I've known Cody Canada, in a professional capacity, for around three years. But I've been a fan of his for more than 10 years longer than that. I actually purchased Ragweed's Soul Gravy, in Baghdad, back in 2004.

If you served you understand, if you haven't there is now way I can even begin to explain how just seeing that album for sale at that big PX inside the Baghdad International Airport, covered in dirt and dust, was like a little homecoming -- many, many thousands of miles away from home.

The first time I interviewed him was right after (maybe before), This is Indian Land was released, I was nervous. He and I spoke about everything from Ragweed to his new band, the Departed, on and off air. I shared the story with him, the exciting one about me buying Soul Gravy, he was genuinely thankful, to me, for buying his album at all, let alone in Iraq.

Since then I've been at many concerts and festivals with him, he's visited the studio and been on the show more than a few times. He's even performed two acoustic shows on our Front Porch, by the way, for forty plus very excited fans each time.

Each time I have ever been around him, whether at a radio station, concert venue, or festival Canada was nothing but gracious, courteous and professional. That's the extent of my experiences with Cody.

Cody Canada and the Departed's next album, HippieLovePunk, is now available for pre-order.

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