Steve Ripley

Steve Ripley featured as an Oklahoma Creative at Oklahoma Historical Society's OKPOP Museum in Tulsa

Steve Ripley wore many hats–musician, singer, songwriter, guitar maker, inventor, radio host, producer extraordinaire–and they all fit him perfectly. Equal parts eccentric studio wizard, prolific song smith, laid back Okie and devout family man, Ripley’s lengthy list of friends and collaborators included some of the most famous musicians on the planet. And, as if all that weren’t enough, his band The Tractors was responsible for creating the highest selling album ever recorded in the state of Oklahoma.

Steve Ripley, Famed Guitarist, Producer and Band Leader of The Tractors Dies

1950-2019

Photo credit: Phil Clarkin

Steve Ripley, American recording artist and producer, died Thursday, January 3rd ,2019, at the age of 69. He passed peacefully in his home, surrounded by love and family.

Most widely known as the leader of the seminal band The Tractors, and for his 19-year ownership of Tulsa, Oklahoma’s The Church Studio, Steve Ripley was also a renowned guitar player, inventor, engineer, record producer, songwriter, recording artist, studio owner and radio host. He played guitar with Bob Dylan, produced and/or engineered projects for Leon Russell, JJ Cale, Roy Clark, Johnnie Lee Wills, and many others. He is also known for his line of Ripley guitars, and for the invention of the stereo guitar played by the likes of Eddie Van Halen, Ry Cooder, and Dweezil Zappa.

Ripley was a friend and confidante of many luminaries of rock, country, and Americana music, and was respected throughout the industry for his gifts as an artist, producer, and technical innovations in the world of guitars, microphones and sonic design. Once, while sitting at George Harrison’s recording console at Friar Park, Ringo Starr asked Steve, “Do you know how to run this thing?” To which Steve replied, “Well yeah, I guess I do. You know, it’s what I do.”

Ripley’s life-long interest in modern musicology was highlighted by a radio series, Oklahoma Rock & Roll, exploring Oklahoma’s vast contributions to music and American pop culture; and most recently, his successful efforts to rescue and preserve the musical archives of his friend and mentor, Leon Russell.

“With all his sprawling studio spaces and tech shops and multiple simultaneous projects throughout his life,” said one friend, “he really loved that whole 'mad scientist' deal. Of course, his various successes across all aspects of his life suggest he wasn’t so mad after all.”

Born Paul Steven Ripley on January 1, 1950, during his parents’ brief residency in Idaho, Ripley grew up on the family’s Oklahoma Land Run homestead in Pawnee County. On his radio show, he recalled his first musical memory at only three years old: hearing his dad enthusiastically sing along to Bob Wills’ “Roly Poly” in the family car. His most impactful musical memory, however, was hearing Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel” blasting from his Aunt Babe’s radio. Ripley was six. Looking back on that rock and roll epiphany, he said: “It just slayed me. Nothing would ever be the same.” At eight years of age Ripley saw a performance by a young rockabilly duo, The Collins Kids at the Oklahoma State Fair that revealed to him the sheer power of a live performance. Witnessing the famous Ed Sullivan Show appearance by The Beatles as a young teen showed him the potential for transmitting a performance coast to coast. Later in life, In what he referred to as "cosmic" moments, he found himself spending time with two of The Beatles in England, and becoming a close friend and collaborator with Elvis Presley guitar players Scotty Moore and James Burton.

Playing in bands from junior high forward, Ripley continued to work nearly full time as a musician while attending Oklahoma State University, earning a degree in Communications. He discovered his love for studio recording in 1965 from Gene Sullivan (one half of the popular 1940s country duet act Wiley & Gene), recording in Sullivan’s Hi-Fi Recording Studio in Oklahoma City, the same studio where Tulsa musicians J.J.Cale, Leon Russell, and David Gates made some of their first recordings. Ripley opened his first studio, Stillwater Sound, in the early 1970’s. Nearly without exception, a phrase he would say while passing a building was “Well..that would make a good studio…”

In 1972 Ripley recorded his first record with his band Moses, comprised of Steve and his close Stillwater music friends, who recorded and released a self-titled live album. The name the band chose for their record label, Red Dirt Records, places Ripley at the birth of the Oklahoma strand of music that would one day be dubbed Americana. Given his role in the origin story and his legendary support for regional musicians in the genre through the years, Ripley has long been regarded as one of the patriarchs of Red Dirt music. He was an early inductee into the Oklahoma Red Dirt Hall of Fame. “He was the founder of Red Dirt for the Stillwater guys," says John Cooper of the Oklahoma band Red Dirt Rangers. "Steve had a studio in town for our kind of music...first. Steve had the great Stillwater band that made a record...first. Steve was the guy, who (Red Dirt musicians) Jimmy LaFave, Bob Childers, Tom Skinner, Randy Crouch, Gene Williams, Chuck Dunlap, Greg Jacobs...thought of as first generation Red Dirt. He was their hero, the guy they looked up to, the guy who made it.”

