Cross & Crescent

Somewhere tonight, on a honky-tonk stage, Jason Boland (Oklahoma State 1998) and his band Jason Boland and The Stragglers, are playing their kind of country music.

When most people think of today’s country music, they think of Toby Keith, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, and Lambda Chi’s own Kenny Chesney (East Tennessee State 1990).

The Stragglers’ recipe for country, however, is edgier than the current batch of cookie-cutter country stars. His music has been described as “neo-country,” “red dirt,” “insurgent,” and even “Texas” country.

Boland harshly describes most of the macro-brewed music on the radio today as mindless drivel, and says, “If you don’t want to think about music, that’s cool, but that’s not what we’re doing.”

Behind Boland’s philosophy on today’s country music is his notion that music should make the audience think, it should make people make a decision, and it should speak to its listeners. He feels that the status quo in country music is to make it as “palatable as possible,” and that some record companies put out bands that sound like Air Supply, but then tell the listeners that it’s country.

Boland’s taste in music morphed in college at Oklahoma State University. There, he started listening to alternative country artists like Steve Earl and free-spirited artists such as Jimmy Buffett. He developed his own style of country that is filled with personal experiences and honky-tonk philosophies.

The topics that Boland chooses to write about are sometimes considered controversial. He says, “it’s like going and seeing a psychiatrist every night,” adding that he writes about things that make him happy or frustrated, and sometimes he writes songs “for no other reason but to tap your foot to them.”

Of his controversial songs, Boland says he trusts that those who are listening know that it’s not a way to live.

To those who do not care for his style of country, Boland quips, “we got a steel guitar and a fiddle. Listen to it. If you like it, cool. If you don’t, go find something you like.”

Life on the Road

The bulk of Boland’s time is spent on the road, traveling from city to city, and even country to country. Night after night he travels with four band mates, his manager, driver, and his merchandiser.

This month alone, Jason Boland and The Stragglers will be playing over a dozen shows. Their tour will take them from Arizona to Texas to Alabama through Arkansas, and wind up back in Texas. On April 15, Boland will even be performing at Lonestar Park in Grand Prairie, Texas with country superstar Lee Ann Womack.

The Stragglers not only play shows in the U.S., they have also played in various locations across Europe.

Boland, who admittedly doesn’t like to fly, says it’s worth it to venture outside the United States since country music in Europe is filled with different hot areas. He feels as though Europeans take to his style better. According to Boland, country music fans in Europe are kind to real country music and “not that pop country that’s filling up the radio waves.”

Proof that Jason Boland and the Stragglers are hot in Europe was recently shown in an issue of Italy’s Buscadero magazine. Reviewers gave Boland’s Somewhere in the Middle CD a coveted three-and-a-half out of four stars.

His European travels have taken him on the road with country music greats such as Marty Stuart, Cross Canadian Ragweed, and many others.

When Boland is not on the road, he’s in the studio working on his new album. Jason Boland and The Stragglers were recently signed to Universal/Sustained Records, and they are currently recording in Los Angeles with Pete Anderson. Anderson has produced many other famous artists, most notably, Dwight Yoakam.

Life at Oklahoma State University

Being from a small town in Oklahoma, Boland has “nothing but fond memories” of the “big little town” of Stillwater where he got his start. He speaks of a great university that had “a good amount of diversity, but you weren’t thrown to the wolves.”

Boland was exposed to a wide variety of musical genres while living in his local chapter house. He can recall the first time he heard songs from artists that he had never heard of before.

In the fraternity house, Boland tells of people playing everything from Hank Williams to Motley Crue.

Musical diversity did not only happen in the form of CDs and cassettes being played throughout the house. Many other brothers in the house played instruments. Brad Rice (Oklahoma State 1999), for example, still plays with Boland. Rice is The Stragglers drummer.

While in school, Boland started writing songs. People started catching on to his songs, and pretty soon he was playing some shows around Stillwater. “Next thing you know I got my own nights,” Boland continues. He put a band together and he has been performing ever since.

“Nothing but fond memories” is how Boland describes his tenure as a Lambda Chi at Oklahoma State University. He refers to his time as a “great experience.”

Boland held the High Iota position (risk management) during a portion of his time as an active member. He recalls that it was “kinda fun, because I was the primary risk.”

One of his fondest Lambda Chi Alpha memories was the ritual. “I was so blessed to have a great ritual,” Boland says.

Through his praise of the ritual, Boland also stressed the importance of ritual preparation. In his no-holds-barred style, Boland relates that if you ever want to get angry, “go watch somebody screw up ritual.”

“Oh my God, I was livid,” Boland says. His statement comes from an experience while watching a friend initiated by a group that didn’t take ritual as seriously as he thought they should.

The Oklahoma State chapter, however, took the ritual seriously. The chapter’s High Phi (ritualist) was even on the International Ritual Team and instilled many of the things he learned back to members of Boland’s chapter.

Record, Play, Repeat

Boland recognizes that he has other interests in life, but somehow, someway, he will always be involved in music. He says, “every day is just a new fun thing.” He refers to his career as “just having a good time,” and that he doesn’t think of it as work.

As for his music, Boland is planning on continuing with his real, organic approach. He never worries about running out of things to write about since, as he says, “your mind has things to say, you just have to listen.”

Jason Boland and The Stragglers were recently signed on to the Sustained Records label, a part of Universal Records. Their new album, The Bourbon Legend, is due out in stores sometime in the coming months. Boland and his band will continue spending time performing on the road and taking time out to record the new CD through the springtime and into the summer.

In the world of cookie-cutter country, Boland is looking to make music that stands out from the rest. His never-say-die attitude, his sometimes-controversial lyrics, and his rock-the-honky-tonk style has set the course for this young Stillwater, Oklahoma native to cut through the clutter and make a name for himself in the world of country music.