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  • Jason Boland and The Stragglers will be the first concert for the PRCA Rodeo Friday night. Photo Submitted

    Jason Boland and The Stragglers will be the first concert for the PRCA Rodeo Friday night.
October 15, 2012

Boland and The Stragglers ready to rock PRCA crowd

Derrick Miller The Duncan Banner

DUNCAN — While some music is catchy and fun, people are also drawn to the songs they can relate to and that tell their story or that of their heritage.

Both kinds can be expected to be heard from Jason Boland and The Stragglers Friday night after the first evening of the PRCA Ram Prairie Circuit Final Rodeo at the Stephens County Fair & Expo Center. The band is expected to take the stage around 9:30-10 p.m.

Originally from Hurrah, Boland chose to attend college at the epicenter of Red Dirt music origins — Stillwater. He made frequent visits to The Farm, a country house that is infamous for Red Dirt beginnings, where he was introduced to the sound and Roger Ray, another founder of The Stragglers.

“It was a great place to be that let people play and watch live music,” said Boland. “It was completely different than anything and it’s what brought Roger and I together.”

Ray knew a guy who could play base and Boland had a buddy who played drums, so they formed a band.

The group now consists of Boland as lead vocals, Ray on lead guitar, Brad Rice on drums, Grant Tracy on bass and Nick Worley playing fiddle.

Boasting six studio albums, the last being “Rancho Alto” released October 2011, Boland said they are in the studio working on their next one due out next year. The Stragglers’ sound ranges from that similar to classic country to rock and roll with influences ranging from Waylon Jennings to Merle Haggard to Cross Canadian Ragweed to Kid Rock.

“We’re more into story telling and the new album is part of a natural progression,” Boland said. “If there are any differences it’s because it is being cut more organically and going straight to tape, more like our first album.”

During the Duncan concert, Boland said the audience can expect to hear a song set with tunes from their first album “Pearl Snaps,” some from their upcoming album and several from in between.

He said although there will most likely be a country opening, rock and roll can be expected.

“Everybody wants to have a good time and people need to gather and listen to live music because something always happens that’s transformative,” Boland said. “We’re probably something that is similar and different than they have ever seen. We enjoy what we do.”

Playing for a rodeo is something special to Boland, as it has a completely different atmosphere to it than a club or bar, he said.

The upcoming performance is an anticipated one.

“When you go to a rodeo, it’s as real as what any production of the way Americana feels, like this is it, no dress up,” he said. “You look out there and people are dancing and it’s a very real, unproduced moment. It’s a blessing that shouldn’t be taken for granted.”

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