Oh, What A Mighty Time

Performer: New Riders of the Purple Sage
Distributor: E1 Distribution (USA)

Notes: New Riders of the Purple Sage: John Dawson (vocals, guitar, autoharp, mouth bow, percussion, siren); David Nelson (Dahveed Ben Israel) (vocals, guitars, percussion, tuning forks); Buddy Cage (vocals, pedal steel guitar); Skip Battin (vocals, bass guitar, percussion); Spencer Dryden (vocals, drums, percussion). By the time of this, their sixth album, the New Riders of the Purple Sage had deteriorated to the point of recording novelty songs like "I Heard You've Been Layin' My Old Lady" and aging standards like "La Bamba." They managed to talk old friend Jerry Garcia into sitting in on a few songs, but that was no indication that they were back at the level of their first album. Rather, Oh, What a Mighty Time sounded like the work of a competent Marin County bar band, which is pretty much what the New Riders were by this time. The album, their worst seller thus far, was their last for Columbia Records. ~ William Ruhlmann

Formed in 1969 by Bakersfield country obsessive John Dawson and guitarist David Nelson, the New Riders Of The Purple Sage counted among their original line-up Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, and Mickey Hart from the Grateful Dead. Cutting their teeth as the Dead's opening act, the New Riders quickly established an independent identity through the strength of Dawson's original songs. Their 1971 debut, which featured Garcia on pedal steel, blended country rock with a loose, hippie aesthetic. POWERGLIDE introduced steel ace Buddy Cage and a punchier, more assertive sound, which yielded their 1973 fourth album, THE ADVENTURES OF PANAMA RED, gold status. After this commercial peak, the band continued recording and touring in various guises in the ensuing decades--although the '00s lineup did not feature John Dawson.

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