(Courtesy Photo)
The last time Cody Canada and The Departed performed in the Permian Basin, a fight broke out in the crowd.
That was during the band’s performance at the Red Dirt Road Show in Monahans back in May.
The incident did nothing to keep Canada from coming back to the Permian Basin this week where hopefully things will be a little more civil this time around.
The band will perform at the 74th Annual St. Ann’s Family Fair at 8 p.m. Saturday in Midland. “(The Monahans show) went well,” Canada said. “My favorite part is when Stoney (Larue), and I were doing a 20-minute version of a one-chord song, and there was a fight in the crowd that lasted for about 11 minutes. But it was a good time. We had a great time.”
It won’t be the first time that Canada has performed in Midland.
“I’m always excited,” Canada said. “We have a good following out there, and I’m excited to get back out in that direction.”
Since the Monahans show, Canada has had a busy summer traveling with his family and band to do other shows. He’s also taken in numerous rock concerts which included a few Red Hot Chili Peppers performances.
“This summer was good,” Canada said. “I do a lot of traveling with the family. We go to several different concerts. We do a lot of things together. I have my share of gigs for sure, but since a lot of things have fully opened back up, my family and I are back to going to as many concerts as we can.”
Canada grew up in Oklahoma. It was 1980 when his father took him to a steakhouse in Oklahoma City where George Strait was performing.
That performance made Canada want to go into music, and it wasn’t long before he started to play the guitar.
More than 40 years later, Canada is still doing what he loves as he continues to play red dirt country music.
Playing alongside Canada, who now resides in New Braunfels, The Departed includes bass player Jeremy Plato and drummer Eric Hansen.
The Departed was formed by Canada and Plato back in 2011, and it wasn’t long until Hansen joined.
On July 1, the band released its reboot of the album “Soul Gravy” which is a catalog classic from Canada’s previous band Cross Canadian Ragweed that was recorded in 2004 during their brief stay with Universal South Records.
“We re-released ‘Soul Gravy’”, Canada said. “We cut it, because I wasn’t happy with the way the original sounded. Also, I didn’t own the rights to that group of music so reworking it made me control the rights.”
The band’s new single “Lonely Girl” was released Aug. 29.
“We have a few new tunes that we’ve added,” Canada said. “We’ve also added some old ones. I’ve gone back and revamped some songs and a bunch of tunes that we used in the old day. I just want everybody to get ready for what we have coming. We have some new tunes.”
For more information about the show, go to tinyurl.com/y99y4wnr.
If you go
- What: Cody Canada and The Departed.
- When: 8 p.m. Sept. 23.
- Where: St. Ann’s Family Fair, 1906 W. Texas Ave., Midland.
