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Opening for Dead
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The New Riders were considered the poor man’s Grateful Dead
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The New Riders of the Purple Sage began their journey as a poor man’s Grateful Dead. The group’s history dates back to 1969, when Dead’s lead guitarist Jerry Garcia first bought a pedal steel guitar and was searching for a country b
and to use it in.
Jams developed among Garcia and the core members of the new outfit, David Nelson and song writer John Dawson plus other Dead members Mickey Hart and Phil Lesh, which led to the formation of the first Riders band.
Circa 1962, Nelson and Dawson had loose connections to Dead members. Nelson first knew Garcia and lyricist Robert Hunter from his days in the Wildwood Boys back in art school. Hunter and Nelson named the band after “Riders of the Purple Sage”, a 1912 western novel by Zane Grey. They became the opening act for Grateful Dead tours in 1970.
As the Dead took too much of his time Garcia called it quits and in late 1971 the group added Buddy Cage on pedal steel. He had earlier played with Ian and Sylvia’s Great Speckled Bird.
Imitating their role models, the Riders became associated with dope-smoking ‘hippiedom’, especially with the anthemic “Panama Red”, written by non member Peter Rowan. This made the band a major concert draw, though their compilations sold only moderately. “The Adventures of Panama Red” was released in 1973 and this issue was their only gold LP.
The line up put up a steady show until February1974 but soon after the release of the live LP “Home Home on the Road” Dave Torbert left to form Kingfish with Dead rhythm guitarist Bob Weir. Skip Battin (ex-Byrd) took his place for the following two LPs and then left in 1976 to join the new version of the Flying Burrito Brothers. The group continued to tour, with Dawson at the helm, playing small clubs. Nelson left the band in the early 1980s and started to perform with the Gerry Garcia Acoustic Band.
A. GEORGE ANTONY
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