Paul Steven Ripley (January 1, 1950 – January 3, 2019) was an American recording artist, record producer,

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

studio engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproductio ...

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

, and

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

. He entered the music industry in 1977. He was also the leader/producer of

country rock Country rock is a genre of music which fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal s ...

band

The Tractors The Tractors were an American country rock band composed of a loosely associated group of musicians headed by guitarist Steve Ripley. The original lineup consisted of Steve Ripley (lead vocals, guitar), Ron Getman (guitar, Dobro, mandolin, tenor ...

Early life and education

Ripley was born in

Boise, Idaho Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown are ...

, but grew up in Oklahoma: he attended Glencoe High School in

Glencoe, Oklahoma Glencoe is a town in northern Payne County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 601 at the 2010 census, an increase of 3.1 percent from the figure of 583 in 2000. Glencoe is a midway point between Pawnee County and Stillwater, which is ...

, and graduated from

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

Career

Ripley's band Moses chose the name Red Dirt Records for their 1972 self-published live album; the first usage of Red Dirt. Ripley worked as a studio musician, producer, and recording engineer, working with

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

, playing guitar (on ''

Shot of Love ''Shot of Love'' is the 21st studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on August 12, 1981, by Columbia Records. It is considered to be Dylan's last of a trilogy of Christian albums. Arrangements are rooted more in rock, ...

'') and on the "Shot of Love" tour, with

J. J. Cale John Weldon "J. J." Cale (December 5, 1938 – July 26, 2013) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and sound engineer. Though he avoided the limelight, his influence as a musical artist has been acknowledged by figures such as Mark Knop ...

(on '' Shades'', '' 8'' and '' Roll On''), and he produced

Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown (April 18, 1924 – September 10, 2005) was an American singer and multi-instrumentalist from Louisiana. He won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album in 1983 for his album, ''Alright Again!''. Early life Br ...

and

Roy Clark Roy Linwood Clark (April 15, 1933 – November 15, 2018) was an American singer and musician. He is best known for having hosted ''Hee Haw'', a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969 to 1997. Clark was an important and influen ...

(on ''Makin' Music'') and

Johnnie Lee Wills Johnnie Lee Wills (September 2, 1912 – October 25, 1984) was an American Western swing fiddler popular in the 1930s and 1940s. Biography Wills was born in Jewett, Texas, United States, and was the younger brother of Bob Wills. He played banjo w ...

(on ''Reunion'') and 20/20 (on “Sex Trap”). Dylan listed Ripley as one of his favorite guitarists. SteveRipley OHC Commerce

In 1982, Ripley founded Ripley Guitars in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...

. He created guitars for Steve Lukather,

John Hiatt John Robert Hiatt (born August 20, 1952) is an American singer-songwriter. He has played a variety of musical styles on his albums, including new wave, blues, and country. Hiatt has been nominated for nine Grammy Awards and has been awarded ...

Ry Cooder Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in traditional music, an ...

Jimmy Buffett James William Buffett (born December 25, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and businessman. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffet ...

and

Eddie Van Halen Edward Lodewijk Van Halen ( , ; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he co-founded along ...

, before moving to

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

in 1987 and buying

Leon Russell Leon Russell (born Claude Russell Bridges; April 2, 1942 – November 13, 2016) was an American musician and songwriter who was involved with numerous bestselling records during his 60-year career that spanned multiple genres, including rock and ...

's former

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enoug ...

The Church Studio The Church Studio is a recording studio in Tulsa, Oklahoma established in 1972 by musician, songwriter, and producer Leon Russell. Located in a converted church building, the studio has since been cited as being the heart of the Tulsa Sound. H ...

. In 1994 he formed the country band,

. He is the co-writer of the country hit "

Baby Likes to Rock It "Baby Likes to Rock It" is a song written by Steve Ripley and Walt Richmond, and recorded by American country music group The Tractors. It was released in August 1994 as the first single from their self-titled album. The song reached number 11 on ...

". In 2002, he created his own

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

(Boy Rocking Records) to produce artists including The Tractors, Leon Russell and The Red Dirt Rangers. In 2009, he produced and hosted a 20-part radio series on the history of Oklahoma

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

, that aired on Oklahoma public radio stations. It was entitled "Oklahoma Rock and Roll with Steve Ripley." In 2013 Ripley produced the album ''Lone Chimney'' by the Red Dirt Rangers. Ripley was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Awards Red Dirt Hall of Fame along with Bob Childers and Tom Skinner at the ceremony for the First Annual Red Dirt Music Awards held on Sunday, November 9, 2003 at Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa. In 2015, Ripley worked alongside staff at the

Oklahoma Historical Society The Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS) is an agency of the government of Oklahoma dedicated to promotion and preservation of Oklahoma's history and its people by collecting, interpreting, and disseminating knowledge and artifacts of Oklahoma. ...

to create a "Church Studio" exhibit space at the Oklahoma History Center. He remastered several of

's songs that were available in a touchscreen kiosk that allowed a visitor to adjust individual instruments and vocal tracks to comprehend how

multitrack recording Multitrack recording (MTR), also known as multitracking or tracking, is a method of sound recording developed in 1955 that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources or of sound sources recorded at different times to create a ...

works. In 2016 Ripley produced and curated a concert at Cain's Ballroom to celebrate the music and legacy of Bob Dylan. After his death in 2020 Ripley was inducted into the Oklahoma Historians Hall of Fame by the Oklahoma Historical Society and also received the Restless Spirit Award from the Red Dirt Relief Fund.

Death

Ripley died from cancer on January 3, 2019, two days after his 69th birthday, at his home in

Pawnee, Oklahoma Pawnee ( Pawnee: Paári, iow, Páñi Chína) is a city and county seat of Pawnee County, Oklahoma, United States. The town is northeast of Stillwater at the junction of U.S. Route 64 and State Highway 18. It was named for the Pawnee tribe, ...

Discography

The Tractors

* 1994 : ''

'' (Arista) * 1995 : ''

Have Yourself a Tractors Christmas ''Have Yourself a Tractors Christmas'' is the second studio album and first Christmas album by American country music band The Tractors. It was released by Arista Nashville on October 10, 1995. The album peaked at number 12 on the ''Billboard (mag ...

'' (Arista) * 1998 : ''Farmers in a Changing World'' (Arista) * 2001 : ''Fast Girl'' (Boy Rocking) * 2002 : ''The Big Night'' (Boy Rocking) * 2005 : ''The Kids Record'' (Boy Rocking) * 2009 : ''Trade Union'' (Boy Rocking) * 2020 : ''Tulsa'' (Boy Rocking)

Solo discography

* 2002 : ''Ripley'' (Boy Rocking Records) with

The Jordanaires The Jordanaires were an American vocal quartet that formed as a gospel group in 1948. Over the years, they recorded both sacred and secular music for recording companies such as Capitol Records, RCA Victor, Columbia Records, Decca Records, Vocal ...

Incidental music

* 1976: "Flying Upside Down in My Plane" (part of the soundtrack in the film, '' Deportee'')

References

External links

The Tractors official website

AllMusic Credits

Voices of Oklahoma interview.
First person interview conducted in 2018 with Steve Ripley. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ripley, Steve 1950 births 2019 deaths Guitar makers American male singers American country singers American country songwriters American country guitarists American male guitarists Record producers from Idaho Deaths from cancer in Oklahoma Oklahoma State University alumni The Tractors members Singers from Idaho Singers from Oklahoma Musicians from Boise, Idaho People from Payne County, Oklahoma Guitarists from Oklahoma 20th-century American guitarists Country musicians from Oklahoma 20th-century American male musicians