INTERVIEW: Cody Canada on Selling Out Red Rocks, Raising Metalhead Kids + Future of Cross Canadian Ragweed

"I'm just so excited that we're doing it again."

On Tuesday (June 16), Cody Canada joined Loudwire Nights to dive into the return of Cross Canadian Ragweed. After selling out several stadium shows in 2025, the band is back at it this year and is gearing up for an historic sold-out gig at Red Rocks.

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Listen to the full conversation in the player near the end of this article.

"Having everything back in place has been, it's probably been the best year of my life," Canada told Loudwire Nights' Chuck Armstrong. Though, he did have a qualifier to that statement.

"I can't really say that without saying the years that my kids were born, [but] just watching everybody be so happy, talking about new music. We're not even writing stuff yet, but just talking about stuff. A future with this band again is awesome."

The beginning of Ragweed's reunion started when Canada was at a show in New York City, dreaming about putting together a single concert where 20,000 people would come to watch the band one more time. From there, it blew up into a multi-night residency in Stillwater, Okla., and has grown to other stadiums in the midwest.

As amazing as it has been packing stadiums, there is something particularly special, though, about Ragweed gearing up to play Red Rocks.

"We were there with Dierks Bentley in 2006 as an opener," he shared.

"This is our first one as us."

As if that wasn't enough to get excited about, Canada's sons are performing that night, too, in their band Waves In April. For fans of Ragweed's southern, red dirt, rock and roll sound, Waves In April's heavy metalcore will be a bit of a surprise — though they have played with Canada's other band, Cody Canada and the Departed.

"They opened up for us one night in Possum Kingdom, Tex., and I started doing this speech about it's okay to be different and blah, blah, blah and this and that. Basically, just shut the fuck up and listen, that's what I wanted to say. It would've shortened the whole fucking speech."

Canada admitted that there were certain places where the audience wouldn't really appreciate the heavy sound of Waves In April, but when they played closer to Oklahoma or closer to San Antonio, the fans seemed to get it.

"One of my favorite things is when somebody comes up and says, 'It's not my style of music, but damn, they're talented.'"

Canada has learned how to be a supportive dad while also doing his best to share the wisdom he's gained from being an artist for three decades.

"About a year ago, I stepped back," he said.

"I felt like every time I tried to help, it was me telling them what to do, [but] I just don't want them to, I want them to do it right. I don't want them to hit the bumps that I hit, make the mistakes I made — but it also looks like I'm being a know-it-all and telling them what to do. So I step back. Now, if Dierks needs a guitar or Willie needs drum key, I'm the pageant dad on the side of the stage waiting."

He laughed to himself as he said that.

"I'm shit-faced in the crowds is what I am."

What Else Did Cross Canadian Ragweed's Cody Canada Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

Being such a fan of grunge, what led him to the path of southern and red dirt rock: "There never was a map. I never had a map. I met people that led me in a different direction. My sister listened to really good rock and roll, she's about 15 years older than me. I was listening to Skynyrd when I was a little kid and a lot of the Who, stuff like that. My dad was always a [Merle] Haggard guy, still the Haggard guy. My folks split when I was 13 and then that's when the grunge thing happened and there was a bunch of pissed off people singing rock and roll and I was at the right age. I was feeling the same way. Then I met Mike McClure and it all just kind of worked together, the heavier guitar tones would work with the lighter lyrics. I don't know, there never was a road map. I liked what I liked and I took a little bit from what I heard."
Watching his kids grow as musicians: "If I step in and say, 'That's not how you do it,' well, that's an asshole move. That's not how I did it, that's what I should have said. Last night they came up to the studio here in New Braunfels and until like three in the morning, just programming and stuff. I would come up here and watch every now and then. It's like, I don't get it, but I'm proud of you guys. I know they're going to be aware of this interview and I am very, very proud of you all. And publicly, I will admit, I have no idea what you're doing, but I'm proud of you."
The future of Cross Canadian Ragweed: "New music, for sure. W're not working on that, I'm working on that. I've sent the guys some work tapes and stuff, but we don't even have rehearsals booked for that kind of stuff. I do want to have 10-15 songs to choose from to do that. That's in the future. Right now, I just want to play more shows. I know that right now we're doing this nostalgia thing as it's been called, I just don't know how many people — it's been 16 years, I think people want to hear old songs more than they want to hear new songs. Give us a year or two of doing this nostalgic thing and then we'll have a new record and then we'll see what happens from there. But I'd like to do at least seven shows a year, just to satisfy the itch. It's so fun. When we first started, when we were teenagers, we had practiced seven days a week. And then it got to the point where we were so busy, we didn't want to see each other when we were not on the road. And then we all moved away from each other, but we were still in a band. So there really wasn't any rehearsal time. Now, the rehearsal times are like my favorite part again."