New Riders of the Purple Sage

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New Riders of the Purple Sage
The New Riders in 2005 (L-R): Buddy Cage, John Markowski, David Nelson, Michael Falzarno, Ronnie Penque
Background information
Origin	San Francisco, California
Genre(s)	Country rock
Years active	1969 – present
Associated acts	Grateful Dead
Website	www.nrps.net
Members
David Nelson Buddy Cage Michael Falzarano Ronnie Penque John Markowski
Former members
Jerry Garcia Phil Lesh Mickey Hart Dave Torbert Spencer Dryden Skip Battin Michael White Val Fuentes John Dawson Stephen A. Love Patrick Shanahan Allen Kemp Rusty Gautier Billy Wolf Gregg Lagardo Gary Vogensen Fred Campbell Evan Morgan Bill Laymon

New Riders of the Purple Sage is an American country rock band. The group emerged from the psychedelic rock scene in San Francisco, California in 1969, and its original lineup included members of the Grateful Dead. Their best known song is "Panama Red". The band is sometimes referred to as the New Riders, or as NRPS.

[edit] History

[edit] Origins: Early '60s – 1969

The roots of the New Riders can be traced back to the early 60s folk/bohemian/beatnik scene in San Francisco, where future Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia, then considered to be one of the finest banjo players of the folk revival, often played gigs with like-minded guitarist David Nelson. The young John Dawson, also known as "Marmaduke", from a well-to-do family centered in Millbrook, New York, also played some concerts with Garcia, Nelson, and their compatriots while visiting relatives on summer vacation. Enamored with the sounds of Bakersfield-style country music, Dawson would turn his older friends on to the work of Merle Haggard and Buck Owens while providing a vital link between the East Coast, Timothy Leary-dominated psychedelic scene and the West.

Dawson went on to college, Nelson moved on to Los Angeles with future Grateful Dead/New Riders lyricist Robert Hunter and tape archivist Willy Legate, and Garcia formed the Grateful Dead, then known as the Warlocks, with an acquaintance, blues singer Ron "Pigpen" McKernan.

By the time Nelson returned to the Bay Area in 1966, the Merry Pranksters-led Acid Tests were in full swing, with the Dead serving as house band. Though the group briefly considered replacing Bob Weir with the more experienced Nelson, this never materialized. Throughout 1967 and 1968, Nelson worked as a journeyman musician in the San Francisco area, playing anything from electric psychedelic rock (he was briefly lead guitarist of Big Brother and the Holding Company after Janis Joplin and Sam Andrew departed) to contemporary bluegrass with groups such as the Mescaline Rompers.

After attending a junior college in the Los Angeles area, Dawson returned to the Bay Area, where he decided to find his fortunes as a solo folksinger. Attending some of the Acid Tests and visiting the Dead at their commune in 1967, Dawson decided that it was his life's mission to combine the psychedelia of the San Francisco rock scene with his beloved electric country music. An early 1969 mescaline experience confirmed this, and the erstwhile perpetual student-cum-folkie began to compose songs on a regular basis. Some, such as "Glendale Train", were traditional country pastiches, while a number of others ("Last Lonely Eagle" and "Dirty Business") found him working in the milieu of a countrified Dead. Others, including the shuffle "Henry", were a combination of the two — traditional music combined with then-contemporary lyrics (the exploits of a marijuana smuggler, drug-related themes being a common motif in the New Riders' repertoire).

Dawson's vision was timely, as 1969 marked the emergence of country rock via the Dillard & Clark Band, the Clarence White-era Byrds, The Band, Gram Parsons' Flying Burrito Brothers, and Bob Dylan. Around this time, Garcia was similarly inspired to take up the pedal steel guitar, and Dawson and Garcia began playing coffeehouse concerts together while the Grateful Dead was off the road. The Dawson and Garcia repertoire included Bakersfield country standards, traditional bluegrass, Dawson originals, a few Dylan covers ("Lay Lady Lay", "You Ain't Going Nowhere", "Mighty Quinn"), and Joni Mitchell's song "Big Yellow Taxi". By the summer of 1969 it was decided that a full band would be formed to satisfy Garcia's desires in this creative outlet. David Nelson was immediately recruited from Big Brother to play electric lead guitar.

In addition to Nelson, Dawson (on acoustic guitar), and Garcia (continuing to play pedal steel), the original line-up of the band that came to be known as the New Riders of the Purple Sage (a nod to the Zane Grey classic and an obscure western swing combo from the 40s) consisted of Robert Hunter on electric bass and Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart. Hunter was soon replaced by Dead soundman and old crony Bob Matthews, who in turn did not last very long. Finally, Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead was named bassist. Not only was this line-up economical — for only two extra plane tickets, the cash-strapped Dead had an opening act — but Dawson's songs, combined with Garcia's self-taught pedal steel style and the eccentric rhythm section of Lesh and Hart (neither had much experience in country or folk music) gave the New Riders a singularly unique sound that stood out from the pack of emerging country-rock bands.

[edit] Vintage NRPS: 1969 – 1982

After a few warmup gigs throughout the Bay Area in 1969, the New Riders (for all intents and purposes Dawson and Nelson) began to tour in May 1970 as opening act with the Grateful Dead. This relationship continued on a regular basis until December 1971. Throughout much of 1970, the Dead would open with an acoustic set that often included Dawson and Nelson before segueing into the New Riders and then the electric Dead.

By the time the New Riders recorded their first album in late 1970, change was in the air. Dave Torbert, a young Bay Area musician, replaced Lesh. After Mickey Hart went on sabbatical from music in early 1971, Spencer Dryden (from Jefferson Airplane) began a ten year relationship with the group as their drummer, and eventually manager. The first album, eponymously titled, was released on Columbia Records in late 1971 and was a moderate success. Featuring all Dawson songs, the record was driven by Garcia's inventive pedal-steel playing.

