There is the old Phil Lesh chestnut after watching Miles open for the Grateful Dead in 1970, “how are we supposed to follow THAT?”
I remember Miles more than NRPS. Pretty cool. Saw the Riders so many times in and around SF during the early to mid 70s. Many times w Jerry on pedal steel.
Incredible! I was lucky to catch Jerry on pedal steel on the 87 tour with Dylan and on banjo at the warfield with Grisman in 94. Was lucky enough to meet him outside the warfield once. also...
The Riders w Jerry opened for the Dead continually in the early 70’s At Fillmore West in SF. Wonderful shows. Saw them constantly. Wonderful Times.
Also how do you think Columbia records would have reacted to Garcia being out of the band before the first record was released?
Cool, I've seen the Glendale Train from that show like 1000 times, but never seen that clip. Love seeing him play that classic tele.
Found this from an interview with Buddy. When Tommy James went solo, the Shondells became Hog Heaven. Hog Heaven - Bumpin’ Slapcar Mama It was 1970: I was playing with Ian & Sylvia/Great Speckled Bird. We were booked to play on what was being touted as the funnest gig ever . . . the Festival Express. Jerry Garcia approached me on the train offering up this steel chair (his) for New Riders of the Purple Sage. I was only mildly intrigued. I liked this guy, he was musical magic to me but I told him I was already committed. I would think about it. Shortly after the FE, we were working on a television show I HATED (!) in Toronto - Amos Garrett came to me in the green room and announced he was leaving I&S to play w/Paul Butterfield in Woodstock. I took it well, but knew in an instant that I was "gone" as well. The only thing that made it for me was the chance to work and learn from Amos. So I quit. NRPS called again and asked if I was still interested. I said yes. Mike Vale from the Shondells called me and contracted me to finish a partially completed record by his new spin-off group Hog Heaven. Once this was done, I had to return to Canada for some unfinished jobs with Anne Murray, then I was off to San Francisco to honor my commitment to Garcia and the New Riders.
track 10) Duncan & Brady (John Koener-traditional) Love this! A funky jazzy strut...pure classic! Well twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, little star Along comes Brady with his electric car He had a mean look all in his eye He's gonna shoot somebody just to see them die You know he's Been on the job too long Been on the job too long Been on the job too long Said Brady, your time done come Now, Duncan, Duncan, Duncan, he was tending bar Along comes Brady with his shining star And Brady says, "Duncan you're under arrest" And Duncan shot a hole right in Brady's breast You know he's Been on the job too long Been on the job too long Been on the job too long Said Brady, your time done come Well Brady, Brady, Brady, you know you done wrong Busting in here when the game was going on Smashing through the window, yeah, and busting down the door Now you lying dead on that barroom floor You know he's Been on the job too long Been on the job too long Been on the job too long Said Brady, your time done come Well twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, little star Along comes Brady with his electric car He had a mean look all in his eye He's gonna shoot somebody just to see them die You know he's Been on the job too long Been on the job too long Been on the job too long Said Brady, your time done come I said Brady your time done come
track 11) Willie And The Hand Jive Another classic reinvented by NRPS...great closer. A Bo Diddley beat set to some classic NRPS jive. I know a cat named way out Willie He got a cool little chick called rockin' Millie He can walk and do the Susie-Q Do that crazy hand jive too Hand jive Hand jive Doing that crazy hand jive Papa told Willie you'll ruin my home Say you and that hand jive just got to go Willie told Papa don't put me down Doing that hand jive all over town Mama, mama look at Uncle Joe In the corner getting down with sister Flo Grandma gave baby sister a dime She said, do that thing just one more time Mama, mama look at Uncle Joe In the corner getting down with sister Flo Grandma gave baby sister a dime She said, do that thing just one more time Mama, mama look at Uncle Joe In the corner getting down with sister Flo Grandma gave baby sister a dime She said, do that thing just one more time Doctor and a lawyer and an Indian chief They all doing that crazy beat [Way out Willie is] still around Doing that hand jive all over town Willie and Lily got married last fall They had a little Willie Junior, and that ain't all The kid got famous in his crib, you see Lord he's doing that hand jive on TV Songwriters: Johnny Otis So that's it for this classic...the definitive NRPS album.
Powerglide was the first I was aware of Buddy Cage by name. He was an excellent fit for the band. I was surprised that Nicky Hopkins played on the album as they had a full sound without a keyboard player, and he also was a great fit. One of my favorite Nicky Hopkins session appearances.
Lonesome L.A. Cowboy--I always scratched my head at "We'll get it on with the Joy of Cooking," which seemed a weird thing, "getting it on" with a cookbook. I was vaguely aware that there had been a band called the Joy of Cooking, but never put it together...I looked up the Songfacts page for this song and they mentioned the band. What I was trying to figure out was whether Rowan wrote this for NRPS, or for Old and in the Way, or something else....it's still somewhat unclear
I found this interview which may shed some light. JT: Speaking of the Troubadour, it’s mentioned in “Lonesome L.A. Cowboy” on the New Riders of the Purple Sage album “The Adventures of Panama Red.” You clearly have an audience whose initial experience of your songwriting was that album. Were you involved in the recording of it at all? Rowan: We did those songs with Old and In the Way… So I was involved in that. But the New Riders project was their own project. They used two of my songs. I guess [“Lonesome L.A. Cowboy”] was the Gold Standard of their records… They did “Last Lonely Eagle.” They were still into…West Coast environmental lyrics. A little bit of American Indian. And a little bit of outlaw… It was just of a time. “Panama Red” worked for them. And they did “Lonesome L.A. Cowboy.” But they did it all in Nashville. JT: Speaking of “Lonesome L.A. Cowboy,” was there a real-life inspiration for that character? Rowan: I was hanging out with a couple of people down here. Doug Dillard of The Dillards. He was living the life, staying out all night. We were all hanging with him. And then another great songwriter, Bob Neuwirth, who’s here in L.A.. He’s a painter. But he’s also has written some beautiful songs and released a couple of CDs that T Bone Burnett helped him make. He was hanging out, too… It’s like, everybody’s gone from the scene in L.A., and the “Lonesome L.A. Cowboy,” he’s just sort of riding the night. And the last places open were always the Troubadour, of course. But the last place was Barney’s Beanery, which I think was open all night. It was like a hot dog joint. And you’d just go hang there. You’d have that kind of energy, back in those days. And being up until four or five in the morning, just high on the moment. Then we’d jam. Get together and play some music. But mostly it was just a sense of the lonesome part of the L.A. Cowboy. It was just a thing of the time. from An Interview with Peter Rowan - Shakedown News
That seems to settle it. What threw me most is there's no released Rowan version (except OAITW but that wasn't released until the late 90s). It's ambiguous in the above context but of course Dawson (not Rowan) wrote "Last Lonely Eagle."
