The state of Oklahoma (where I live) is primarily known for it's multitude of country music artists. However, I have created this page to make sure that the rock and related musicians (more of them than you would expect) from the state are not so easily lost in the shuffle. If you know of any that I've left off then please e-mail VoodooLord7@hotmail.com

Michael Hedges:

Michael Hedges is generally considered to be on of the best acoustic guitar players, as well as one of the best new age artists, of all-time. He is from Enid, Oklahoma. He was signed to Windham Hill (a new age label) in 1981 and released his debut album Breakfast In The Field the same year. Because of his label, Hedges was labeled as a new age guitarist, but he described his own music as "violent acoustic" or "heavy mental". He released his sophomore effort Aerial Boundaries in 1984, and it earned him a grammy nomination. Hedges released several other albums in his lifetime, including Live In The Double Planet, Oracle, and Torched. Despite his being identified with the acoustic, Hedges switched over to other instruments later in his career, including the electric guitar, flute, drums, and synthesizer. He also performed a tribute concert to those who died in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1994, along with Stephen Stills, and others. Along with his own brilliant compositions, Hedges was fond of playing covers, such as Bob Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone and All Along The Watchtower, and Neil Young's After The Gold Rush. He continued making music until his tragic death in an automobile accident in 1997.

For a very good Michael Hedges website, visit Nomad Land.

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The Flaming Lips:

One of the weirdest, and most underrated, bands of all-time is The Flaming Lips. As, AMG so eloquently put it: "Of the innumerable one-hit wonders littering the cultural landscape, few, if any, were so brave, so frequently brilliant and so deliciously weird as the Flaming Lips.", couldn't have said it better myself. The band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, when bandleader Wayne Coyne, as legend has it, stole some instruments from a local church and started a band with his brother and their friend Michael Irvins. They made their live debut at a local transvestie club, starting the long and strange history of The Flaming Lips. They released their debut in 1985, after settling on Robert English as their drummer. Wayne's brother soon left to marriage however, and the band released thier second album in 1986, titled Hear It Is. After numerous personnel changes The Flaming Lips released the albums Oh My Gawd..., Telepathic Surgery, and In A Priest Driven Ambulance. In 1992 they released their major label debut, Hit To Death In The Future Head. Later, the single She Don't Use Jelly, from the album Transmissions From The Satellite Heart, gave the band their first (and probably only) Top 40 single. They have released several other albums, including SubUrbia. A Collection of Songs Representing an Enthusiasm for Recording...by Amateurs (weird name for a best of eh?), Clouds Taste Metallic, and 1999's The Soft Bulletin, which ended up on the nearly every list of the year's best albums that I've yet seen. In 1997, the band also released Zaireeka, which was an incredibly strange album that featured 4 discs, all meant to be played at the same time. To portray just how strange this band is consider these sample song titles: Guy Who Gets A Headache and Accidentally Saves The World, Psychiatric Explorations of The Fetus With Needles, and The Moth Flew Over The Camel's Back But Was Derailed By The Gnat. This is definately a band, that won't be easily forgotten.

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Jerry Cantrell:

Jerry Cantrell's father was from Oklahoma, and Jerry himself spent some time there before he moved to Seattle and eventually formed the band Alice In Chains. He formed the band with Layne Staley in 1987, and they recruited Sean Kinney for their drummer, and got Mike Starr (later to be replaced by Mike Inez) to play bass. They were signed to Columbia in 1989, and released their debut album Facelift in 1990. It went gold and received a grammy nomination, and they followed it up with a mostly acoustic EP called Sap. Next came the album Dirt, considered a 90's classic album (that doesn't take much, but this album deserved it) and hit #6 on the Billboard charts. Another EP followed, Jar of Flies, which became the first EP to ever go #1 on Billboard. Later hit albums from AIC included a self-titled effort, and a live MTV Unplugged album. However, due to Staley's drug abuse, among other things, the band dwindled down throughout the 90's and are basically deceased. A box set, Music Bank, was released in 1999, perhaps ending their career. During the band's downtime however, Cantrell released a solo album, Boggy Depot (named after the Oklahoma town in which Jerry's father grew up). The album featured appearances by all of AIC (minus Staley) and various musicians from other bands. It met with mixed reviews, but did yield the hit single My Song.

