Festival Review- Born & Raised 2023
Four miles north of Pryor, Oklahoma, along Hwy 69 on the fabled Rocklahoma festival grounds, is the premier Red Dirt, Country and Americana music and camping festival known as Born & Raised. In only its third year of production, the line-up continues to dazzle with top names in the genres. Each year, the dates have moved around a little in the month of September with this year’s festivities running September 13-16. The week provided beautiful weather – dry and mostly sunny the entire time. It was even a bit cooler than I remember from my past attendance which was most welcoming.
Attendance seemed to be on par with a growing festival of this caliber and the facilities provided everything you could hope for. I did not camp this year, but from what I heard, everything seemed to be well organized and many even took advantage of the additional campsite service rentals like private restrooms, RV provisions and even inflatable pools with fill service. There was an abundance of merchandise and food vendors with covered seating for a break from the Oklahoma sun. Plus, there was an entire tent just for Born & Raised logo and artist merchandise.
Read to the end if you want a complete overview of this festival from start to finish. We have included a full line-up summary of each performance. There was a lot of ground covered and we enjoyed every bit of it. If you aren’t someone that wants to travel back and forth between stages for every performance, the big screens that flanked the Big Sky main stage displayed the performances happening over on the Neon Moon stage.
Keep reading to see why some of my favorite performances were Lance Roark, Red Clay Strays, Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real, Ryan Bingham, and Turnpike Troubadours.
Wednesday: The evening kick-off party commenced with a bang as Stillwater, OK native Wyatt Flores took the stage. Flores has amassed a large following in a relatively short amount of time and the fans were there in full support. He has been releasing a string of singles since 2021 and has since moved to Nashville to foster his budding career.
Another one-to-watch break-out artist, Kat Hasty, followed up Wyatt’s performance with an energetic set and a throng of fans singing the words back to her. But, the best part of the performance was noticing certain members of the audience become new fans with each song she performed. Honestly, that’s the greatest part of music festivals and showing up early to shows – finding the new-to-you artist that strikes a chord in your soul.
Oklahoma mainstay in the Red Dirt music scene, The Damn Quails, entertained the growing crowd filling in around the Horizon Stage in the Big Barn. Wyatt Flores even joined on the mic for “Fool’s Gold.”
Rising stars, 49 Winchester, came out with big energy despite what seemed like some sound or receiver issues. They battled through and still gave the large crowd a fantastic show. At one point, even pausing the set and bringing up the house lights so long-time fan, Billy could propose to his girlfriend, Caroline. They followed it up with “So Damn Sweet” from their 2018 album The Wind.
Thursday: The morning crowd was out in full force to see their Eastern Oklahoma son warm up the Horizon Stage in the Big Barn on the opening day of the festival. Hot off the heels of his early 2023 album release of Better Man, Lance Roark put on one of my favorite sets of the festival. Lance and his band were full of energy and truly enjoying themselves on stage. The crowd was equally as energetic and it was evident that each was feeding into the other. “Oklahoma Blacktop” was an obvious fan-favorite with the crowd singing at the top of their lungs.
Fort Smith, Arkansas native J.D. Clayton kept the early afternoon crowd simmering for the day ahead. He did a fabulous cover of Tracey Chapman’s “Give Me One Reason.” Other stand outs were the sentimental, yet energetic “Cotton Candy Clouds” and the rocker “Heartaches After Heartbreak” which are both from his January 2023 release Long Way from Home.
It’s not really a Red Dirt music festival without the legendary Red Dirt Rangers coming to party. The band has been making music together for an incredible 36 years. They opened their set with “Where the Arkansas River Leaves Oklahoma” and “Light the Fire” which is a new one everyone was excited to hear. They mixed in a special Tom Skinner tribute by playing his song “One of These Days.”
Over on the Neon Moon stage, a large gathering started filling in early to claim their spot for J.R. Carroll. He charmed the fans with the stories behind the songs. One such story touched on a crazy night in Tahlequah, OK that gave him the idea for his September 6 single release, “Diamondhead.”
From Austin, Texas by way of Stanley, Idaho, Micky and the Motorcars rocked the opening set of the Big Sky main stage. They opened with a medley version of “Road to You.” We heard the Chuck Prophet/Alejandro Escovedo song, “Sister Lost Soul” which they covered for their 2014 album, Hearts from Above and “Fall Apart” from the same album. The crowd got rowdy for “Tonight We Ride,” and the energetic “Rodeo Girl.”
