To know Red Dirt is to know Brandon Jenkins. Throughout his 20+ year music career he has been a mainstay on festival and listening rooms stages throughout the US and Europe, had multiple hits on the influential Texas Music Radio Charts and written hits for others. We spoke and had a Q & A with Brandon about his latest music, his upbringing and the origins of Red Dirt.
How did The Flag come about?
“Like everyone else, I been sitting and watching the news, seeing all the insanity and how our country seems like we’re divided on every front. Black and white, rich and poor, blue and red, you name it. It just seems like we’re fractured and I was trying to think of something that could be an instrument of healing. When you look at our country, one thing that makes us strong is our struggle and that’s represented in The Flag. The album is called The Flag and it’s a concept record. If you listen to it from beginning to end, there’s a journey. There are different voices and different opinions being portrayed.”
Let’s go back a little bit… when’s the first time you ever picked up a guitar?
“I grew up in a musical family, so there was always a guitar or a piano in the house. It wasn’t until I was 4 or 5 years old that my parents let me grab one but I always had a natural attraction to it. When I really started playing and taking lessons I was in 6th or 7th grade. Before that, in 3rd grade, I started playing violin so I guess that was my first real instrument… not that I can play it now.”
Was all of this going on in Oklahoma?
“Yeah, I grew up in Tulsa and went to school at Oklahoma State in Stillwater, which is pretty much where the whole Red Dirt Movement started. Guys like Bob Childers, Tom Skinner and Red Dirt Rangers and myself… then the younger guys came up: Cross Canadian Ragweed, Jason Boland, Stoney LaRue, and No Justice were all from Stillwater and we were all there playing music together. Then we started down and playing Texas more and more. Their music influenced us and our music influenced them and now it’s just one big cauldron of really cool music.”
Finally, what’s your favorite writing and going to the studio or live performances?
“I love all of them, but what I really get a kick out of is watching people’s reaction to a song that I’ve written, especially a new song. I created this thing and now I’m playing it on the stage and I’m watching people react to it.”
By James Cook
