New Riders Steel Player

Cartwright Thompson · Post by **Cartwright Thompson** » 16 Aug 2010 7:30 am

Does anyone know if the New Riders of the Purple Sage are touring with a steel player?

John Cadeau · Post by **John Cadeau** » 16 Aug 2010 7:41 am

The New Riders of The Purple Sage are doing tours. Buddy Cage is playing steel. I think but am not 100% sure that Buddy and David Nelson are the only original members of the band. I've seen them a few times in the last couple of years, and enjoyed their shows.
John

Olli Haavisto · Post by **Olli Haavisto** » 16 Aug 2010 8:27 am

Who was the original steel player with NRPS ?

Jeff Garden · Post by **Jeff Garden** » 16 Aug 2010 8:44 am

Originally, Jerry Garcia (yes, that Jerry Garcia

), as the New Riders were sort of a side project for Jerry to play steel and also included a few Grateful Dead members early on. As far as I know, it was all Buddy Cage from their second album "Powerglide" on.

JB Arnold · Post by **JB Arnold** » 17 Aug 2010 7:01 am

Cage was recruited by Garcia while they were on the Festival Express tour together. Cage was with Great Speckled Bird at the time,(basically Ian and Sylvia). He spent a week on the train set up next to Garcia and shortly thereafter Garcia started after him to come take the steel chair in the New Riders, as he had to go back to his day gig with the Dead and the Riders were taking off.

Cage was already leaning towards doing it when Amos Garrett, phenomenal guitarist for the band, told Buddy he was leaving. That sealed and Buddy asked Ian for a release so he could go to the States (Ian had him on a contract). Ian told him he could go if he could find a replacement as good as he was to take the slot, as they had a tour and the weekly TV show to do. Conveniently, the late Ben Keith came by the studio one day looking for something, and Cage cornered him and talked him into taking the job. (Not too tough, it was a good gig). Cage loaded up the VW and blew across the border before anyone could change their minds. It was the 70's equivalent of running away with the circus.

Buddy's 1st gig with the Riders was in August 71 in Atlanta. Garcia was supposed to be there as well to kind of ease the transition and introduce Cage, but he decided instead to just throw them all in the deep end of the pool and "missed the flight" and didn't get there till after the gig. It took about a month for the crowds to get used to Cage, as there was no real formal announcement, he just showed up on Powerglide.

A rock critic generally considered to be very Dead-friendly hated the change and wrote an absolutely vicious review of that early tour and Cage in general. Garcia, who thought it was funny given that Cage was 10 times the player he was, had it framed and hung it in the lobby of the Grateful Dead offices in San Francisco. It may still be there.

Cage will tell you that there is only one original member left, David Nelson. All the rest of the original members have passed on: Garcia, Dave Torbert (bass), John Dawson (vocals and guitar), and Spencer Dryden (drums).

They are touring extensively now in support of a new CD "Where I Come From". It is honestly about their 2nd or 3rd best album ever, with 7 new songs by Hunter and a bluesier edge than in the past. You can get it from itunes or find me in St Louis and maybe I'll lay a copy on you.

The current lineup is: Nelson, Cage, Michael Falzarano, Ronnie Penque, and Johnny Markowski. They absolutely smoke live. Do yourself a favor and check them out. They are performing the full catalog, so you'll hear the new stuff plus all the favorites.

JB

Shorty Rogers · Post by **Shorty Rogers** » 17 Aug 2010 7:36 am

Jeff Garden wrote: As far as I know, it was all Buddy Cage from their second album "Powerglide" on.

If memory serves me, I believe Bobby Black did some touring with the New Riders. Not sure exactly when, however.

JB Arnold · Post by **JB Arnold** » 17 Aug 2010 7:38 am

Cage took a couple of breaks from the band in the late 80's. Bobby Black was one who took the slot for a while.

JB

Dave Harmonson · Post by **Dave Harmonson** » 17 Aug 2010 7:44 am

I played on a show with New Riders in '79 in northern Idaho and indeed Bobby Black was on steel. I don't know how long he was with them. The gig was a fine one with Vassar Clements Band as well.

JB Arnold · Post by **JB Arnold** » 17 Aug 2010 7:53 am

ooops-late 70's I mean. I saw them around then too. Sneaky Pete may have sat in on a few as well.

JB

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 17 Aug 2010 9:16 am

JB Arnold wrote: Cage will tell you that there is only one original member left, David Nelson. All the rest of the original members have passed on: Garcia, Dave Torbert (bass), John Dawson (vocals and guitar), and Spencer Dryden (drums).

JB

Actually, to be officially, technically correct, that isn't the original lineup above - the original, original lineup included three members of the Dead: Garcia, Dead engineer Bob Matthews on bass replaced shortly thereafter by Phil Lesh on bass to be replaced by Torbert, and Mickey Hart on drums to be replaced by Dryden.

I saw the version of Nelson, Dawson, Lesh, Hart, and Garcia do an outdoor show in the Bay Area when I was about 16, before the group went into the studio to do the first album.

And like JB, I would certainly agree that the lineup he listed above is the one I typically think of as the original, they were nucleus of the first album.

JB Arnold · Post by **JB Arnold** » 17 Aug 2010 9:39 am

Well, yeah. At the time Garcia had found the answer to an opening act and it only required 2 extra plane tickets. That didn't last long tho, according to Cage the others were not real thrilled about doing it, and couldn't wait to drop it.

