Musician Steve Ripley dies at age 69
As the leader of the country-rock band The Tractors, Steve Ripley earned two Grammy nominations, a breakout 1990s hit with “Baby Likes to Rock It” and a record for the fastest debut album by a country group to reach platinum status.
But Ripley also worked with Bob Dylan, Leon Russell, JJ Cale and Roy Clark, and invented a signature “stereo guitar” favored by Eddie Van Halen, Ry Cooder and Dweezil Zappa.
“Any one of those, a person would be proud to have in their career. Steve was a true renaissance man in the music industry,” said John Cooper, a member of the Red Dirt Rangers.
A songwriter, studio owner and radio host, Ripley died of cancer Thursday at his Pawnee County home. He had celebrated his 69th birthday two days earlier.
Ripley is inexorably tied to Oklahoma music history, said Oklahoma Historical Society Executive Director Bob Blackburn.
“He was on Ronnie Kaye’s (TV) show ‘The Scene.’ ... So he was already making music as a kid,” Blackburn said.
He attended Oklahoma State University and opened his first studio, Stillwater Sound, in the early 1970s. Ripley and his band Moses coined the term “red dirt" music when they started Red Dirt Records to release their 1974 “Live” album.
In 2005, Ripley sold the Tulsa studio he had owned since 1987 and moved with his wife, Charlene, to the Pawnee farm where he was raised, adding a guitar shop, recording studio and guest house.
He began working with the historical society in various roles including consulting on the Oklahoma Music of Popular Culture in Tulsa.
Ripley is survived by his wife of 42 years; his son, Elvis Ripley; his daughter and son-in-law, Angelene Ripley Wright and Jonny Wright; his grandson, Mickey Wilder Ripley Wright; and his brothers Scott Ripley and Bobby Ripley.
Plans for a memorial service are expected to be announced. In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations be made to the nonprofit Red Dirt Relief Fund.