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Charlie Christian:

Although he was a jazz/blues player, Charlie Christian had more of an influence on rock guitar than hardly anyone else did. In fact, you'd be hard to find a person on this planet who would argue that Christian wasn't the first important electric guitarist. His calm, fluid, saxophone influenced style made him one of the pioneers of the instrument. His album Genius of The Electric Guitar (sample review "This set contains some of guitarist Charlie Christian 's greatest recordings (although he did not live long enough to record any bad ones).") is one of the most influential albums of all-time (whether or not rock historians choose to accept the fact). His work with Benny Goodman's Sextet (especially his guitar work on Solo Flight) is legendary. To quote a Christian biography "It can be said without exaggeration that virtually every jazz guitarist that emerged during 1940-65 sounded like a relative of Charlie Christian... It would be 25 years before jazz guitarists finally moved beyond Charlie Christian.") However, like too many other great musicians, Charlie Christian's life was cut short. He died in 1942 of tuberculious at the tender age of 25. Despite this, everyone who has picked up the electric guitar since then, whether they knew it or not, has been influenced by Charlie Christian.

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Jeff Keith:

Jeff Keith was the lead singer of late 80's/early 90's metal outfit Tesla. Like countless other bands, Tesla hit the heavy/hair metal scene head-on in the late 80's. However, unlike almost all of the rest, they were utterly original and their playing was tight. And unlike most of those bands, their playing was firmly rooted in the blues, not in arena rock. The released their debut album Mechanical Resonance, which was a hit, followed by 1989's The Great Radio Controversy, which yielded the Top 10 hit Love Song. Later albums included Five Man Acoustical Jam (before the Unplugged phenomenon hit), which became their biggest hit, as well as Psychotic Supper, and their best of Time's Makin' Changes. Unfortunately, grunge and rap-metal took over in the 90's and the 80's metal scene died down, so did Tesla, and they eventually disbanded. However, it has been confirmed that they have reunited and are planning a special concert soon, to be followed by a subsequent new album (possibly on John Kalodner's Portrait label) and tour.

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J.J. Cale:

Cale was born in Oklahoma City, and raised in Tulsa, where he played in various rock and swing bands, including one that featured Leon Russell. He has released his records at decidedly irregular times throughout the years, and his music has changed little, but he has developed an amazingly persistent "cult" fanbase. After Midnight, which he first recorded in 1965, became his most famous songs. He had other numerous hits, including Crazy Mama, Lies, Cocaine, and Hey Baby. Ironically, he is probably most well known, for having his songs covered by other artists. For instance After Midnight and Cocaine (among others) by Eric Clapton, and Call Me The Breeze by Lynyrd Skynyrd. His albums include Naturally, Grasshopper, Okie, Guitar Man, and the 50 song anthology Anyway The Wind Blows.

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Hoyt Axton:

Hoyt Axton, who was born in Duncan, Oklahoma, is known primarly as a country artist, though he has released several albums that were basically rock, and has written countless hits for rock artists. On his own, he's had Top 10 hits including Boney Fingers and When The Morning Comes, but his biggest successes have come when other artists have performed his songs. Probably the best example of this is his work with Three Dog Night, for which he wrote the massive hit single Joy To The World, as well as I've Never Been To Spain (which included the memorable lines I've Never Been To Heaven/But I've Been To Oklahoma). However, his work has also been performed by The Kingston Trio (the hit Greenback Dollar), Steppenwolf (The Pusher and Snowblind Friend), Ringo Starr (No No Song), as well as various country and folk artists. But, like other artists on this page, his life was cut short. He died in 1999 of a heart attack at the age of 61.

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Elvin Bishop:

Tulsan Elvin Bishop became one of the first guitarists to successfully blend blues and rock when he became a member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in 1963. This highly influential outfit paved the way for others such as the Allman Brothers Band and Derek & The Dominoes. Bishop went out on his own toward the end of the 60's and got a #3 hit with Fooled Around and Fell In Love. After numerous solo albums (and record labels) Bishop returned in 1991 with one of his best known albums, Don't Let The Bossman Get You Down, before returning a few years later with The Skin I'm In, one of the few classic blues albums to emerge in the late 90's.

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Garth Brooks:

Not a rock artist, as we all know, but a country superstar. I know I am managing a rock page here, but you have to point out a guy who has become the second bestselling artist of all-time (behind only The Beatles), as well as the top-selling solo artist and country artist, all in a relatively short period of time. Besides, he released a "rock" album in 1999, Garth Brooks In... The Life of Chris Gaines. Also, he has covered several rock songs (Aerosmith's Fever, and To Make You Feel My Love for example) and performed with Kiss. No, I don't like his music, but this guy is a very successful musician, and he's from Oklahoma!

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Carl Radle:
Carl Radle, an OKC native, was the bassist for Eric Clapton for a good many years. He played with Eric for the first time during his short stay in Delaney and Bonney, and later Derek & The Dominoes, and then his solo career. This is in addition to working with several other bands, including fellow Oklahoman J.J. Cale