Riders of the Purple Sage was a name used by three separate

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

bands in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. These bands also inspired the naming of a fourth band playing in a more psychedelic country style, the

New Riders of the Purple Sage New Riders of the Purple Sage is an American country rock band. The group emerged from the psychedelic rock scene in San Francisco in 1969 and its original lineup included several members of the Grateful Dead. The band is sometimes referred ...

. The name originally came from the title of

Zane Grey Pearl Zane Grey (January 31, 1872 – October 23, 1939) was an American author and dentist. He is known for his popular adventure novels and stories associated with the Western genre in literature and the arts; he idealized the American frontie ...

's very popular 1912 novel

Riders of the Purple Sage ''Riders of the Purple Sage'' is a Western novel by Zane Grey, first published by Harper & Brothers in 1912. Considered by scholars to have played a significant role in shaping the formula of the popular Western genre, the novel has been called ...

. The first "Riders of the Purple Sage" band was formed by Jack Dalton in 1932. It existed for approximately two years in the

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area. Another "Riders of the Purple Sage" was formed in 1936 by singer and guitarist

Buck Page Buck Page (June 18, 1922 — August 21, 2006) founded the first western band known as Riders of the Purple Sage. Page, a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, began performing on local radio at age 11. He played string bass and rhythm guitar for a w ...

. With Page on the East Coast and Dalton on the West Coast, and because Page was a child when the Dalton "Riders" were playing, it is uncertain if either knew of each other's band. Page's group spent three years as the staff band for radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh, performing five hour-long shows each week. In 1938 the band went to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and performed on radio station WOR and at various venues such as the famous nightclub called the Village Barn. They brought the name and Western three part

harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...

to the Country on Coast to Coast radio. Military service then interrupted their careers during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. A third band known as "Riders of the Purple Sage" was organized in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, by

Foy Willing Foy Willing (May 14, 1914 – July 24, 1978) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and bandleader, who performed Western music and appeared in Western movies. He formed the band Riders of the Purple Sage. Early years Foy Lopez Willingha ...

, a radio DJ and singer from Texas, while Buck Page and his "Riders" were in the military. Willing's band performed in several movies during the 1940s and had a string of hit recordings. It disbanded in 1952. Page's earlier Riders of the Purple Sage is often incorrectly credited with the film appearances and recordings by Willing's band.According to Gary Bright of

RPS Records RPS may refer to: Societies * Royal Pharmaceutical Society, in the United Kingdom * Royal Philharmonic Society, in the United Kingdom * Royal Photographic Society, in the United Kingdom * Racial Preservation Society, a defunct British pressu ...

, Page's recording label and management. In the early 1960s, Page, who relocated to California after World War II, once again organized his "Riders of the Purple Sage" band. This band released three

CDs The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...

and toured the cowboy festival circuit until c. 2003 when Page disbanded it again. The latest incarnation of the group was first called "Foy Willing's Riders of the Purple Sage." It was formed in 2003 (with the encouragement of Willing's widow Sharon Willing) by former members of Buck Page's "Riders", and currently plays mostly in Southern California. The band is fronted by Cody Bryant (Vocals, Guitar, Banjo, Mandolin). He is joined by another past employee of Page, Mike Ley (Vocals, Guitar, Mandolin, Harmonicas), Evan Marshall (Vocals, Mandolin, Fiddle), Jimmy Harris (Vocals, Bass), and Landon McCoy (Drums)—although the personnel often change for live concerts.

References

External links

* {{Authority control American country music groups Majestic Records artists