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While the music of Oklahoma is relatively young, Oklahoma having been a state for less than a hundred years, it has a rich history and many fine and influential musicians.

Contents 1 Songs of Oklahoma 1.1 Official state songs 1.2 Other songs 2 Categories 2.1 American Indian 2.2 Country 2.3 Gospel 2.4 Jazz and swing 2.5 Rock and roll 2.6 Western or cowboy 2.7 Western Swing 3 Venues 3.1 Live performances 3.2 Radio 3.3 List of live venues 4 Native Oklahoma musicians and composers 5 Oklahoma bands 6 Musicians and bands with Oklahoma ties 7 Endnotes 8 Bibliography 9 External links

For complete list see List of songs of Oklahoma.

Oklahoma has had many songs written about it. Among those:

• Official state song:
  • Oklahoma!, Rodgers & Hammerstein

• Official state children's song:
  • Oklahoma, My Native Land, Martha Kemm Barrett

• Official state folk song:
  • Oklahoma Hills, Woody Guthrie/Jack Guthrie

• The Everlasting Hills of Oklahoma, Tim Spencer
• For A While, Jeremy Castle
• For Oklahoma, I’m Yearning, Wava White/Jack Guthrie
• Good Old Oklahoma, Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys
• Home In Oklahoma. Jack Elliott
• Home Sweet Oklahoma, Leon Russell (also covered by Jimmy LaFave)
• My Oklahoma, Terrye Newkirk
• Oklahoma Hills, Jack Guthrie
• Oklahoma Rag, Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys
• Oklahoma Swing, Vince Gill with Reba McEntire
• Tulsa Time, Don Williams
• Take Me Back To Tulsa, George Strait
• 24 Hours From Tulsa, Gene Pitney
• Tell Me Something Bad About Tulsa, George Strait
• You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma, David Frizzell & Shelly West
• Oklahoma Borderline, Vince Gill
• Oklahoma Stomp, Duke Ellington
• Oklahoma Hills, Toby Keith
• The Gal From Oklahoma, Junior Brown
• Oklahoma Sunshine, Waylon Jennings
• Rough Wind In Oklahoma, Michael Hedges
• Loves In Oklahoma, Jason Eklund
• Home, Sweet Oklahoma, Tom Paxton
• Soft Winds Of Oklahoma, Bill Emerson
• My Oklahoma Home, Bruce Springsteen
• Oklahoma Girl, Eli Young Band

Because of the federal government's policy in the 19th century of moving groups of American Indians westward, Oklahoma has the most diverse collection of American Indian musicians in the world. This rich collection of traditional music is performed in pow-wows all over the state. Additionally, the music is enriched by Indian musician’s exposure to other tribe's songs through the many intertribal meetings in the state. The American Indian Exposition at Anadarko is the oldest in the nation bringing tribes from over the west to perform. The Red Earth Festival in Oklahoma City, in a less traditional, more modern setting, has also become very popular.

49s, the first modern original American Indian music style, originated in Oklahoma among the Kiowa Indians in southwestern Oklahoma and quickly spread to other tribes through the American Indian Exposition at Anadarko. The name comes from a burlesque show that toured the area in the 1920s called the "Girls of '49" for its California gold rush theme. A 49 (or forty-nine) is a gathering following a pow-wow and the songs are usually love songs, mostly in English, with repeated refrains of nonsense Indian language syllables.^[1]

The traditional Appalachian folk ballads brought by new settlers from the South infused Oklahoma with a music about the lives of everyday people. Much of the music was overtly religious as the rural communities revolved around their churches. Another distinctive type of country music grew out of the dance halls and roadhouses, especially in the oil boom areas of eastern Oklahoma. This honky-tonk style music from Oklahoma and the surrounding states became a staple of American country music for years.

