'Tulsa Sound' CD May Help Land The Shuttle

By Rick Wells, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- How's your basic knowledge of what is commonly called the "Tulsa Sound?" You can get your hands on a collection of songs by singers and songwriters with Oklahoma Roots and help a good cause.

You can do it at the Tulsa Air and Space Museum Friday night, if the price is right.

"It's an odd mix of country rock and folk," said Russ Scott of AmericanMusicMasters.com.

Russ Scott is talking about the Tulsa Sound.

"It's so infectious - you just can't quit - once it gets under your skin, it sticks."

Scott is a Tulsa songwriter and musicologist Russ Scott who assembled a 15 song collection titled "The Tulsa Sound Then and Now."

It begins with David Gates and Bread and finishes with a piece by Loren Dorland whom he says is one of the Tulsa Sound's new artists. There are so many possible contributors choosing just 15 was difficult.

"I had to squeeze it down to what I knew would be unusual but still remembered," Scott said.

Maybe my favorite J.J. Cale's classic "After Midnight" sung by Eric Clapton.

The idea was born in a piece he wrote about the Tulsa Sound on his web site American Music Masters. Someone at the Tulsa Air and Space Museum saw it and asked him to put together a collection on a CD to be auctioned off.

The auction is part of a huge weekend at the museum which now will include everything from the sound of planes from the Rocket Racing League to Tulsa Sound classics too.

The audio CD collection will be available during the silent auction at the Aviator Ball, at the Air and Space Museum Friday night. More information on the weekend events at the Museum and the CD collection are on a couple of web sites.