RIDERS IN THE SKY America's Favorite Cowboys
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Subject: Bardstown show last night: Written by donnaj Sent: 8/5/97 1:00 PM Warning: This one is a long one! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Mighty fine and a great big western howdy, buckaroo and buckarettes! I've just returned from a trail drive down Bardstown way, the end purpose of which was to hook up with America's Favorite Cowboys, Riders in the Sky. I'm happy to report that it was a successful trip! Riders in the Sky rode into the beautiful J. Dan Talbott amphitheater (normally home to Stephen Foster, the Musical) for show number 3600 in their long and checkered career. Besides reaching the 3600 milestone, August 4 was also the Riders' 100th performance in the Bluegrass State. (Faithful saddlepals will recall that Riders in the Sky began their road career on August 23, 1978, at the Kentucky State Fair. Truly faithful saddlepals will recognize August 23 as Woody Paul's birthday!) The excitement started before the performance, when a lady saddlepal was overcome by the emotion of the moment (or the heat, I'm not sure which) and had to be revived before the show began. Fear not! The lady recovered and enjoyed the show. Performance 3600 began, as so many do, with "Texas Plains," followed immediately by "That's How the Yodel Was Born." In a new twist for this year, Too Slim introduced The Idol of American Youth and Oldest Living Member of Riders in the Sky as the "Hormone Hurricane." One can only wonder where Slim comes by his information, and how Ranger Doug has earned this new appellation! A complete playlist follows this report, but it's worth mentioning that the Sioux City Sue courted by Woody Paul was again described as a geriatric alcoholic with blue hair and red eyes, and the boys performed a few selections from Ranger Doug's new album, "Monstrous Ego Runs Amuck" (a.k.a., Songs of the Sage, including two of my personal favorites, "Night Riding Song" and "Amber Eyes," which Ranger Doug told the audience he was singing for donna j. Evidently he spotted me in the audience-4th row, center-and made my night by singing one of my favorites for me!). Palindrome made a quick appearance, still demonstrating that amazing knack for speaking in sentences which, when spelled backward, are exactly the same as spelled forward (no, Tiffany, they didn't use "Do geese see God?"), but the highlight of the first half of the show (apart from "Amber Eyes," of course!) was Woody Paul again singing "In the Arms of My Love." It's a lovely waltz, and if you've never heard Dr. Woody sing the lyrics, you've really missed something special! After a 45-minute set, the boys took a short break, and returned for another long set, starting off with a series of songs from Public Cowboy #1: The Music of Gene Autry. After a rousing version of "After You've Gone," the Riders fielded questions from the audience. Among other things, they explained how they got together (describing personal ads that said, in part, "Men with big hats seek men with big hats. Musical experience a plus, but not necessary," and disclosing their group's original name for the first time, which was, according to Too Slim, Two Jacks and an Ass), and they tried to translate a question that finally ended up something like, "Can you sing Dizzy's song about stupid people?" The originator of that question ended up with the 8-track tape because no one, including the person's own party, knew what the question was. They took requests, which included "Free Bird" and "Surfin' USA," both of which showed up in the "medley." As the show was nearing its end, we heard several old classics, including "Cool Water," "Don't Fence Me In," and "Cattle Call" (straight this time...no circus trains!), and we were treated to some spiffy Varmint Dancing by the king of varmint dancing, Too Slim. But eventually, all good things must come to an end, and Payday did indeed Roll Around. After "Happy Trails," the boys left the stage, but a standing ovation brought them back out to do "You Are My Sunshine." Yet that was not enough for the fans, who were evidently starved for entertainment. With much cajoling, the Riders left the stage and came out into the audience to give us their version of Riders Unplugged with "He Walks with the Wild and the Lonely." It was a beautiful, clear, relatively cool evening under the stars that those of us lucky enough to be there will not forget, thanks to three men in big hats! Editorial opinion (the rest of this review has of course been written completely without bias of any kind): Fun is fun, but everybody has to have their bubble burst