Buried deep behind the full-​color Beowulf spreads in the Arts and Enter­tain­ment sec­tion of yesterday’s New York Times was an arti­cle on Cross Cana­dian Rag­weed, the red-​dirt alt-​country country-​rock (etc.-etc.) band orig­i­nally out of Still­wa­ter, Okla­homa. Lines that describe “a con­cert that was begin­ning to feel like Porky’s with a root­sier soundtrack” won’t do much to con­vert the uncon­vinced, but the arti­cle it does get one thing right: Rag­weed is a band best appre­ci­ated live. (Though their newest album made a more-than-respectable debut at #6 on the Bill­board coun­try charts.)

Check here for details on Mis­sion Cal­i­for­nia, their latest album, and here for photos of their show at Joe’s in Chicago last winter.