Red Dirt Unplugged Musicfest 2025 Special Edition

Orders close on Friday, January 17, 2025. Estimated shipping date is February 1, 2025.

$3 from every copy sold goes to My Hometown: The Charlie Robison Music Foundation for Youth

This is a special edition of Red Dirt Unplugged created for the 2025 MusicFest at Steamboat, featuring A Tribute to a Legend: Charlie Robison. This book was given as a gift to artists and was sold at the festival's General Store.

We ran out of books at the store during our book signing event with author Josh Crutchmer, so we are doing a one-time printing for fans of the festival and Charlie Robison who wish to get their own copy.

The author will sign all copies of this edition. If you would like it personalized, please indicate in the Notes field when placing your order who you would like your copy signed to.

The special edition content of this book is dedicated entirely to Robison, whose 2023 passing so deeply impacted MusicFest, Texas Music, and all those who love the scene and Robison. There is a bonus chapter in which MusicFest founder John Dickson explains what Robison meant to the festival and in which Bruce Robison and Robyn Ludwick share tributes to their older brother. A selection of festival regulars also shares what Robison meant to them in the bonus chapter as well.

We will keep this edition on sale for one week, and $3 from each book sold will benefit the newly-established My Hometown: The Charlie Robison Music Foundation for Youth. While initially focused on providing scholarships and access to music education, the foundation is dedicated to empowering underprivileged youth across Texas in all areas Charlie cherished: music, sports, rodeo, band, 4H, FFA, and beyond. With a commitment to diversity and supporting communities, schools, and charities in need, the foundation helps Texas hometown kids gain confidence and a leg up in the world through scholarships and donations.

So if one book sells this week, we'll add $3 to this new, wonderful cause. If 2,756 books sell this week, well, you do the math. Let's aim for 2,756. — Josh

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Red Dirt Unplugged: Singers, Songs and Stories Shining a Spotlight on Heartland Roots Music

Red Dirt Unplugged is the view from the wings as the Red Dirt music scene reaches heights never-before thought possible. At the crossroads of country, roots rock, and Americana, artists in the scene are enjoying sustained worldwide attention at a large scale for the first time in history. Wyatt Flores, Kaitlin Butts, Southall, Josh Meloy and more are walking through the doors opened by The Turnpike Troubadours and all the artists before them who first put the cracks in those same doors. As Red Dirt became less of an Oklahoma-centric scene and more of a catchall term for original, from-the-heart songwriting, harmonies and melodies, artists like Dylan Gossett, Vincent Neil Emerson, Courtney Patton, Bri Bagwell, Them Dirty Roses, and Vandoliers have been made welcome into the same fold, and find themselves thriving. Meanwhile, Red Dirt's oldest guard — The Great Divide — is in the midst of the finest moment of its three-decade career. Over time, John Moreland and John Calvin Abney only found a stronger grip on heartstrings. Even Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, themselves torchbearers for Arizona's roots rock scene, have made themselves inseparable from the musicians who claim Red Dirt. Venues like Tulsa's Mercury Lounge and Cain's Ballroom have combined history and swagger to become must-visit showrooms for artists and fans alike.

Red Dirt Unplugged gets into all of this. Structured around The Great Divide's 2023 homecoming concert at the Tumbleweed Dancehall in Stillwater, Oklahoma, it seamlessly connects the young artists in the midst of "blowups" like never before to the tradition, history, and confident arrogance that built Red Dirt. Author and journalist Josh Crutchmer had a front row seat to it all, and shares his perspective through an endless stream of artist interviews, side-stage musings, and thoughtful, old-fashioned concert reviews.

The natural sequel to Crutchmer's 2020 debut book, Red Dirt, this one is a can't miss for diehard fans and casual observers of this red-hot music scene.

The original book is 294 pages, including 30+ pages of photography featuring the artists showcased in Red Dirt Unplugged.

This book will ship via USPS Priority Mail, UPS Ground, or the equivalent.