. Although they never remotely approached the success or longevity of
never reached much beyond that audience, but the Deadheads loved them as substitutes (along with
's periodic solo projects) for the real article. Their initial sound was a kind of country-acid rock, somewhat twangier than
's successful forays into experimental jams, but they later acquitted themselves as straight country-rockers.
Essentially,
the New Riders of the Purple Sage (their name derives from an old country outfit, Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage, who in turn took the name from an old Western novel) were initially formed as a vehicle for
Garcia,
Lesh, and
Hart to indulge their tastes for country music beyond the albums
Workingman's Dead and
American Beauty. Their original lineup at early performances consisted of
Garcia on pedal steel,
Lesh on bass,
John Dawson (born 1945) on rhythm guitars and vocals, sometime
Dead contributor-member
David Nelson on lead guitars, mandolin, and vocals, and
Mickey Hart on drums.
The New Riders quickly evolved into more of a free-standing unit, with
Dave Torbert succeeding
Lesh, and ex-
Jefferson Airplane member
Spencer Dryden on the drums, succeeding
Hart. They also developed an identity of their own through
Dawson's songwriting, which had an appealing command of melody and beat.
The group was a little shaky as a country-rock outfit, without the strengths of soulfulness or strong in-house songwriting of, say,
Poco or
the Burrito Brothers, but their association with
Garcia and
the Dead (
Lesh co-produced one album) gave them a significant leg up in terms of publicity and finding an audience. High school and college kids who'd scarcely heard of
Gram Parsons or
Jim Messina but owned more than one
Dead album, were likely in those days to own, or have a friend who owned, at least one
New Riders album. That translated into many thousands of sales of the self-titled first album, which proved an apt and pleasing companion to
Workingman's Dead and
American Beauty with its mix of country and psychedelic sounds. By the second album,
Buddy Cage had come in on pedal steel, replacing
Garcia, and their sound had firmed up, helped by the fact that
Dawson and
Torbert were good songwriters.
Powerglide, their second album, proved that they had what it took to stand separate from
the Dead, even though
Garcia and
Bill Kreutzmann played on a handful of cuts. The group continued to attract a following through the early and mid-'70s, mixing country-rock and folk sounds (
Buffy St. Marie was a guest vocalist on the 1974 hit album
The Adventures of Panama Red) and attracting the mellower component of recreational drug users. By the end of the decade, following a label change from Columbia to MCA, it seemed as though they were running out of steam and originality, however, and the growth in popularity of punk, disco, and power pop made them seem like an anachronism, along with most other country-rock outfits of the era. Ex-
Byrd Skip Battin joined in 1975, replacing
Torbert;
Dryden gave up playing in 1978 to assume management of the band, and by 1981,
Nelson was gone.
The New Riders essentially disbanded in 1982, although the name was later picked up by a new lineup built around Gary Vogensen (guitar) and Rusty Gautier (bass).
Nelson subsequently played with
the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band and assumed the de facto role of group archivist, supervising the release of unissued tapes by the band through the Relix label.
–
Bruce Eder, Rovi