We continue our look at the music of 50 years ago…..
The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia just like to play…anytime, anywhere. And by 1971 he had added the pedal-steel guitar to the list of stringed instruments that he was proficient at. (You remember his notable steel part of CSNY’s Teach Your Children the year before) He and Mickey Hart had hooked up with some other veterans of the Bay area music scene and were playing some gigs at clubs and as an opening act for some Dead concerts. They called themselves the “New Riders Of The Purple Sage” and released their self-titled debut LP which reached #39 on the charts.
All of the songs on the album were by written by John Dawson and he sang most of them as well. They ranged from straight ahead country-rock like “Last Lonely Eagle” and “Garden of Eden” and “Portland Woman” to the bluegrass tinged train tale ‘Glendale Train” (with Garcia on banjo as well)…to the psychedelic song “Dirty Business” and the fun (although socially inappropriate these days) “Henry”.
This is the only studio LP by the band that has Garcia playing on it. He was replaced by Buddy Cage for later records. Hart was also replaced by former Jefferson Airplane drummer Spencer Dryden.
This isn’t new ground…The Flying Burrito Brothers, Poco and the Byrds got there first…but it has it’s moments and is done well. Enjoy!
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