With the New Riders desiring to become more of a self-sufficient group and Garcia needing to focus on his other responsibilities, the musician parted ways with the group in November 1971. Buddy Cage, a seasoned pedal steel player who had contributed to the latter-day recordings by Ian and Sylvia and the Great Speckled Bird, replaced Garcia. The Dawson–Nelson–Cage–Torbert–Dryden lineup is generally considered to be the finest of the group. Thanks to rampant touring and the coattails of the Grateful Dead, with whom they still gigged periodically (both bands shared the same management in this epoch), the New Riders managed to nearly eclipse the parent band in popularity. This was not necessarily a surprise, considering that their sound was far more accessible than was the Dead's.

The band peaked in popularity in 1973 with the sleeper hit The Adventures of Panama Red and the accompanying single, "Panama Red", an FM radio staple. The Adventures of Panama Red was the group's lone gold album, and is considered by most critics to be one of the better country-rock opuses to have emerged from the 1970s; the juxtaposition of a rootsy ambiance with irreverent lyrical themes clearly influenced the alternative country movement of today.

In the mid-1970s Radio Caroline adopted the song "On My Way Back Home" from the Gypsy Cowboy album as the station's theme tune. The song was well-suited to the station's album-oriented format of the time, and included the lyric "Flying to the sun, sweet Caroline".

The New Riders of the Purple Sage continued touring and releasing albums throughout the mid to late '70s and early '80s. In 1974, Dave Torbert left NRPS, and he and Matthew Kelly co-founded the band Kingfish. Skip Battin, formerly of the Byrds, took over on bass guitar, followed in 1976 by Stephen A. Love of Rick Nelson's "Stone Canyon Band" and the Roger McGuinn's "Byrds". Spencer Dryden left the drummer's chair to manage the group in 1978. His musical replacement was Patrick Shanahan. Allen Kemp joined in 1976, originally on bass, but later on guitar and vocals, contributing to the song wrting for the 1981 album, Feelin' All Right. Then, in 1982, David Nelson and Buddy Cage departed from the band. Allen Kemp left in 1986.

[edit] New New Riders: 1982 – 1997

From the early '80s to the late '90s, John Dawson continued as leader of the New Riders of the Purple Sage. He was joined by multi-instrumentalist Rusty Gautier, who sang and played acoustic guitar, slide guitar, mandolin, banjo, and fiddle. During this fifteen year period, an evolving lineup of musicians played with Dawson and Gautier in the New Riders. These included, among others, guitarists Gary Vogensen and Evan Morgan, bass players Michael White and Bill Laymon, and drummer Val Fuentes.

In addition to touring, the band released a number of albums, after a meeting with Relix Records Founder Les Kippel and Relix Magazine Publisher, Toni Brown at a show in Bucks County PA. The band were invited back to Tequila Dawn Studios in New Hope, PA and decided to work with Relix to release some recorded projects.

Some projects had the current lineup and others of older material.  On some albums, such as Midnight Moonlight, the band's sound was less influenced by electric country rock and more by acoustic bluegrass music.

In 1997, the New Riders of the Purple Sage retired from show business. John Dawson moved to Mexico and became an English teacher. In 2002, The New Riders accepted a Lifetime Achievement Award for their musical endeavors from High Times magazine. On hand were a frail Dawson (suffering from emphysema), Nelson, Cage, Dryden and Torbert's widow Patti.

[edit] NRPS Revival: 2005 – present

Shortly after the death of Spencer Dryden, a reconstituted line-up of the New Riders began touring in late 2005. It features David Nelson and Buddy Cage, alongside guitarist and latter-day Hot Tuna sideman Michael Falzarano, bassist Ronnie Penque, and drummer John Markowski. John Dawson, reportedly in ailing health, has given his endorsement to the group. According to NRPS's official web site, "Dawson remains retired in Mexico and has given the guys his blessing and sends his best to all his fans out there." Musically, the new band's tight, rambling jamming style bears a close resemblance to the sound of Nelson's own group, the David Nelson Band. In 2007 this New Riders lineup released a concert DVD and CD called Wanted: Live at Turkey Trot.

[edit] Timeline of band members

[edit] Discography

• New Riders of the Purple Sage (1971)
• Powerglide (1972)
• Gypsy Cowboy (1972)
• The Adventures of Panama Red (1973)
• Brujo (1974)
• Oh, What a Mighty Time (1975)
• New Riders (1976)
• The Best Of New Riders Of The Purple Sage (1976)
• Who Are Those Guys? (1977)
• Marin County Line (1978)
• Feelin' All Right (1981)
• Before Time Began: The Backwards Tapes (1986 - Relix Records RRLP 2024)
• Vintage NRPS (1986 - Relix Records RRLP 2025)
• Keep On Keepin' On (1989)
• Midnight Moonlight (1992 - Relix Records)
• The Relix Bay Rock Shop, Vol. 1 (1992 - Relix Records)
• Live On Stage (1993 Relix Records)
• Live In Japan (1994 Relix Records)
• Live (1982) (1995)
• Relix's Best Of The Early NRPS (1995 Relix Records)
• Relix's Best of New NRPS (1997 Relix Records)
• Ridin' With Panama Red (2000)
• Worcester, MA, 4/4/1973 (2003)
• Boston Music Hall, 12/5/1972 (2003)
• Veneta, Oregon, 8/27/1972 (2004)
• Armadillo World HQ, Austin, TX, 6/13/1975 (2005)
• Wanted: Live at Turkey Trot (2007)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official web site of the New Riders of the Purple Sage