No Justice playing hometown Stillwater show during College Fest 2009
A version of this story appears in Wednesday’s Life section of The Oklahoman.
Tour no vacation for No Justice
School may be back in session in Stillwater, but for No Justice, the vacation never ends.
The local country-rockers will play a hometown show Saturday during the Tumbleweed Dance Hall’s College Fest 2009. The legendary Stillwater venue annually welcomes Oklahoma State University students, as well as other music lovers, with the four-day music festival.
“We (Stillwater) kind of started the whole red dirt scene, and it’s probably the best thing that happens up here. It’s cool with us ’cause we don’t get very many shows where we can all get together with all of our friends, Oklahoma bands and even the Texas bands, and play together,” said No Justice singer/guitarist Steve Rice.
College Fest 2009 starts today and features red dirt/Texas music favorites Eli Young Band, Stoney LaRue, Shooter Jennings and more. And the members of No Justice are happy to bring the red dirt sound to any event in Stillwater, Oklahoma or practically anywhere on the map.
The band plays about 200 dates a year, and relentless touring has recently taken the group north into Nebraska and Iowa, west to Colorado, east to Tennessee and south throughout Texas, said singer/guitarist Brandon Jackson.
“We don’t like to go anywhere that’s considered a vacation, so we stay away from both the coasts. Anywhere that’s hot and humid, that’s where we get to go. But it’s really a vacation every day for us,” joked Rice during a press conference this summer at Pryor’s Country Fever Music Festival.
Founded in 2001 in Stillwater, where the late Bob Childers originated the red dirt sound, No Justice has since become a mainstay on the Oklahoma/Texas music scene. Last year, the band played several top events, including Robert Earl Keen’s Texas Uprising, Cross Canadian Ragweed’s Family Jam and the Tumbleweed’s annual Calf Fry.
No Justice also hosts the annual Dwight Boeckman Music Festival, an Okeene fundraiser benefiting the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation. The event honors their friend Dwight Boeckman, who in 2000 was paralyzed in a diving accident; the 10th edition recently raised more than $20,000.
“We pretty much have a high-energy show. We’ve started showcasing a little bit of the new songs that we’ve been working on. We just kind of have that same No Justice sound we’ve had since 2001, but just some new material. And we’re getting tighter and better every week we play,” Rice said.
Playing with other red dirt artists helps keep the music fresh, Rice said, recalling a recent event in which the band played along with Tom Skinner, Mike McClure and Clint Osmus.
“It was like three generations of red dirt artists together,” he said. “It was really cool, and you get so much inspiration just from that, listening to some stuff that started us and getting our wheels turning toward wanting to be in a band. And it’s kind of cool to be able to go back and listen to that again. That’s kind of what these things are all about; it’s way better than listening to a CD player.”
No Justice also has become a fixture on the Texas Music Charts: “The Toast,” the second single from the band’s 2003 debut album “Far From Everything,” made the top 10 and become one of the top 15 most requested songs of 2005. The band earned its first No. 1 single with “Never Come Back,” off its 2006 self-titled sophomore album. The group scored its second chart-topper this spring with “Don’t Walk Away,” off the record “Live at Billy Bob’s Texas.”
In between touring, No Justice is working on a new album, with plans to start recording later this month and release it early next year. Jackson said people who love the band’s albums won’t be disappointed with the live show.
“I think we do an excellent job of what you hear on the CD, exactly emulating that and then taking it to another level. … So what you hear on the CD is very well representative of what we do live as well, which not a lot of artists can say that. And I think we take a lot of pride in the fact that we work really hard to make it high-energy yet make it sound very good,” Jackson said.
Going on
College Fest 2009
With: Eli Young Band, Stoney LaRue, Shooter Jennings, No Justice and more.
When: Today-Saturday.
Where: Tumbleweed Dance Hall, Lakeview and Country Club roads, Stillwater.
Information: (405) 377-0067 or www.tumbleweedconcerts.com.
-BAM
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