Meanwhile, inside the Red River Saloon VIP tent, Jamie Lin Wilson was setting up for her acoustic sessions. As VIP ticket holders dined and enjoyed refreshments inside the tent, Jamie Lin and special guests played song swap performances that went on in between main stage acts throughout the weekend. She had such performers as Wade Bowen, Mike Harmeier, Kaitlin Butts, and she even had a surprise guest – Jason Eady, who was not on the festival line-up.
Over on the Neon Moon stage, Kaitlin Butts was proving why she is one of country music’s hottest new stars. The Cosmic Cowgirl has earned every single fan by touring hard this last year with her band, The Asstronauts. A handful of the crowd favorites included: “White River,” “Wild Juanita’s Cactus Juice,” “Jackson,” and the raucous Shania Twain cut “Any Man of Mine.”
Back on the mainstage, Country Rock group, Reckless Kelly played to a clamoring crowd. Most fans are trying to rack up as many of their sets as possible before the band ends their final tour and retires from the road. There are not many songs the Braun brothers can sing that the crowd doesn’t know the words to, but “Crazy Eddie’s Last Hurrah” was an all-time sing-along as though this was Reckless Kelly’s actual last hurrah.
In the late day heat, The Steel Woods treated the crowd at the Neon Moon stage. They played a nice mix of their characteristic originals and a few from their new album On Your Time, including a heartfelt rendition of the Patty Loveless hit “You Don’t Even Know Who I Am.”
As the sun was setting on the Big Sky stage, Wade Bowen shared the new single “Lovin’ Not Leavin’” and then brought out a barrage of friends to pay tribute to legendary Texas singer-songwriters Keith Gattis and Charlie Robison whose lives were cut short this year. Joining Wade on “El Cerrito Place” were Willy and Cody Braun, Kendell Marvel, Jamie Lin Wilson, Kaitlin Butts, and Cleto Cordero (Flatland Cavalry).
Stillwater, Oklahoma’s Southall brought their hard-driving rock to the Neon Moon stage before 90’s/00’s hit-maker, Gary Allan, headlined the Big Sky main stage on opening day. It was a stacked setlist ranging from his break-out hit, “Her Man,” to several singles from his 2021 album, Ruthless. Gary’s band kicked off the encore with “Margaritaville” in homage to the great Parrot Head himself, Jimmy Buffett, who we lost on September 1. The set ended with “It Ain’t the Whiskey” from his 2013 release Set You Free and “Watching Airplanes” from the 2007 album Living Hard.
Kendell Marvel brought his Honky Tonk Experience to the Big Barn stage for the Night 1 After-Party. His set resembled the Nashville show he puts on several times a year by bringing singer-songwriter friends to join him on stage to perform together and to sing their own songs.
Friday: Country Rock rising artist, Matt Koziol, initiated the day on the Horizon stage. He performed his latest single, “You Better Run, Son” and his March 2023 single, “Work All Day” which features Country Soul artist, Drake White. If he’s not already, Matt should be on your one-to-watch list. He's been out with Whiskey Myers and has a new album coming out next year.
The early afternoon continued with dynamic Country Rock sets from Texas singer, songwriter, producer Jonathan Tyler and his band, The Northern Lights, and over on the Horizon stage played The Weathered Souls from Greenville, Texas. Jonathan released a new single “Walk on By” earlier this summer with the acclaimed Underground Forever album out last Fall. The Weathered Souls recently released the album Till the Morning Comes with a brand new single out October 18, “One More Day.”
Honky Tonk favorites, Mike and the Moonpies torched the Neon Moon stage with their two-stepping Texas roadhouse style. They do an impressive cover of Fastball’s “The Way” and they always get the crowd singing along to such favorites as “Steak Night at the Prairie Rose,” “Paycheck to Paycheck,” “You Look Good in Neon” and “Road Crew,” just to name a few.
Taking his turn on the Big Sky main stage was the soulful Prosper, Texas artist Tanner Usrey. His highlights were the popular tracks “Beautiful Lies,” and “Come Back Down,” as well as a Rod Stewart cover of “Stay with Me,” and his brand new single, “Destiny.”
Red Dirt Country beloved Jason Boland & The Stragglers graced the Neon Moon stage in the late afternoon before heading east to Nashville to link up with Mike and the Moonpies to open for Reckless Kelly the following night at the legendary Ryman Auditorium. They played such favorites like “When I'm Stoned,” Red Dirt anthem “Pearl Snaps,” “Lucky I Guess” (a song for his wife, Mandy), fan-favorite “Somewhere Down in Texas,” and strings-heavy “Outlaw Band” which concludes the mighty 2008 Comal County Blue album.
Very early in his set, Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real played the title track from his latest album, Sticks and Stones, which was released in July 2023. We heard several from his 2017 self-titled album: “Just Outside of Austin,” “Carolina,” the groovy favorite “Find Yourself,” and the lamenting “(Forget About) Georgia.”