Oklahoma has had a long tradition of Gospel music. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot and Steal Away to Jesus, standard Gospel tunes, were written by Wallis Willis, a former slave in the old Choctaw Nation of southeastern Oklahoma. Alexander Reid, a minister at a Choctaw boarding school after the Civil War, transcribed the words and melodies and sent the music to the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. The Jubilee Singers then popularized the songs during a tour of the United States and Europe.^[2] Albert E. Brumley, a Spiro, Oklahoma native, wrote a number of Gospel classics that have become a standard in Gospel singer's repertoirs. His best known compositions include I'll Fly Away, Jesus Hold My Hand, and Turn Your Radio On. These songs are commonplace in many church hymnals today.

The territory bands of the 1920s and 30s brought a new style of music to Oklahoma. Many of the well-known swing musicians tuned their skills and styles touring with these regional bands. These bands brought the big-band orchestras to many communities never visited by the more popular groups from New York. Perhaps the most famous of the Oklahoma based territory bands were the Oklahoma City Blue Devils. The Blue Devils were the foundation for Count Basie's orchestra. The Al Goode Orchestra, also from Oklahoma City, performed into the 1970s. In addition, a number of prominent jazz musicians came from Oklahoma; these include the Oscar Pettiford, Don Byas, Cecil McBee, Sam Rivers, and Jay McShann. Although most of these self-identified as African American, many (including Pettiford) were also partly of Native American ancestry.

One of the hot spots for rock and roll in Oklahoma during the 60's was Ronnie Kaye's "The Scene" in Oklahoma City. It featured local garage rock and psychedelic bands. Many musicians during the 1970s had ties to Oklahoma. And Tulsa was a hotspot for concerts during the time. Now in the 21st Century, Oklahoma is home to various types of rock and roll music. In recent years a garage rock scene has spawned out of the gutters of Oklahoma City, the metro area and Red Dirt towns all across the state. Bands such as The Electric Primadonnas, Forty Minutes of Hell(Norman) El Paso Hot Button, Son of Sam Walton, Klipspringer(Norman), Venus Lee, The Black Tie Event, Bodanga(Norman), Andy, American Ruse(R.I.P) and Broken Sky name a few. After the success of cult icons, The Flaming Lips, under the radar act, The Starlight Mints, and 90's alternative groups the Chainsaw Kittens and the Nixons, Norman is a hotspot for local and nationwide indie music, local acts include Ghost Of Monkshood, Purple Cowstory, Drives Like a Dream, Magnificent Bird, Year of the Jackalope, Mama Sweet, The Midnight Marauders and recently signed The Evangelicals(Misra Records, Austin, TX). Stillwater, Oklahoma also has a unique music scene with Kunek and Colourmusic at the forefront. Tulsa, Oklahoma has D-Fest (Diverseafest) which features bands from across the state as the festival is growing larger every year. Leon Russell, The Shiny Toy Guns and the Flaming Lips are scheduled to close the festival in 2007.

Prior to Oklahoma's opening for settlement, cowboys pushing cattle from Texas to the railheads developed a style and subject of music that became known as Cowboy or Western. As they settled on the ranches they continued their traditional style of singing. The romanticism of the cowboy in the popular culture brought a wider audience to the music. Although the writers of these traditional Western songs are mostly unknown, Dr. Brewster Highley, author of perhaps the most famous of the cowboy ballads, Home on the Range, followed the frontier into Oklahoma where he died in 1911.

Otto Gray and his Oklahoma Cowboys were the first nationally popular cowboy band. Formed in 1924 by William McGinty, Oklahoma pioneer and former Rough Rider, the band performed on radio and national vaudeville circuits from 1924 through 1936. Otto Gray, the first "Singing Cowboy", and all of the band members were recruited from Oklahoma ranches.^[3]

Oklahoma was a center for the development and spread of Western swing. Performers playing the traditional western music, influenced heavily by the territory bands, added fiddles and steel guitars to the their orchestras to produce a new and very popular type of music. Bob Wills, and His Texas Playboys, based in Tulsa, influenced this music for more than a generation. One of the more unique early Western swing bands from Oklahoma was Big Chief Henry's Indian String Band, a family group of Choctaw Indians, who performed out of Wichita, Kansas, during the 1920s, and who were recorded by H. C. Speir of Victor Records in 1929.

