Hear Cody Canada and the Departed’s Biting New Song ‘Lipstick’
Cody Canada, a poster child of the Red Dirt scene as the front man of Cross Canadian Ragweed, is returning to the fray with his band the Departed and their first LP of new material in three years, 3. With the news comes the album’s first song, a winding country rocker called “Lipstick.”
The new song sounds like vintage Canada, recalling the early 2000s when Ragweed was at the height of its powers. Built around an acoustic groove that slowly unfurls into an extended guitar solo, “Lipstick” is a rumination on romance and betrayal told through the lens of a prostitute and punctured with wailing harmonica breaks. “‘Telling lies before the lipstick dries’ started this song,” Canada tells Rolling Stone Country, referring to one of the song’s lyrics. “The idea of her being a lady of the night came later.”
New Album 3, which will be released on June 29th, takes its name in part from the Departed’s lineup, which has been trimmed to a trio since the release of their last album with Canada at the helm, 2015’s HippieLovePunk. (Bassist Jeremy Plato was out front for an album of covers the following year.) The album reunites Canada with his old Ragweed producer, Mike McClure, who mans the controls for his first Departed project on 3.
Canada and McClure play a song swap together at Larry Joe Taylor’s Texas Music Festival in Stephenville, Texas, on April 26th. The Departed’s next appearance takes place May 4th at Green Country Jam in Tulsa, Oklahoma.