Over on the Neon Moon stage, Stoney LaRue performed the Red Dirt Rangers song, “Idabel Blues” from his 2005 Down in Flames album, along with a whole host of penchants like the popular “Oklahoma Breakdown,” “Look at Me Fly,” and “Feet Don’t Touch the Ground.”
Since joining the cast of the hit series, Yellowstone, Ryan Bingham hasn’t been able to do many live shows. So, many festival attendees were excited to see him perform on the main stage. He’s gained a lot of new fans after his acting role on the series. For many of those new fans, this was their first chance seeing Bingham play live. He recently released an EP called Watch Out for the Wolf. Ryan has a deep catalog, so he didn’t waste much time in between songs delivering a jam-packed set. Ryan dedicated “Ghost of Travelin’ Jones” to all the musicians who “carried the torch” before him as he moved from Laredo to Stephenville to pursue music. He was backed by The Texas Gentlemen and long-time Austin-based fiddle player, Richard Bowden.
Flatland Cavalry closed out the Neon Moon stage for the night. In addition to some of their original favorites, they did covers of “Fishin’ in the Dark” and “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” From backstage, Kaitlin Butts sang accompanying vocals for the sweet love song “Mornings with You” which is their most recent release. She also performed the duet “A Life Where We Work Out.”
Headlining the Friday night Big Sky main stage was Southern Rock band Whiskey Myers. They have been on a steady uphill trajectory since their break-out album Early Morning Shakes in 2014, but Whiskey Myers more recently garnered loads of attention that catapulted them onto another level when they performed on-screen for the dramatic TV series Yellowstone. Their shows are 90 minutes of high energy with only a few slow-downs for their more melancholic and tender ballads like the extremely popular “Broken Window Serenade,” “Stone,” and “Ballad of a Southern Man.” To add to their already lively performance, the band recently added a horn section to their touring band. “Frog Man” is a show-opening mainstay that guarantees to get the crowd fired up. Keeping the energy up with “Gasoline,” “Bury My Bones,” “Die Rockin’,” and the Brent Cobb tune “Bar, Guitar, and a Honky Tonk Crowd.” Their last album, Tornillo, is full of authentically delivered Whiskey Myers tracks that really got the fans to their feet: “The Wolf,” “John Wayne,” and “Antioch.” Guitarists Cody Tate stepped up to the mic to perform the ZZ Top cover “Sharp Dressed Man” and John Jeffers performed his song, “Bitch.” The band ended the night with Creedence Clearwater Revival’s powerful “Fortunate Son.”
The Dallas-based quintet of studio musicians and backing band sidemen known as The Texas Gentlemen continued the party on the Big Barn stage for the Friday night after-party. They brought their own flavor of Texas Funk and Cosmic Country to Born & Raised by blending elements of Funk, Soul, Country, R&B, Southern Rock and even Gospel.
Saturday: The opening set on the Horizon stage belonged to the young artist, Holly Beth. Holly put on an evocative rock infused set for the morning crowd. Her performance of “Psycho,” and “Torn” gave the crowd momentum to carry them through the final day of the festival.
Alabama’s Southern Rock troupe, Them Dirty Roses, leave everything on the stage when they perform and their Neon Moon stage set was no exception. Frank Ford put on a fierce drum solo with his lead singer brother, James, joining him to really get the crowd fired up. “Cocaine & Whiskey” was definitely a crowd favorite.
Del Rio, Texas native, William Beckman opened the Big Sky main stage with “Bad Dreams & Amphetamines” from his latest release, Here’s to You. Here’s to Me. He delivered his silky baritone on “Tennessee Drinkin’” and the heartbreak ballad “In the Dark.”
Back to the Neon Moon stage for more of what Alabama has to offer. The Red Clay Strays are having a monster year of growth as they hit the tour circuits hard and experience a warm reception to their 2022 debut album, Moment of Truth. Their catalog is ripe with emotion; broaching a wide array of subject matter: mental health, death, bad decisions, Faith, perseverance, and love. They gave powerful performances of “Killers,” “Stones Throw,” “Don’t Care,” as well as the tender, fan-favorite “Wondering Why.” The band is such a joy to watch and Brandon Coleman’s lead vocal delivery is impressive. Everyone was thrilled to hear the news of a new album in the works. They indulged the crowd with some new songs from it: “Wanna Be Loved,” “Devil in My Ear,” “Wasting Time,” and “No One Else Like Me.”
As though all the bands from Alabama car-pooled to the festival, Mobile’s Muscadine Bloodline took the Big Sky main stage and exhibited further proof of why Alabama is hot in the scene right now. The duo opened with “Dead on Arrival,” had fun with “Evinrudin’,” and then took everyone to church with their 2016 hit song, “Porch Swing Angel.”