In April of 1976, Ripley married Charlene Grant, who he had met at his Stillwater recording studio when her school band was recording there. He had immediately noticed and soon fell in love with Charlene, the cute girl in overalls, and throughout his life she was his constant companion and indispensable partner in all Ripley projects.

After a stint working as a songwriter living in Nashville, Ripley landed a job as a live sound engineer for music legend Leon Russell, which would be the birth of a lifelong friendship/mentorship with Russell, one of his greatest Oklahoma musical heroes.

Ripley then moved back to Oklahoma in the late 1970’s, working for the Jim Halsey Company and producing critically acclaimed albums by Roy Clark/Gatemouth Brown (Makin' Music) and Johnnie Lee Wills (Reunion). Following this was a move to Burbank, CA, where he worked as a studio engineer for Leon Russell’s Paradise Records, collaborating with Leon on many projects including J.J. Cale and New Grass Revival. Additionally, he played guitar on J.J. Cale records and produced an album for the band 20/20.

It was during this time that Steve and Charlene’s children Elvis and Angelene, were born. His California stint also produced a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play for one of his biggest musical heroes: Bob Dylan. Ripley landed work playing guitar on the Dylan album Shot of Love and jetting off on a world tour with the band. One music writer described Ripley’s sound on that tour as the “great, jet bomber guitar of Steve Ripley.” In a 2009 interview for Rolling Stone magazine, Dylan recalled Ripley as among one of his favorite guitarist bandmates. Ripley's “Dylan Connection” was his friend, legendary drummer for the stars (and Tulsa native) Jim Keltner, who was also playing with Dylan at the time. Ripley said of Keltner: “He got me the Dylan gigs, introduced me to The Beatles…I’m a lucky farm boy to have such a friend.”

Says Keltner: "Steve had so many different talents. Ry Cooder had him customize some very unique gear that eventually became a very cool part of his sound. Steve came aboard Bob Dylan’s great gospel band in 1981, and did the last two tours with us. We all had such a good time on the road with Bob. He and the great Fred Tackett, along with my buddy Tim Drummond, all together, playing Bob’s music behind him, was something I’ll never forget!"

Another friendship that emerged from Ripley’s time in California was legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen, with whom he collaborated on his stereo guitar design and started the Ripley Guitars company. The two forged a lifelong friendship and mutual love that lasted until Ripley’s final days.

"For more than 35 years I’ve been fortunate to call Steve Ripley one of my true friends," says Eddie. "Steve is many things: part genius, part musician, part inventor, and many other great things. But my favorite thing about Steve is the wonderful, kind, humble human being he is and always will be! I love Steve with all my heart and and am proud to know him.”

In 1987, the Ripley family moved again to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he acquired the legendary recording facility The Church Studio which had once been owned by Leon Russell in the 1970’s. After filling the studio with Steinway pianos, Hammond organs, Leslie speakers, and all manner of vintage guitars, amplifiers, drums, microphones and high end recording gear, The Church would become Ripley's second home, and the hub for his larger body of creative work: seven albums from The Tractors, and one solo album simply titled Ripley - the latter displaying a departure from the “Oklahoma Boogie” stylings, and leaning more on roots-Americana.

One review of the Ripley album stated: "It's impossible to miss the spiritualism on this collection, and not just because of the two final cuts ('No Depression (In Heaven)' and 'Crossing Over'), both about the relief of entering God's kingdom." With both the country/boogie-woogie/shuffle and gospel/Red Dirt/Americana stylings of his music, Ripley is among Okie artists who have carried the torch of the music originated by the likes of Leon Russell and J.J. Cale - music that later came to be called 'The Tulsa Sound.'"

Beyond his own personal body of work, there were a number of Church Studio collaborations with artists like Red Dirt Rangers, Hanson, Chainsaw Kittens, Admiral Twin, and Carlton Pearson, among others. He was a mentor to many young musicians and fans - many of whom affectionately dubbed him "Uncle Steve" - and was an anchor to the neighboring community, particularly supporting his homeless friends in the area.

"Knowing and working with Steve was a pleasure," says Isaac Hanson. "Whether we were recording, mixing or simply sharing our love for great music, Steve was a wealth of knowledge and a source of encouragement. He heard things in us we never intended, and whenever we crossed paths he was a voice always encouraging us to trust our musical instincts. Steve will always be to me, to all of us, a beloved friend, and an immense musical talent gone too soon."

In 1994, The Tractors seemed to defy the laws of Nashville, stylistically. But they still managed to take the country music world by storm with their self-titled debut album. For Ripley, the project was the culmination of a quest to blend his earliest influences - from the western swing of Bob Wills and traditional country stylings of Hank Williams, to the emergence of Chuck Berry and what Ripley called, “The Elvis Thing.” Record company expectations for a record with such a unique musical hybrid were low, but in 1994 The Tractors debut record shocked the contemporary country world by going platinum faster than any debut album by a country group in history, eventually achieving double-platinum status. Tim DuBois, president of The Tractors’ label at that time, said of his first impression: "I remember dropping a tape into the machine and the first thing I heard was 'The Tulsa Shuffle' - and I was hooked immediately.” The debut album garnered two Grammy nominations, won CMT Video of the Year for its smash single, “Baby Likes to Rock It,” and is to this day the top-selling record of all time for a work recorded in Oklahoma. Appearances on the CMA Awards, The Tonight Show, and Late Night with David Letterman followed, along with world tours and follow up albums. Vince Gill called The Tractors “one of the coolest bands ever.”

