Originated as a genre of country music that is unique to Oklahoma, Red Dirt music (named in reference to the state's colorful soil) is a hybrid of several American styles, including blues, Southern rock and Western swing. The members of Jason Boland & the Stragglers, despite now living in Texas, were born and raised in Oklahoma, and therefore pride themselves on recreating the Red Dirt sound. The band formed in the late 1990s and performs its neotraditionalist country style via a combination of classic and modern instrumentation that includes pedal steel, fiddle, electric guitar and drums. Boland himself sings with a mellow twang that takes influence from popular outlaw country singers such as Merle Haggard and Johnny Paycheck. The band's debut album, Pearl Snaps, was released in 1999.