In 1972 The New Riders Of The Purple Sage released this single on Columbia Records. This record written by J. Dawson and produced by Steve Barncard.
This is a radio station copy with mono on one side and stereo on the other. Mono version is a little shorter at two minutes and forty seconds while the stereo side is three minutes and five seconds. Both sides of this record are in very good condition.
New Riders of the Purple Sage a country rock band. The group developed in the psychedelic rock scene in San Francisco, California in 1969. The original line up included several members of the Grateful Dead. Their best known song to date is "Panama Red". Some fans refer to them as New Riders or as NRPS.
If you were to track the real roots of the New Riders you would be in the early 1960's in and around Stanford Universities now gone Penny Lane housing complex in Menlo Park, California where future Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia often played gigs with a like minded guitarist David Nelson. The young John Dawson (known as Marmaduke) who would be the leader of New Riders, also played some gigs with Garcia, Nelson and their other friends.
On his travels to see relatives and friends in the Bakersfield area Dawson developed a love for the Bakersfield style of country music, so it was only natural that he turned his older friends on to the work of Merle Haggard and Buck Owens. It was that music blended with the blues, the rock, the great innovations that started to happen when these musicians began creating and developing a real intense happening sound.
New Riders of the Purple Sage actually began as a part-time spin-off from the Grateful Dead when Jerry Garcia (pedal steel guitar), Phil Lesh (bass) and Mickey Hart (drums) teamed up with John Dawson (guitar, vocals) and David Nelson (guitar). Although early live appearances were viewed as an informal warm-up to the main attraction, the group quickly established an independent identity through the strength of Dawson’s original songs.
By 1970 Dave Torbert had replaced Lesh, and Spencer Dryden, formerly of Jefferson Airplane, had joined as the group’s permanent drummer. Garcia remained in both The Dead and The New Riders until he found himself over committed, at which time Buddy Cage replaced him and the classic NRPS lineup was born.
To this day The New Riders of the Purple Sage are still touring and recording. The original bass player Dave Torbert, drummber Spencer Dryden and co-founder John Dawson have passed away. The band recently teamed up with Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter and released it’s first CD in twenty years to much excitement with "Where I Come From" on Woodstock Records.