One of the offspring bands of the Grateful Dead back in the 1970s was the New Riders of The Purple Sage, with Jerry Garcia and Micky Hart taking part in the highly popular debut album. This historic recording from Lyceum’s London Ballroom in 1972 finds the band opening for The Dead with only a minor changer here or there, including John Dawson/g-voc, David Nelson/g-voc, Dave Torbet/b-voc, Buddy Cage/pstg and Spencer Dryden/dr delivering a two step set of swinging harmonies and solos.
The band sounds a bit like The Byrds or The Flying Burrito Brothers with their rich mix of voices and rockish country, as on “Leaving On Her Mond”. Cage’s pedal steel gives hints of Poco on the yee-haw fun of “California Day” and “What’cha Gonna Do”. Nelson’s guitar boogies hard on “Truck Drivin’ Man” and the team digs into “I Don’t Need No Doctor” while taking a trip to the VFW on the homey “Louisiana Lady” before tipping the cap to the current trends with Dryden hitting hard on The Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Woman”. Where’s the tie-dye shirt?