When Josh Crutchmer, a proud Okmulgee native and New York Times editor, says he hasn’t lost his “Okmulgee state of mind,” you can believe it.
That hometown heartbeat shows up in every part of his story – from his early days playing sports at the Okmulgee YMCA to shaping the front page of one of the world’s most prestigious newspapers. It also echoes through his passion project: telling the story of Oklahoma’s Red Dirt music scene, a movement he’s been faithfully documenting for decades. His latest book, Never Say Never, is a frontrow seat to a musical reunion fans never thought they’d see.
“This felt like a homecoming for Red Dirt,” Josh told me, “so I wanted to make it a homecoming for me too.”
That’s part of the beauty of Josh – he might be making major decisions about The New York Times front page during the day and writing for Rolling Stone by night, but his Oklahoma roots run deep in the red dirt and in the small-town rhythm of Okmulgee.
— From 9th Street to the New York Times
Most folks might not picture a small-town public school kid overseeing the front page of The New York Times, but that’s Josh’s reality.
“I love breaking the preconceived notion that the Times is just coastal elites,” he said with a grin. “Because I’m anything but that.”
After graduating from Okmulgee High School in 1997, Josh went on to Oklahoma State University, originally planning to go to law school and come back to Okmulgee. But journalism won his heart.
“I always just had this thing for journalism and writing,” he said. “I still thought I would graduate, go to law school, move back to Okmulgee, but I ended up just loving journalism too much.”
That love took him across the country – from designing sports pages at The Oklahoman to leading visual storytelling at the Chicago Tribune, Cleveland Plain Dealer and beyond. His big break came in 2016, when he led coverage of the Cavaliers’ historic NBA championship. Soon after, The New York Times came calling.
By early 2017, he was in New York. But even now, when he returns to Okmulgee, the contrast between city and country always comes up.
“I hear it every single time, like, you know that the question comes up about a culture shock … New York and Okmulgee couldn’t be any more different of places,” he said. “But … if I was ever feeling down in Okmulgee, I would just kind of walk out to my parents’ old farmland and hide from everybody and be at peace… I get that here. If I need a moment to myself, I just walk out in the city and nobody can find me. It’s just different – because nobody can find you in a crowd here and nobody can find you in a field there. But the feeling is the same.”
— Never Say Never … Until You Do
Josh’s fourth book, Never Say Never, that may be his most personal, is a love letter to Red Dirt music and a time-stamped journal of something almost mythical: the reunion of Stillwater’s legendary band, Cross Canadian Ragweed.
“Their lead singer … Cody Canada … I did a story with him for Rolling Stone about the possibility of reunion, and he said it’s never going to happen … and less than six months later, he and I were on the phone talking about how a reunion was going to happen. And it’s cliché, but his … the words he said were, ‘Never say never.’” What followed were four unforgettable nights in Stillwater, where Ragweed, Turnpike Troubadours, Stoney LaRue and others brought Red Dirt roaring back to life. Josh was there for all of it – writing, remembering and reconnecting with the very scene that shaped so much of his journey.
The book takes readers behind the curtain, through conversations with the artists and onto the field at Boone Pickens Stadium where it all went down.
One of the most moving moments from the concert series – and the book -was deeply personal for Josh.
“There is a song that they played every night … called On a Cloud, and it was written about the Oklahoma State plane crash that killed 10 members of the basketball team that year,” he said. “I was the sports editor of the OSU newspaper … I went out on stage … and explained to them how On a Cloud started in Stillwater … and I told the crowd that I hope that they found this comforting then, as we all did when they heard this weekend.”
Another unforgettable moment? Watching the band’s kids take the stage with them.
“It created this feeling… it was beautiful … it was love,” Josh said. “But it was also showing how Red Dirt was still this just vibrant scene that transcends generations.”
— Bringing It All Back Home
While Red Dirt may have taken center stage, Okmulgee is never far from Josh’s heart – and he’s proving that in a tangible way.
Proceeds from Never Say Never are being donated to the Okmulgee County Family YMCA.
“I thought it would be nice,” he said. “I thought this might be my one chance to do something different… and I kept coming back to the YMCA… I played sports in it when I was a kid … my parents still donate to it.”
Sales of the book have already raised several thousand dollars to help fund youth sports programs, equipment and community resources.
“That’s all going to go to help youth sports,” he said. “It will help buy equipment. It will help fund a sports team here or there. And that’s what I did from ages five to … well, until I couldn’t play sports anymore. And it all started at the Y.”
Through special edition sales, $5 to $10 per copy is going directly to the YMCA to support youth sports, equipment and programming. Even Amazon purchases of the book through November will send a portion back to the community.
And it’s already making a difference. “We’ve raised a couple thousand just this weekend,” Josh said. “That’s going to buy gear, fund a team … that’s where I started. It means a lot.”
— Staying True
Even while running with big names and covering global headlines, Josh remains unmistakably Okmulgee.
“I feel like I am representing where I come from to the world, wherever I’m at,” he told me. “Ask anybody who’s had me cook chicken fried steak that I learned from my grandmother on North Mission in Okmulgee… that still comes out in conversation and interactions.”
And the people who helped shape him? They’re never far from mind.
“I think about so many people like that every day,” he said, naming teachers like Coach Gene Walters and Craig Brydges. “Every now and then you’ll still see my dad over at the First Baptist Church on Wednesdays and Sundays too … So I still think the world of Okmulgee, and I’m always really happy when I get to go back there.”
— What’s Next?
With Never Say Never out April 21 and Red Dirt Unplugged still fresh from its December release, Josh plans to spend the year spreading the word about both. But don’t think he’s done writing.
“There will be another book too,” he said. “I’m going to let the reaction to Never Say Never determine if that will be another Red Dirt book or if I break away… into Texas or the Southwest… before coming back to Red Dirt.”
Either way, we know he’ll carry Okmulgee with him.
And we’ll be reading. – Want to support the Okmulgee YMCA and snag a piece of Red Dirt history? Order Never Say Never directly from Josh Crutchmer at neversayneverbook. com or catch it on Amazon starting April 23. You can also find it on social media at @neversayneverbook on all of the major platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, YouTube).
