#dave torbert

[rgray34]

1970 Novato Ranch

[1264doghouse]

Jerry Garcia & Dave Torbert

[krispyweiss]

Album Review: New Riders of the Purple Sage - Field Trip

Reissued and rebranded as Field Trip, New Riders of the Purple Sage’s opening set at the Grateful Dead’s famous 1972 concert of the same name is back on shelves for a second go-’round.

Originally released in 2004 as Veneta, Oregon, 8/27/72, the long-out-of-print, 15-song set is remastered - but nowhere near pristine, which makes you wonder how the Dead’s performance, released as Sunshine Daydream in 2013, come out sounding so good - and serves as a microcosm of early-’70s hippiedom with stage banter about freak-out tents, 13-year-old runaways and bad acid, which was blue this time, popping up between the country-fried psychedelia the New Riders were peddling.

Featuring rough-around-the-edges covers like “Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (And Loud, Loud Music)” and “Willie and the Hand Jive,” originals like “Last Lonely Eagle” and a guest spot from the Dead’s Keith Godchaux on barely audible piano, Field Trip is most notable because of the man who replaced Jerry Garcia in the New Riders. Buddy Cage’s pedal steel work is transcendent throughout the recording, but particularly so when he launches into spiraling orbit in the midst of a cacophonous rendition “Hello Mary Lou.”

For Cage fanatics and New Riders completists, Field Trip is a must. For everyone else, it’s little more than an interesting historical document.

Grade card: New Riders of the Purple Sage - Field Trip - C+

5/6/20

[rolloroberson]

New Riders of the Purple Sage 1972 Gypsy Cowboy.

Jon Dawson, Dave Torbert, Buddy Cage, Spencer Dryden, and David Nelson.

[sytycdinternational]

#433 || All-Star Lauren Gottlieb & AdeChiké Torbert / Contemporary Hip-Hop | Choreography by Dave Scott | «Hot-N-Fun» by N.E.R.D ft. Nelly Furtado | SYTYCD USA Season 7 (2010) | Top 9 Week | Top 500 List | Intra-Seasonal Placement: #5 | US7

[panspanther]

1976

[oneofthesedaysco]

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 practice his brand new pedal steel 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. That same year, David Nelson, expert in both country and rock guitar, joined the group on electric lead guitar. 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. In 1970, Dave Torbert took over on bass and the New Riders played every chance they got. 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. 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. 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. In December, 1971 they played a live radio broadcast with the Dead over WNEW-FM in New York to an audience of millions. 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. They toured the United States extensively in response to increasing demand, and in November, 1972 released their third album Gypsy Cowboy. https://www.instagram.com/p/CRUfFphjXlV/?utm_medium=tumblr

[minstrel75itg]

Self-titled debut from 1976, Kingfish. Bob Weir with Dave Torbert and Matthew Kelly. Bobby Hoddinott and Chris Herold round it off with lead guitar and drums. https://www.instagram.com/p/BvibkI5FdjF/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=a1dv0si8haxz

[historygreatest]

Robbie Hoddinott, American guitarist, Died at 62

Robbie Hoddinott, American guitarist, Died at 62

Robbie Hoddinott died in 2017. He was a American guitarist. He was a member of the group Kingfish, which was an American rock band. Leader of the band was Matthew Kelly, a musician, singer, and songwriter who plays guitar and harmonica. Matthew was the co-founded Kingfish. Started in 1973 with members like New Riders of the Purple Sage bass player Dave Torbert and fellow San Francisco Bay Area…

[1264doghouse]

David Nelson, Jerry, Marmaduke, Mickey & Dave Torbert, NRPS

[thoughtsonthedead]

Toss It Back

Even Bobby can’t believe all the bullshits simultaneously occurring in this photo: he is done with it.

A small aside: in true Dead fashion, this is maybe the largest, clearest picture of anything Dead-related I’ve ever seen. Not the cool black-and-white shots from Lindley Meadows, nothing from Winterland or Radio City: this thing. It’s enormous, too. You could make it your desktop, if you hated…

[krispyweiss]

New Riders Release Vintage Video with Jerry Garcia Sit In

On Dec. 15, 1973, Jerry Garcia joined his former New Riders of the Purple Sage bandmates onstage at Winterland and with his replacement, Buddy Cage, ably handling pedal-steel duties, played a Telecaster as the band romped through “Sea Cruise.”

Garcia and Cage provide the highlights of NRPS’ otherwise-rough performance of Frankie Ford’s 1959 hit, just unearthed from deep inside the New Riders’ vault. The small-screen, black-and-white video shows every bit of its 46 years, but is nevertheless a fascinating peak at a NRPS reunion outside the context of a Grateful Dead show.

The beardless Garcia is positioned behind Cage and takes a decidedly un-Grateful solo at John Dawson’s request before he and Dave Torbert dig into some more off-key ooowees. Rough sailing for sure, but a “Sea Cruise” worth checking out - for the sights more than the sounds.

11/19/19

[krispyweiss]

Album Review: New Riders of the Purple Sage - Bear’s Sonic Journals: Dawn of the New Riders of the Purple Sage

To bastardize a phrase from Dead Head lore, Bear’s Sonic Journals: Dawn of the New Riders of the Purple Sage is for die-hards only.

Recorded by Owsley Stanley over four nights in 1969 and 1970, this sprawling five-disc set is historic to be sure, but marred by bootleg-quality sound and shaky performances that catch the New Riders in action when they were still a Grateful Dead side project, and before they were their own band. This iteration features Jerry Garcia on pedal steel and Mickey Hart on drums, surrounded by guitarists John “Marmaduke” Dawson and David Nelson and either Bob Matthews or Dave Torbert on bass. The Dead’s Bob Weir guests on nine tracks - “Cathy’s Clown,” “Mama Tried,” “Me and My Uncle” among them - and harmonica blower Will Scarlett on two.

None of this matters from an aural standpoint, as the recordings sound as if they’re emanating from a 40-year-old cassette played on a boombox stuffed under a pillow. Hart’s drums fade in and out as Garcia’s steel wobbles to and fro while Dawson’s atonal vocals dominate.

Much of the music is unlistenable, although there may be a single disc’s worth of releasable tracks scattered throughout the collection. Getting to them is the challenge.

Grade card: New Riders of the Purple Sage - Bear’s Sonic Journals: Dawn of the New Riders of the Purple Sage - D

2/6/20