''The Adventures of Panama Red'' is the fourth country rock album by the New Riders of the Purple Sage, released in 1973. It is widely regarded as one of the group's best efforts, and reached number 55 on the

Billboard charts The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in '' Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

. The album includes two songs written by

Peter Rowan Peter Rowan (born July 4, 1942) is an American bluegrass musician and composer. Rowan plays guitar and mandolin, yodels and sings. Biography Rowan was born in Wayland, Massachusetts to a musical family. From an early age, he had an interest ...

— "Panama Red", which became a radio hit, and "Lonesome L.A. Cowboy". Another song, "Kick in the Head", was written by Robert Hunter.

Donna Jean Godchaux Donna Jean Thatcher Godchaux-MacKay (born August 22, 1947) is an American singer who was a member of the Grateful Dead from 1972 until 1979. Biography Donna Jean Thatcher was born in Florence, Alabama. Prior to 1970, she had worked as a sessi ...

and

Buffy Sainte-Marie Buffy Sainte-Marie, (born Beverly Sainte-Marie, February 20, 1941) is an Indigenous Canadian-American ( Piapot Cree Nation) singer-songwriter, musician, composer, visual artist, educator, pacifist, and social activist. While working in these ...

contribute background vocals on several tracks.

Track listing

#"Panama Red" (

) – 2:47 #"It's Alright With Me" (

Dave Torbert David Edwin Torbert (June 7, 1948 – December 7, 1982) was a Bay Area musician, best known for his associations with the Grateful Dead and the New Riders of the Purple Sage. He played bass for the latter group, replacing Phil Lesh during the ses ...

) – 2:43 #"Lonesome L.A. Cowboy" (Rowan) – 4:05 #"Important Exportin Man" ( Tim Hovey, Torbert) – 2:26 #"One Too Many Stories" ( John Dawson) – 2:54 #"Kick in the Head" ( Robert Hunter) – 2:30 #"You Should Have Seen Me Runnin" (Dawson) – 3:01 #"Teardrops in My Eyes" (

Red Allen Henry James "Red" Allen, Jr. (January 7, 1908 – April 17, 1967) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist whose playing has been claimed by Joachim-Ernst Berendt and others as the first to fully incorporate the innovations of Louis Armst ...

, Tommy Sutton) – 2:15 #"L.A. Lady" (

Troy Seals Troy Harold Seals (born November 16, 1938, in Bighill, Madison County, Kentucky, United States) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is a member of the prominent Seals family of musicians that includes Jim Seals (of Seals and C ...

, Don Goodman,

Will Jennings Wilbur H. "Will" Jennings (born June 27, 1944) is an American lyricist. He is popularly known for writing the lyrics for the songs " Tears in Heaven" and " My Heart Will Go On". He has been inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame and has wo ...

) – 2:13 #"Thank the Day" (Torbert) – 2:23 #"Cement, Clay and Glass" (

Spencer Dryden Spencer Charles Dryden (April 7, 1938 – January 11, 2005) was an American musician best known as the drummer for Jefferson Airplane and New Riders of the Purple Sage. He also played with Dinosaurs, and the Ashes (later known as the Peanut B ...

, David Nelson) – 2:34

Personnel

New Riders of the Purple Sage

* John Dawson –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

, vocals, lead vocals on "Lonesome L.A. Cowboy", "One Too Many Stories", "You Should Have Seen Me Runnin", and "Cement, Clay and Glass" * David Nelson – electric guitar, vocals, lead vocals on "Panama Red", and "Teardrops In My Eyes" *

– bass, guitar, vocals, lead vocals on "It's Alright with me", "Important Exportin' Man", "Kick In the Head", "L.A. Lady", and "Thank the Day" *

Buddy Cage Buddy Cage (February 18, 1946 – February 5, 2020) was an American pedal steel guitarist, best known as a longtime member of the New Riders of the Purple Sage.

– pedal steel guitar *

– drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

Additional Musicians

– vocals on "Important Exportin Man" and "L.A. Lady" *

– vocals on "You Should Have Seen Me Runnin'" and "Cement, Clay and Glass" *

Norbert Putnam Norbert Auvin Putnam (born August 10, 1942) is an American musician, studio owner and record producer who was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2019.Robert McFarland, Jr"Norbert Putnam."'' Delta Business Journal''. November 2004. Acce ...

– bass on "Thank the Day" *

The Memphis Horns The Memphis Horns were an American horn section, made famous by their many appearances on Stax Records. The duo consisted of Wayne Jackson (November 24, 1941 – June 21, 2016) on trumpet and Andrew Love (November 21, 1941 - April 12, 2012) on ...

, arranged by Norbert Putnam and the Memphis Horns

Production

*Producer: Norbert Putnam *Recording engineer: Tom Flye *Associate engineers: John Stronach, Bobby Hughes *Sound engineers: Tom Anderson, Phil Brown, Bob Edwards *Remix engineer: Norbert Putnam *Cover art: Lore and Chris *Recorded at the Record Plant, Sausalito *Mixed at Quadrafonic Studios, Nashville

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adventures of Panama Red, The New Riders of the Purple Sage albums 1973 albums Albums produced by Norbert Putnam Columbia Records albums