen, and Shane Smith & The Saints.
While Canada wasn’t prepared to say what the future holds for the band, he’s hopeful and happy to be playing the music he loves with his friends again.
Featured Image by Paul Natkin/Getty Images
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