"Steve was truly a creative genius," says DuBois. "He and I had known each other since the late sixties when we both attended Oklahoma State. Our musical careers took us down different paths, but when they crossed again in the early '90s, I was running Arista Nashville and he and a group of his Tulsa friends were building The Tractors. The music wasn’t exactly country, but it was exactly great. Somehow we managed to get it on country radio, the CMA show, and sell over 2 million albums."

Finding himself ready for the simpler life again, Ripley sold both the studio and his Tulsa home in 2005, and he and Charlene moved back out to the Pawnee County farm where he was raised, quickly expanding it beyond the small farmhouse to a compound of sorts: a guitar shop, recording studio, a second house for hosting innumerable parties and friends, and yes, even a chicken coop. This became the new Ripley headquarters - a studio simply dubbed The Farm. He continued recording music, including a collaboration with the Red Dirt Rangers titled Ripley and the Rangers, along with a full-length LP for the Red Dirt Rangers as well.

In 2007 the Oklahoma Historical Society reached out to Ripley during the development of an exhibit on the history of Rock and Roll, called Another Hot Oklahoma Night. As part of the public programming for the exhibit, the OHS contracted with Steve to host 20 one-hour radio shows that were broadcast on all of the NPR affiliates in Oklahoma. Enthusiasm for the topic led the OHS to begin work on a new Tulsa based museum called OKPOP, designed to share the history of Oklahoma music and other forms of popular culture.

In 2013, Ripley was hired as an audio archivist, and worked with OKPOP Executive Director Jeff Moore to engineer a collection of unreleased Bob Wills recordings which was later released on vinyl. In 2016, OKPOP acquired the Leon Russell Archive and Ripley became the official Curator of the Leon Russell Collection. Through his illness he carefully cleaned, stabilized and digitized hundreds of songs recorded by Russell.

“Steve was such an inspiration to all of us at the OHS, his vision and dedication to the OKPOP project has been invaluable," says Moore. "He truly loved Oklahoma, he introduced us to so many of his friends and colleagues in the music industry, we will always be indebted to him. His passion and energy will continue to live through everything we do in OKPOP.”

Another project close to his heart was the “Stand (Let Your Voice Be Heard)” session, a song and music video project in 2014 benefiting the Red Dirt Relief Fund. The production and engineering of the music was tasked to Ripley, and he dove in with a passion, sparing no expense on gear, production value, time, and devotion. This project provided the Oklahoma artists involved a rare glimpse into the mind and skill of one of their own patriarchs of Okie Red Dirt music.

In 2017, Ripley was given the opportunity to re-visit two of the great passions of his life: his role as a band-leader and his love of all things Bob Dylan, when he was asked by the George Kaiser Family Foundation to create a live musical event celebrating the arrival of the Bob Dylan archives, which were acquired and relocated to Tulsa, and will soon be housed in the Bob Dylan Center. On A Night Like This was a one-night-only musical review, and saw Ripley leading what he dubbed “The House Band Approximately” - featuring a bevy of too-many-to-name legends of Oklahoma music, many of the new generation of Oklahoma voices and talent, and even the powerhouse vocal stylings of the McCrary Sisters, featuring Regina McCrary - a tour mate of Ripley’s from the Bob Dylan days. The concert, which would be his final live performance, was a wide-ranging tour-de-force from the Bob Dylan catalogue. One reviewer wrote: “After watching some part of Dylan’s heart and soul spend the evening at the Cain’s (Ballroom), courtesy of his old band mate in the red Converse sneakers and a host of dedicated, gifted players and singers, I don’t mind telling you, it feels just great.”

Along with creating a substantial body of recordings for his own album projects in progress, Ripley continued to work as producer and collaborator on various projects in the Americana genre and to focus on the primary love of his life: his wife and family. His final recording is an epic composition written and recorded for his grandson Mickey, titled: “Mickey and Grandpa (A Day In the Life).” Ever the not-so-mad scientist, he blends a gently spoken-word narrative with an unmistakably Ripley guitar presence, a beautifully sung chorus and a musical bridge borrowed from one of his earliest musical heroes, The Beatles.

Steve Ripley leaves with us the words with which he closed all of his radio shows: "Don’t forget, family is what’s important. Tell your mama you love her. Kiss your babies. We’re all in this together. Bye-bye kids..."

Steve is survived by his loving wife Charlene, his son Elvis Ripley and girlfriend Paige Turlington, his daughter Angelene Ripley Wright, son-in-law Jonny Wright, grandson Mickey Wilder Ripley Wright, and brothers Scott Ripley and Bobby Ripley and their families...as well as a myriad of extended family, friends and admirers too numerous to mention.

The family will announce a memorial service at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Red Dirt Relief Fund, which provides a safety net of critical assistance to Red Dirt music people in times of need. http://www.reddirtrelieffund.org