The Tractors were an American country rock band composed of a loosely associated group of musicians headed by guitarist Steve Ripley.

Since their foundation, most of the band's original members moved on to separate projects, although they often collaborated with frontman Ripley on The Tractors' more recent recordings.

[3] All five members had previously been backing musicians for other notable artists, including Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronstadt, and Leonard Cohen.

[10] The two surviving original members – Casey Van Beek and Walt Richmond – continue to be musically active, having formed a group named Casey Van Beek and the Tulsa Groove, and releasing an album titled Heaven Forever as recently as 2020; Getman was a brief contributor to this group before his own death.

[11][12] The Tractors achieved their distinctive sound in several ways, most notably from the use of old school 'minimal' recording techniques, and an emphasis on capturing everything in one take.