Over the past few months, I’ve thought about that question a lot, because I feel like lately people have had this idea that artists owe us something. They don’t owe us shit. Now, there’s a difference in artists thinking they owe the fans, and fans thinking the artists owe them something.

If you were at Boys From Oklahoma or heard any podcasts Ragweed was on, you surely heard Cody Canada say that they felt like they owed the fans. He felt like he owed us more than what was given when they called it quits. Did they deliver? Yes, 100% they delivered. They put on a helluva show for four nights and brought a lot of guests, big and small, out on stage to make it special. However, did Ragweed owe us their return? No, they didn’t.

A lot of people who are younger, like myself, had come to the conclusion that we’d never see Ragweed together. But we were excited when we found out we’d have the chance to see them. While the band felt they owed us, the fans, they didn’t. They needed to do that for themselves. They needed to get back together to heal and reconnect after so many years. But they didn’t owe us it.

An artist doesn’t owe us anything. They don’t owe us another record, another song at a show, the setlist you so desperately want, or anything. They are artists, and what they do is their art. It’s their way to express themselves, and they shouldn’t feel that they owe us anything. If you’re a true fan, you don’t care. You want to support them and that’s it.

I think a lot of people were expecting different with this Childers record. I feel from what I saw, people were expecting an album with a lot of unreleased songs that we’ve had the opportunity to hear online over the years, or songs that he’s put out but not as a true studio version. I think a lot of people thought that’s what it was going to be and were upset with what we actually got. But he didn’t owe us that. He didn’t owe us what we wanted. Did he give us some of that with “Oneida” and “Nose on the Grindstone”? Yes. But he never owed us that.

I think people need to get the idea out of their head that artists owe us, because it makes you look like a child when you complain that you didn’t get what you wanted. If you don’t like what an artist does okay. That’s your choice. Moral of the story? What do artists owe us? Nothing. Nothing at all.

---