Maud, Oklahoma; 1943 Paul had a little string band and sometimes I would chord with them over at George's Pig Stand near Maud. These were 'outside performances' and most of the people sat in their cars to listen to the music. A lot of horn-honking showed approval for a particular rendition of a song. Sometimes couples would dance on the little concrete slab at the side of the building.

-- Mildred Dennis[4]

Music in Oklahoma has been played, sung, and heard in the Indian villages of the earliest Americans; around the campfires of the cowboys and traders; in the churches, theaters, and dancehalls of the territorial days; and in concert halls and at music festivals, pow-wows National Guard armories, and school gymnasiums of the present day.

In 1922, WKY began broadcasting in Oklahoma City. Other stations followed and soon, anyone with a radio could hear music previously unavailable to them. Still, many radios broadcast local music. KVOO in Tulsa aired Western swing from Bob Wills for more than twenty years.

In 1958, KOMA, a 50,000 watt radio station in Oklahoma City, began a format of playing Top 40 recordings and Rock & Roll. Its signal strength allowed many young people across the Great Plains and Western states to listen to music not available from their local stations and influenced many of their local music markets.

Oklahoma currently supports many radio stations. Most play music that ranges from classical to hip-hop. Much of their content, however, is taped and the same programs broadcast over several stations throughout the U.S. Very little local music is aired. (See List of radio stations in Oklahoma)

• The Deli, Norman, OK
• The Blue Door, Oklahoma City, OK
• Brady Theater, Tulsa, OK
• Cain's Ballroom, Tulsa, OK
• The Electric Chair, Oklahoma City, OK
• The Conservatory, Oklahoma City, OK
• Mike's College Bar, Stillwater, OK
• The Oklahoma International Bluegrass Festival, Guthrie, OK
• The Oklahoma Opry, Oklahoma City, OK
• The Opolis, Norman, OK
• Roxie's Roost, Tahlequah, OK
• The UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond, OK
• Willie's Saloon, Stillwater, OK
• The Wormy Dog Saloon, Oklahoma City, OK, originally Stillwater, OK
• The Green Door R.I.P, Oklahoma City, OK
• The Glasnost R.I.P., Oklahoma City, OK
• The Band Shell, Pauls Valley, OK
• Diamond Ballroom, Oklahoma City, OK
• The Jesus Place, Oklahoma City, OK

• Keith Anderson, Miami, Oklahoma
• Hoyt Axton, Duncan, Oklahoma
• Chet Baker, Yale, Oklahoma
• Garth Brooks, Yukon, Oklahoma
• Anita Bryant, Barnsdall, Oklahoma
• Jeremy Castle, Blanchard, Oklahoma
• J.J. Cale, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Henson Cargill, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Bob Childers, Stillwater, Oklahoma
• Kellie Coffey, Moore, Oklahoma
• Spade Cooley
• Lloyd "Cowboy" Copas, Muskogee, Oklahoma
• Randy Crouch, Tahlequah, Oklahoma
• Edgar Cruz, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Joe Diffie, Velma, Oklahoma
• Katrina Elam, Bray, Oklahoma
• Ty England, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Vince Gill, Norman, Oklahoma
• Woody Guthrie, Okemah, Oklahoma
• Jack Guthrie, Olive, Oklahoma
• Lowell Fulson, Tulsa, Oklahoma
• Roy Harris, Chandler, Oklahoma
• Wade Hayes, Bethel Acres, Oklahoma
• Lee Hazlewood, Mannford, Oklahoma
• Wanda Jackson, Maud, Oklahoma
• Norma Jean (Beasler), Wellston, Oklahoma
• Toby Keith, Moore, Oklahoma
• Stoney Larue, Stillwater, Oklahoma
• Reba McEntire, McAlester, Oklahoma
• Barry McGuire, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Jay McShann, Muskogee, Oklahoma
• Gary P. Nunn, Okmulgee, Oklahoma
• Patti Page, Claremore, Oklahoma
• Sam Rivers, El Reno, Oklahoma
• Jimmy Rushing, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Leon Russell, Lawton, Oklahoma
• Blake Shelton, Ada, Oklahoma
• B. J. Thomas, Hugo, Oklahoma
• Carrie Underwood, Checotah, Oklahoma
• Jimmy Webb, Elk City, Oklahoma
• Bryan White, Lawton, Oklahoma
• Sheb Wooley, Erick, Oklahoma
• Taylor Hale, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

