Stoney LaRue plays music that combines the rootsy, emotionally honest sound of country with the beer-drinking swagger of heartland rock and a dash of the moody undercurrents of the blues. LaRue was born in Taft, Texas, into a musical family — his father played bass in a number of local bands — and he grew up listening to the country and Southern rock that would inform his later work. When he was a teenager, LaRue’s family pulled up stakes for Oklahoma, and with time LaRue would become part of the Stillwater, Oklahoma “Red Dirt” musical community, along with likeminded acts such as Cross Canadian Ragweed, Jason Boland, and Mike McClure.