at some time or another. After the show, while the boys were schmoozing with their fans, one very nice lady was overheard asking The Oldest Living Member of Riders in the Sky whether he had ever watched cowboy shows in the movies or on TV "back when he was a young man." While the words probably had a different meaning when she said them than they did when I heard them, I'd like to state unequivocally for the record that (IMHO) Ranger Doug is very definitely still a young man at heart, as are Woody, Slim, and Joey! They MUST be, to bring Saturday morning cowboys to life so vividly for all us fans seeking our lost childhoods. Thanks, guys! SEEKING INFORMATION: If you are one of the dozen, please let me know. It seems nobody has a list of who the dozen are with a few exceptions, so please let me know ASAP if you are one of us. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, you aren't one of the dozen. Sorry!) Thanks! August 4, 1997 The J. Dan Talbott Amphitheater, Bardstown, Kentucky, Performance #3600 (#100 in Kentucky) ***Opening*** *Texas Plains *That's How the Yodel Was Born *Miss Molly *Tumbling Tumbleweeds *Palindrome *Salute to Our 4-Footed Friends *South of the Border *Sioux City Sue *Night Riding Song *Rawhide *Cowboy Camp Meetin' (without a doubt the best I've ever heard them do this without Joey!) *Amber Eyes ("for donna j."!) *In the Arms of My Love *Trail Tip Song *Ghostriders in the Sky *Riding the Winds of the West ***INTERMISSION*** *Back in the Saddle Again *Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine *Riding Down the Canyon *After You've Gone *Questions (Everybody Has Questions, for Ranger Doug, Woody Paul, and Too Slim) *Requests *Cool Water *Don't Fence Me In *Cattle Call *Varmint Dancing *When Payday Rolls Around *Happy Trails ***ENCORE*** *Looney Toons Theme/The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down *You Are My Sunshine ***RIDERS UNPLUGGED*** *He Walks with the Wild and the Lonely **************************************************************** Portland, Oregon **** July 24, 1997 ***** Review by Tiffany Mighty fine, and a great big western howdy saddlepals. Here I am, sixteen hours and 1,000 miles later, a very happy saddlepal. I just got home from Albany Oregon, about an hour and a half to two hours out of Portland, heading south. My parents and I drove down just for the concert. -- A note before I tell you about the concert, I made a shirt that had "Ranger Doug the Idol of American Youth", "Woody Paul the King of the Cowboy Fiddlers", and "Too Slim the Man of Many hats" done in cruel on the front, and "Riders in the Sky, It's the Cowboy Way" done in cruel on the back. That's what I wore to the concert.-- We got there early enough to hear them warm-up. There were six people in the crowd(?) watching them. Slim asked if we were happy. I yelled "yes" He looked around and said, "Well, you're happy." Woody and Slim have changed their intro of Ranger Doug, to include more than The Idol of American Youth. I don't remember what they said, but the Ranger was blushing when they were finished. They didn't do any new songs, the line up included, Texas Plains, That's how the yodel was born, Miss Molly (along with the face playing), Amber eyes, Sioux City Sue (which Woody re-worded to have 'You're eyes are red, you're hair is blue), Arms of my love, and others that are classic Riders' songs. They did Rawhide, but didn't do the bit about kissing your wife and going phits yah! That's probally my favorite part of the show. Near the end, Sidemeat put in a brief appearence, but said he was too busy cooking up a wooden duck to be bothered by show business. Ranger Doug said the duck would taste like the regular buscuits. They had a new member with them, Slim's daughter Alice is traveling with them during the summer, and she is the new model for the mercantile. Slim even had her over signing autographs with him. Palindrome cowboy put in a showing. He is really quick with names that are the same both ways. Ranger was saying "the other one" as fast as Palindrome could say the name. They didn't get "Do geese see God?" That is the only one I had ever heard. Now, the reason for telling you about the shirt. I went over to have my picture taken with them after the concert, and talk to them, Woody was the sweetest. Both Woody and Slim said they loved my shirt and looked at it in detail. This was only my third concert, but it was the best I had been to. I'm already planning how to get to the next one. Keep going, it's the cowboy way. Tiffany ************************************************ Subject: - Last night's show in New Albany, Indiana ******* Sent: - 7/6/97 