Carnival of Soul

Red Dirt Rangers at Mercury Lounge Live, a hi-fi pay-per-view event, will be launched at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16. Tickets are $10 ($30 with poster bundle; $50 with poster and shirt bundle). All tickets purchased come with extended viewing of the show for five days following initial broadcast and can be purchased at mercuryloungetulsa.com.

In a news advisory about the show, founding Red Dirt Rangers member Brad Piccolo provided a quote about the “Red Dirt Blues” song he wrote.

“Not long ago, I was reading the morning news and there was an article about politics in America,” he said.

“In the story, it mentioned that Oklahoma is the reddest state in the union and that, in the last two presidential elections, there were zero of 77 counties going for Obama or Hillary Clinton.

“I immediately picked up my guitar and wrote ‘Red State Blues’ in about 15 minutes. I find that my best songs come very fast. Lots of people have heard this song and have responded by saying I should ‘shut up and sing.’ In other words, don’t mix politics with music. 

“Woody Guthrie was right when he said ‘this machine kills fascists.’ My machine is my guitar and voice. I’m here to destroy fascism with whatever it takes.”

Piccolo previously discussed the unreleased song in a Los Angeles Times story about music and politics in Oklahoma.