Riders in the Sky, a four-piece cowboy-music institution that has been keeping traditional Western music alive in America for 36 years, has an unusual motto for a band: “Bringing good beef to hungry people.”
The phrase comes from a John Wayne line in the 1948 Western movie “Red River,” said Riders in the Sky singer and guitar player Douglas B. Green, and sums up the band’s mission perfectly.
“We mean we’re bringing the real thing to the public who wants to hear it,” said Green, whose is better known as “Ranger Doug.”
The band will bring its lively stage show – lassos, tassles, yodels and all – to the Bar D Chuckwagon in Durango on Tuesday and Wednesday for two nights of dinner entertainment.
Riders in the Sky, who bill themselves as “America’s favorite cowboys,” have a turned the tradition of the singing cowboy into a long and successful career. With a catalogue of songs like “Home on the Range” and “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” and performances in the vein of Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, the band has appeared on the Grand Ole Opry stage more than 1,000 times, recorded 38 albums, appeared on their own television and radio shows and performed thousands of concerts.
“Six-thousand seven-hundred and five, as of last night,” Green said in a telephone interview late last week.
Donning 10-gallon hats and rhinestone shirts, the band brings skits, rope tricks, ad lib humor and a deep repertoire of original and traditional Western songs to the stage. The music appeals to all ages, he said, because people love what cowboys stand for.
“I think it’s the notion of free life and fresh air, closeness to nature and feeling your independence,” he said. “You aren’t tied down to an underwater mortgage, difficult teenagers and a tough job market. You are only answering to yourself and your own moral code.”
The four members of Riders in the Sky grew up in the ’50s, Green said, when cowboy heroes still loomed large in pop culture and before the era of the singing cowboy faded into obscurity.
The band was born out of fondness for that era. He and stand-up bass player Fred “Too Slim” LaBour first performed at a Nashville club in 1977 after they got a call that a slot needed filling.
“I said ‘Slim, let’s play cowboy songs, nobody else is doing it,’” Green said. “We really started out just because we love the music. I believe it’s a really important part of American folk texture and shouldn’t be relegated to nostalgia – but appreciated as living, breathing music.”
The audience responded warmly, he said, and he and LaBour kept playing shows. They were joined by fiddle player Paul “Woody Paul” Chrisman soon after. Following a decade of playing as trio, accordion player Joey “the Cowpolka King” became a member of the band.
The four have been at it ever since. After securing a spot on “Austin City Limits,” the band got its break when it first performed at the Grand Ole Opry. That led to scores of albums, thousands of live concerts, a TV show in Nashville, another kids show in Hollywood and two Grammy-winning projects for Pixar. They’ve performed for children, military troops and even the White House. And they’ve earned a truckload of plaudits along the way.
According to the band’s numbers, Riders in the Sky have performed in all 50 states and 859 counties, traveled 4.3 million miles, averaged 34.8 yucks per performance, broken 145 strings onstage and said “It’s the cowboy way” onstage 36,704 times.
“We’ve have a wonderful career,” Green said.
They aren’t slowing down, either. He said Riders in the Sky is currently working on a tribute album to Roy Rogers that should be out in the fall, and the band has a busy touring schedule this summer. After 36 years, he said, they still find joy in performing cowboy music.
“It’s still fun for us,” Green said. “We look forward to getting together and spending time together, playing music and entertaining people. We feel like we’re getting better and better as musicians. We’re still writing songs. It’s still a joy. Why quit? This is what I want to do when I retire.”
kklingsporn@durangoherald.com
If you go
Riders in the Sky will play concerts on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Bar D Chuckwagon, 8080 County Road 250. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., dinner is at 7:30 and the show will be held afterward. Tickets are $24 for adults, $10 for kids 10 and under and free for kids 3 and younger; they can be purchased at www.bardchuckwagon.com or by calling 247-5753.