8:10 AM***** From: - donnaj Howdy Buckaroos and Buckarettes! Well, here I am fresh from a road trip to another great Riders in the Sky show, this time at Indiana University Southeast in New Albany, Indiana. I promised a complete report, and here it is! (Individual notes to Bobbie, Ellen, and Tiffany appear at the end.) While the weather reports all week predicted a completely clear day, I was a little worried to see that Saturday started off almost completely overcast and gloomy. That was worrisome because of the long drive to New Albany and the fact that the show was outdoors! However, when we arrived at IU-SE, the clouds were gone, the sky was blue, the temperature was cool and comfortable, and the evening was great. It started out with a half-hour warmup by the Juggernaut Jug Band. These guys were...different...that's the word..."different." Musically, they were great! But their material was definitely...interesting. Songs like "The Chicken Tree" and "People Are Strange" really got the crowd going! They were really funny, and incredibly creative (doing jug-band versions of Stairway to Heaven, Purple Haze, and a brief Elvis impersonation), and GREAT musicians! The crowd was ready for anything by the time they left the stage. If you get a chance to see these guys sometime, take it! You'll love 'em! At 9:00, a local DJ introduced Riders in the Sky. The guys (sans Joey, who had a prior committment in Canada this weekend...***SIGH***) took the stage, rolled up their big sleeves, and did what they do best, PUT ON A SHOW! They did their well-loved classics ("Texas Plains," "That's How the Yodel Was Born," "Back in the Saddle," etc.), new selections from Ranger Doug's solo album (titled, according to Slim "Monster Ego Runs Amuck"--my personal favorite from that album is "Night Riding Song"), selections from "Public Cowboy #1," and some new material which we've probably all run into by now ("Cowboy Camp Meetin'"). Having gotten some golden classic requests during the request portion of the show, we got to hear some songs they haven't done live in a few years, like "Shifting, Whispering Sand" (another personal favorite of mine), and in response to MY request, they did a wonderful rendition of (you guessed it!) "Desert Serenade." My big surprise of the night was when Woody played "Arms of My Love," and he SANG the lyrics to it! While this has long been one of my very favorite instrumental pieces the boys do, I had never heard Woody SING it (although I did know there were lyrics to it). It's absolutely beautiful, and very moving. I hope this becomes a regular addition to their shows. Palindrome made an appearance and had the audience in stitches, as usual. The only down side to the show was that Woody did NOT do his rope tricks. That was a very small let-down to me, since he was really ON the last time I saw a show, and he not only managed to jump through the Cowboy Wedding Band, but he also jumped back through it! I was hoping for another virtuoso performance of the rope tricks, but alas, it was not to be last night! The audience was entranced by the act (of course!), and a standing ovation brought RITS back for an encore. I was fully expecting to hear Riders Unplugged, but someone shouted out a request for that "recycling poem," and it kinda derailed everything. Ever gracious, Too Slim did do "Reincarnation" for the fan, and we ALL loved it, but the momentum was kind of lost. They did go into the Looney Toons themes and they did do "He Walks with the Wild and the Lonely," but they remained on-stage and plugged in during it. That's okay. The song is beautiful, unplugged or not! Speaking of pluged in, during the third or fourth song, Slim's monitor started spitting some really annoying feedback, and the subtle sound man walked back and forth in front of the guys, messing with cords and adding loud pops and hisses to what would have been an otherwise very enjoyable song. He DID manage to get the problem fixed, at just the moment the guys FINISHED the song. That's okay, though. The guys were gracious and managed to extract a few laughs from the situation, making sure the audience was happy regardless of what happened. I guess it's the Cowboy Way! The long and short of it is, the show was wonderful! Once again, Riders in the Sky rode into town and spread some good music, a few laughs, and more happiness in their wake. There's never a disappointing moment at a Riders in the Sky show. They gave their fans what they wanted, a good time with good friends. Thanks, guys! That's it Saddlepals. 'Til we meet again on down the trail... Happy trails to you! donna j.
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