Ritch Henderson Revisits Tim McGraw’s “Red Ragtop” With Stellar Acoustic Cover

“In the back that red ragtop…” 

One of country music’s more controversial songs is resurgent thanks to the Alabama native, Ritch Henderson. If you have not yet familiarized yourself with Henderson, now is the time to do it, and what better way to dive into an artist’s catalog than with a cover of a Tim McGraw classic.

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Ritch Henderson is one of the numerous talents coming out of Alabama. Standing alongside other stellar independent artists, Henderson is a prolific songwriter, and before pursuing music, he heroically served our nation. Henderson served our nation’s Marine Corps and, after Afghanistan, found himself struggling with PTSD, numbing the pain in unhealthy ways. However, Henderson came out of his struggles on top and now lives a sober lifestyle.

While I highly recommend diving into Henderson’s catalog because his last studio record, Alive in Alabama, made the Whiskey Riff’s Top 40 Albums of 2024 list, let’s keep this train on track and focus on his latest release.

This past week, Henderson revisited Tim McGraw’s 2002 hit “Red Ragtop.” The tune was written and initially recorded by Jason White in 2001, but McGraw’s version put the profound song on the map. While the song features all the elements of a country hit, the lyrics are quite suggestive, and “Red Ragtop” was even banned from country radio for a short period of time.

The lyrics showcase falling in love, but how the hardships you can face drive you apart. So what was the controversial hardship that McGraw sings of? An abortion. While the lyrics don’t specifically say that, the words do point to the fact that the young couple got pregnant unexpectedly and chose to terminate the pregnancy.

“Well, the very first time her mother met me
Her green-eyed girl had been a mother-to-be for two weeks
I was out of a job and she was in school
And life was fast and the world was cruel
We were young and wild
We decided not to have a child
So we did what we did and we tried to forget
And we swore up and down there would be no regrets in the morning light.”

Even though the couple in the lyrics swore this life-changing decision wouldn’t affect their feelings for each other, eventually, they grew apart. The narrator thinks back on the time he and this woman shared years later, after seeing a “Red Ragtop,” wondering what could have been.

Henderson shared with Whiskey Riff that he wanted to cover his song because he felt that country music fans often overlooked its true meaning.

“I always loved this song, but I felt like most folks didn’t really grasp what the song was about. Something about the tempo, or presentation, this huge anthemic radio hit just seemed to veil the devastating message.

So I started playing it out on tour a few years ago, and I really started to feel like I wanted to be a part of this song’s legacy in some small way as well. It’s a beautiful, brilliant song that takes us all somewhere we’ve been before when we hear it, like much of Tim’s catalog does.”

Henderson’s take on the song strips back the melody to let the powerful lyrics shine. Henderson delivers the lyrics with a melancholy tone, giving the listener the feeling that the narrator is ruminating on his past choices. This cover of “Red Ragtop” gets a chef’s kiss.

Ritch Henderson is one of the best in the independent game, and this take on a classic amplifies that thought. Turn it up.

The post Ritch Henderson Revisits Tim McGraw’s “Red Ragtop” With Stellar Acoustic Cover first appeared on Whiskey Riff.