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Steve Ripley’s Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame induction will be ‘celebration’

Steve Ripley, at the end of an interview for the Voices of Oklahoma oral history project, was asked how he would like to be remembered.

 

 

This was his response: “Oh, I don’t care if I’m remembered. You know, it’s through my kids. They have tried to induct me into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame year after year after year. And I used to say, ‘Me go into the Music Hall of Fame before JJ Cale? Are you kidding?’ Well, I knew Cale, I was talking to Cale. He wasn’t going in. And then he died, and then they put him in. And I said, ‘Well, I’ll stick with that model. Put me in after I’m dead.’”

Ripley died Jan. 3. 2019, following a battle with prostate cancer. He’s posthumously going into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.

Raised in Glencoe and educated at Oklahoma State University, Ripley was a musician, recording artist, producer, guitar maker, sound engineer and industry visionary. He co-founded the Grammy-nominated and multi-platinum group The Tractors, played in Bob Dylan’s band and earned a friendship with guitar maestro Eddie Van Halen.

Ripley’s Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 1, at OKPOP Museum, located across the street from Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa’s Arts District. The ceremony is open to the public.

Charlene Ripley, Ripley’s widow, indicated that Jim Paul Blair, the late former executive director of the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame, tried — “bless his heart” — on multiple occasions to get Steve inducted. “And Steve was just hesitant.”

In the meanwhile, other accolades have come along for Steve. It seemed off kilter that he had this honor and that honor, Charlene indicated, yet wasn’t in the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame. So it’s time to correct that and ensure his legacy is cemented.

Charlene said OKPOP, which is yet to open but welcomes visitors for preview tours on Fridays, came up with the idea of hosting Steve’s Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame induction event. The site is appropriate because Steve was a proponent of a museum to honor Oklahoma creatives.

“He was on board from the very beginning,” Charlene said, adding that OKPOP is so close to nearing the end of a fundraising mission, and there’s no way we’re not going to make it. Whoever needs to step up in Tulsa to get us over the finish line, I believe it’s going to happen.”

OKPOP looks finished from the outside, but there is significant work to be done inside before the museum can be opened. OKPOP needs to raise $18 million by Nov. 15 to access an identical amount appropriated by the Legislature. A new law created by House Bill 2673 permits OKPOP to count binding pledges toward the $18 million goal.

Jake Krumwiede, OKPOP’s executive director, provided a fundraising update Wednesday to board members of the Oklahoma Historical Society. Krumwiede said OKPOP has drawn within about $2.6 million of the $18 million mark.

“And he just flashed back to the Moses record of Red Dirt Records and said, ‘Well, Red Dirt music,’” said Ripley. “I’ll accept that as the origin because I love that story — and being a part of it in any way.”

Ripley founded Ripley Guitars in California, crafting custom instruments for Jimmy Buffett, Eddie Van Halen, Cale and others. Eddie Van Halen named a song “Ripley” after Steve, and it was used in the 1984 film “The Wild Life,” a quasi-sequel to “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.” With lyrics added, “Ripley” became the song “Blood and Fire“ on Van Halen’s final studio album, 2012’s “A Different Kind of Truth.”

Ripley was enlisted to play on Dylan’s 1981 “Shot of Love” album, and he joined Dylan’s band on a subsequent tour.

“And I believe part of what he loved on the gig is that, you know, you either choke or you swing when you get up to bat,” Ripley said in his Voices of Oklahoma interview. “And I have choked at times. But I, intellectually or consciously, was not going to just cower or not do it. So when he pointed to me, I played. I’d turn up loud and play. I’m not a great musician, and I think part of what he loved was I was apt to make a mistake at any time.”

In 1987, Ripley relocated to Tulsa bought The Church Studio, a former church Leon Russell transformed into a recording studio during the Shelter Records era. For more about Ripley’s career and his encounters with Russell, Dylan and other music figures, including the Beatles, go to voicesofoklahoma.com.

Charlene Ripley said her husband’s Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame event, featuring songs, videos and speakers, will be more like a celebration or a party than an induction ceremony. Tim DuBois, an Oklahoman who signed The Tractors to a record deal, will induct Steve. She said Steve inducted others into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in the past, including DuBois and the Red Dirt Rangers.

“So he thought people should be in it,” she said. “He just wasn’t going to go in before JJ Cale.”

 

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