• At The Love-In, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• The Agony Scene, Tulsa, Oklahoma
• The All American Rejects, Stillwater, Oklahoma
• Andy, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• American RuseR.I.P., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Aqueduct, Tulsa, Oklahoma
• The Black Tie Event Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Bloody Ol' Mule Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• The Bob Stoops Project, Norman, Oklahoma
• Bodanga, Norman, Oklahoma
• Broken Sky, Norman, Oklahoma
• The Beefeater Project, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• BLAKE O., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Chainsaw Kittens, Norman, Oklahoma
• Color Me Badd, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Crimson Winter, Shawnee, Oklahoma
• Cross Canadian Ragweed, Stillwater, Oklahoma
• The Electric Primadonnas, Oklahoma City, OK
• Ester Drang, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
• The Flaming Lips, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Gravity Propulsion System, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Hanson, Tulsa, Oklahoma
• Hinder, Norman, Oklahoma
• Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey
• Joe Pajaree Project, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Klipspringer, Norman, Oklahoma
• The Nixons, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• No Justice, Stillwater, Oklahoma
• Oliver Magnum, Enid, Oklahoma
• The Red Dirt Rangers, Stillwater, Oklahoma
• Starlight Mints, Norman, Oklahoma
• Super The Gay, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Traindodge, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Umbrellas
• Venus Lee, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Student Film, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Kites (band), Duncan, Oklahoma
• Farewell...Dearheart, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Tears of Blood for this Broken Heart, Edmond, Oklahoma

• Gene Autry, raised in Oklahoma, originally billed as the Oklahoma's Yodeling Cowboy.
• Jason Boland and the Stragglers, formed in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
• Charlie Christian, raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
• Roy Clark, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
• Cross Canadian Ragweed, formed in and around Stillwater, Oklahoma.
• Ronnie Dunn (Brooks & Dunn), raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
• The Great Divide, based in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
• Merle Haggard, son of dust bowl immigrants from Oklahoma to California and reflected in his music.
• Jimmy LaFave, Stillwater, OK, now based in Austin, Texas
• Roger Miller, raised in Erick, Oklahoma.
• Tom Paxton, raised in Bristow, Oklahoma, folk singer and songwriter. He is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma.
• Ricochet, Lead Singer Heath Wright and bassist Greg Cook are both from Vian, Oklahoma.
• Joe Don Rooney(Rascal Flatts), raised in Picher, Oklahoma.
• Hank Thompson, broadcast the Hank Thompson Show from WKY in Oklahoma City. In 1973 Thompson opened the Hank Thompson School of Country Music, at Rogers University in Claremore, Oklahoma.
• Wayman Tisdale, raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
• Watermelon Slim (Bill Homans), based in Stillwater, Oklahoma; graduate of Oklahoma State University
• Bob Wills, King of Western Swing, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He and his Texas Playboys broadcast their show from KVOO radio 1934-1958.

1. ↑  Velie, American Indian Literature, page 89 Kiowa "49" Songs.
2. ↑  Savage, Singing Cowboys, page 5.
3. ↑  Savage, Singing Cowboys, page 34.
4. ↑  Dennis, It's Gonna Be OK, page 86.

• Dennis, Mildred. It's Gonna Be OK: A Lease-Child's Legacy. Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse, 2004. ISBN 1-4208-0305-0
• Moore, Ethel, and Chauncey O. (compilers). Ballads and folk songs of the Southwest: more than 600 titles, melodies, and texts collected in Oklahoma. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1964.
• Savage, William W., Jr. Singing Cowboys and All That Jazz: A Short History of Popular Music in Oklahoma. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1988. ISBN 0-8061-2085-1
• Velie, Alan R. American Indian Literature: An Anthology. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8061-2345-1

• Oklahoma City Philharmonic
• Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame
• Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame and Museum
• Oklahoma Opry
• Tulsa Philharmonic