The Tractors were an American countryrock bandcomposed of a loosely associated group of musicians headed by guitarist Steve Ripley. Under the band's original lineup, they signed to Arista Records in 1994, releasing their self-titled debut album that year; the album only produced one Top 40hit on the Billboard country charts. Since their foundation, most of the band's original members moved on to separate projects, although they often collaborated with frontman Ripley on The Tractors' more recent recordings. Ripley is the only official member of the group; he has stated that The Tractors is more of a "state of mind", and the band contains a largely undefined cast of unofficial contributors.
Biography
The Tractors were formed in 1988 by Steve Ripley. The original lineup comprised Ron Getman ; Jamie Oldaker ; Walt Richmond ; Steve Ripley ; and Casey Van Beek. All five members had previously been backing musicians for other notable artists, including Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronstadt, and Leonard Cohen. Oldaker had also worked with Bob Seger and Eric Clapton. By 1990 the group was signed to Arista Nashville, a newly formed record label based in Nashville, Tennessee and a subsidiary of Arista Records. In 1994 they released their self-titled debut album, which produced the single Baby Likes to Rock It and soon became the fastest-selling debut album from a country group to go platinum. A Christmas album called Have Yourself a Tractors Christmas soon followed. The Tractors were nominated for two Grammy Awards and won the Country Weekly 1995 Golden Pick Award for Favorite New Group. Their true followup, Farmers in a Changing World, was released in 1998. The band's members, except for Ripley, soon departed for other projects, although they and Ripley remained close friends and made cameo appearances on subsequent albums. Ripley released the next Tractors album, Fast Girl, with several other musicians on Audium Entertainmentin 2001. After Fast Girl, the Tractors left Audium and formed their own label, Boy Rocking Records. In 2009 "Trade Union" was released on E1. On January 3, 2019, lead singer Steve Ripley died after a long battle with cancer. Oldaker died at age 68 on July 22, 2020.
Sound
The Tractors achieved their distinctive sound in several ways, most notably from the use of old school 'minimal' recording techniques, and an emphasis on capturing everything in one take. Ripley often constructed guitars and cords for use in the band.
Discography
Albums
;Notes
A ^Have Yourself a Tractors Christmas was re-released in 2002 as Tractors Christmas