While Jamie Lin Wilson lit up the Neon Moon stage, her Acoustic Sessions set in the VIP tent was taken over by Cliff Cody, Nicky James, Lucas Jagneaux, and John Goolsby. Jamie Lin fired up her set with “Ordinary People.” We heard a couple of songs that Evan Felker (Turnpike Troubadours) helped Jamie Lin pen: “Little Sweet Cigars,” recorded by The Trishas and the sing-along song “Oklahoma Stars,” written about their experience at the former Medicine Stone music festival. She also performed a cover of the recently released single, “South Texas Girl.” Being from South Texas, JLW talked about how the Lyle Lovett track resonates so deeply with her, making it her favorite song. She brought out Cody Canada to play guitar on the Tom Petty cover, “Room at the Top” and Jason Eady came out to help sing The Trishas cut they co-wrote with Kelley Mickwee, “Drive.”
Clad in his “Canadian tuxedo” and cowboy hat, Mississippi native and country chart-topper, Randy Houser, filled the main stage with country swagger while delivering his break-out hit, “Boots On.” He played a variety of his most popular songs ranging from the sensitive “No Good Place to Cry” off his 2019 release, Magnolia, to the up-tempo title track of his 2103 album, How Country Feels to the ballad of “Like a Cowboy” from the same album.
Cody Canada & The Departed got a little cheeky and decided that they would do something that they have never done in their 26 years of performing this song, but they opened the set with the rowdy weed-smoking anthem, “Boys from Oklahoma.” The crowd literally went wild with cheers. With this crowd, you can guarantee that they will sing along to nearly every song by this Red Dirt Rock ‘n Roll outfit. In a very sweet acknowledgement, Cody dedicated “Constantly” to his wife of 25 years, Shannon. Bass player Jeremy Plato stepped out front to sing “Soul Agent.” James Ford of Them Dirty Roses joined them on “Alabama” and then Jamie Lin Wilson, Turnpike Troubadours members, Evan Felker and Kyle Nix, hopped on stage for the Charlie Robison tribute: “My Hometown.”
Texas Country strongholds, Randy Rogers Band, is both nostalgic and contemporary. From the Texas ballroom ballads to the rowdy Honky Tonk tunes that make up their storied song collection. Off of their 2004 album RollerCoaster, RRB opened with “Down & Out.” Some other memorable ones were “Interstate” and “Too Late for Goodbye” from the Burning the Day album, “Buy Myself a Chance” off the self-titled album, and the popular “Kiss Me in the Dark.”
Closing out the Neon Moon stage, William Clark Green served up a few from each of his albums. From the 2015 Ringling Road album, he included the title track which involved a heavy dose of crowd participation, “Sticks and Stones,” “Next Big Thing,” and “Creek Don’t Rise.” They closed out the set with his most popular track, “She Likes the Beatles” and walked off to The Beatles “Hey, Jude.”
It’s hard to put into words the excitement that seeing and hearing the celebrated Turnpike Troubadours instills upon their legions of devotees. As far as their followers are concerned, every song hits the mark. There isn’t a bad one in the bunch. You can drop the needle on any one of their albums and never want to skip a song. The lyrics, the melodies, the harmonies, the performance: that’s their magic, their super power. The drum and banjo intro to “Gin, Smoke, Lies” is an unmistakable queue to the crowd. It evokes instantaneous cheers and dancing in the aisles. I’m resisting the urge to include the lengthy set list. It mostly consisted of their hits and fan favorites, but I must say it was good to hear “Unrung,” “Shreveport,” and “Morgan Street” which only had sporadic inclusion on prior setlists until more recently. From the new album, A Cat in the Rain, they played “Chipping Mill,” “Mean Old Sun,” and “Brought Me.” After “Brought Me,” Evan exclaimed as he motioned to the crowd, “That’s for you guys.” It was a really sweet and thoughtful moment he took to thank their supporters who stuck with them through not just the good, but also the turbulent times.
Throughout the weekend, the festival organizers auctioned off signed festival logo guitars with proceeds benefiting the Pryor Area Foundation. It’s great to see these festivals funnel tens of thousands of dollars or more into the communities they support.
One of the biggest take-aways from this festival was the thought put into the details. With each year and each festival, there is an opportunity to learn and grow in the production of such a large-scale event. In an effort to keep things uniform, recognizable, and memorable from year to year, the layout has not changed, but noticeable tweaks have been made to improve the overall experience. If Born and Raised wasn’t on your festival bucket list before, it should be now.
