Skip Battin, formerly with the Byrds, joined the band on bass as they kept to their solid touring schedule which had become one of the band’s trademarks. This tour was recorded for the group’s first live album, Home, Home on the Road, which was produced by Jerry Garcia.Įarly 1974 found bassist Dave Torbert wanting to pursue a more rock and roll direction as he left the New Riders to form Kingfish with old friends Matthew Kelly and Bob Weir. In November they embarked on an east coast tour that included them setting the box office record at New York City’s Academy of Music. The result was The Adventures of Panama Red, released in September of 1973 and with Peter Rowan’s title track, this became an FM radio staple and the first gold record for the band. Stadium in Washington, DC, they took a brief time out to go into the Record Plant in Sausalito with producer Norbert Putnam. Working hard on the road for much of the year, including gigs with the Dead at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco and R.F.K. In May of 1973, the New Riders appeared on ABC-TV’s “In Concert” program to a nationwide audience. They toured the United States extensively in response to increasing demand, and in November, 1972 released their third album Gypsy Cowboy. In 1972 the pattern of their success continued to grow, with their first European tour followed in June by the release of their second album, Powerglide. In December, 1971 they played a live radio broadcast with the Dead over WNEW-FM in New York to an audience of millions. The New Riders were signed to Columbia Records in 1971 by Clive Davis and their eponymous first album, New Riders of the Purple Sage, was released in September of that year to widespread acclaim. An excitingly creative band with a special brand of music-sweet country harmonies mixed with pulsing rock rhythms. With the addition of Cage, the New Riders emerged as a fully independent unit. He moved from Toronto where he had been working in Anne Murray’s band, to California in the spring of 1971 to join the New Riders.
When Garcia’s busy schedule made it increasingly difficult for him to play with the New Riders, the talented Cage was the perfect choice to fill the pedal steel spot. One of the many gigs with the Dead included the Trans-Canadian Festival Express with Janis Joplin, The Band, and other American and Canadian artists like Ian and Sylvia, who had with them a brilliant, innovative pedal steel player named Buddy Cage.
They began to tour extensively with the Dead, and in December of 1970, Spencer Dryden, who had previously showed his impeccable drumming style with the Jefferson Airplane, had stepped in on drums. Soon enough, smoky clubs all over the San Francisco bay area were filling up with whooping, foot-stomping crowds as their music got tighter and more dynamic. In 1970, Dave Torbert took over on bass and the New Riders played every chance they got. Filling out the rhythm section in those early days were Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart and engineer Bob Matthews on bass, who was later replaced by Phil Lesh. That same year, David Nelson, expert in both country and rock guitar, joined the group on electric lead guitar. The two played in coffeehouses and small clubs initially, and the music they made became the nucleus for a band-the New Riders of the Purple Sage.
In the summer of 1969, John Dawson was looking to showcase his songs while Jerry Garcia was looking to practic his brand new pedal steel guitar.
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