Larry Tracy · Post by **Larry Tracy** » 17 Aug 2010 10:20 am

The first time I seen them it was with Lesh and Hart at the Family Dog on the Great Highway. Great place that only lasted a little while. I remember you could go there during the day and wash a window and they would put you on the guest list. The show was the Dead, New Riders, & if not the first, one of the first shows in the Bay Area by Commander Cody. After the show one of the guys in Cody asked my friend, who had a van, if he could help drive their stuff back across the bay to Berkeley. It was the first show that made me think "what the hell is that instrument that sounds so cool".

Dave Magram · Post by **Dave Magram** » 17 Aug 2010 10:56 am

JB, your historical knowledge of the NRPS is impressive!

I have a question about one thing that you wrote:

Conveniently, the late Ben Keith came by the studio one day looking for something, and Cage cornered him and talked him into taking the job.

Did you mean BILL Keith (the co-author with Winnie Winston of the the ground-breaking Pedal Steel Guitar book)?
I know that Bill Keith played steel with Ian & Sylvia in the early 1970's because I once met up with him right after a show they did near Pittsburgh, Pa. around 1971, which fits the timeframe of your account of Buddy Cage leaving the I&S band.

I'm pretty sure that BEN Keith was busy turning out hits with Neil Young at that time.

-Dave

Danny Bates · Post by **Danny Bates** » 17 Aug 2010 11:14 am

http://www.nrpsmusic.com/band/index.html

Cartwright Thompson · Post by **Cartwright Thompson** » 17 Aug 2010 11:18 am

Thanks for all the info guys. Wouldn't you know it, I'm going to be out of town the night they're here.

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 17 Aug 2010 11:57 am

Great stories here - what wonderful memories.

I've told the story here before, but it's worth mentioning again.

One of the greatest concerts of my life was in May 1973, when Bill Graham was putting on one of the forerunners of the Day On The Green era at Kezar Stadium right next door to Haight-Ashbury, long ago home of the 49ers.

And this show was New Riders as the opener, Waylon Jennings and the Waylors in the middle, and the Dead as the headliners.

I wish Pete Grant, Garcia's old friend, and owner of his ZB, would chime in: he was telling us a few years ago at one of our very occasional Nor Cal steel jams that he was backstage that day, and he and Garcia were enthralled with watching Mooney play from the side of the stage area, paying very careful attention to what Ralph was doing. I recall Moon just loving it when this crowd consisting of a lot of hippies were cheering him after his solos. He was grinning from ear-to-ear. I read later that Waylon was a little concerned before the show how the crowd would react to him and his music, but everyone gave him and the Waylors a very warm welcome.

All three bands were on the money, it was a perfect day weather-wise in SF, and I got to play in the touch football game with Bill Graham that he liked to put on at the beginning of these types of shows.

And what a day for steel guitar players and fans: Ralph Mooney and Buddy Cage on the same bill.

Larry Tracy · Post by **Larry Tracy** » 17 Aug 2010 12:58 pm

Hey Mark, That was great show. Garcia was sitting crosslegged on the stage right by Mooney with a big grin on his face. The stage was facing away from the ocean and for days after the show you could tell who was at the show from their sunburned faces. I read in a Waylon bio that he didn't think they went over good but I agree with you that everybody loved it. It seemed like Waylon and Moon took extra solos to keep in the spirit of things.

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 17 Aug 2010 1:19 pm

Alright Larry, so you were there!

Did you play in the football game beforehand? I might have been covering you on a post pattern with Bill Graham at QB.

JB Arnold · Post by **JB Arnold** » 17 Aug 2010 2:01 pm

Dave

You're right!! I always do that. Bill. dang.

I gotta quit my job so I can pay more attention to my posts during the day.

JB

Larry Tracy · Post by **Larry Tracy** » 17 Aug 2010 6:09 pm

Hey Mark, I got there too late for the game. But still a great day. Sorry, feel like we are hijacking the thread.

Bob Blair · Post by **Bob Blair** » 17 Aug 2010 6:53 pm

It was in fact Ben Keith who replaced Cage in GSB. See: http://www.thecoolgroove.com/ben.html

Larry Tracy · Post by **Larry Tracy** » 17 Aug 2010 7:09 pm

On the wolfgangs vault site, there are plenty of great live NRPS shows.

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 17 Aug 2010 7:30 pm

Larry Tracy wrote:Hey Mark, I got there too late for the game. But still a great day. Sorry, feel like we are hijacking the thread.

No hijack, completely legal - Cartwright received his answer regarding the status of a steel player touring with the current New Riders, so at this point if we want to go into "Dark Star" it's legit.

Or for that matter, I guess we could go into Waylon doing "Old Five and Dimers."

Gerry Simon · Post by **Gerry Simon** » 17 Aug 2010 9:26 pm

Lots of interesting stuff, HERE: http://www.roadcage.com/

Larry Tracy · Post by **Larry Tracy** » 18 Aug 2010 8:02 am

Hey Mark, That was a great time. Always feel lucky that I got to experience the late 60's early 70's in the place where the most creative music and different way to look at life and the world was happening. The Dead led me to country music and the steel guitar. Then it was KFAT radio and the fat fries at the Keystone in Palo Alto. It's funny, I think it was on one of those posts and Charlie Davidson was talking about how there wasn't any great songwriters today like in the old days, you and I started naming all these current great writers. I told my wife there is this guy some where up here in northern CA. who has the same taste in music as us. Alright!