''Powerglide'' is the second album by the American band 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 to ...

. The music is a

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic halluci ...

hybrid of

country rock Country rock is a music genre that fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal sty ...

, and includes guest musicians

Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician who was the lead guitarist and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 196 ...

and

Bill Kreutzmann William Kreutzmann Jr. ( ; born May 7, 1946) is an American drummer and founding member of the rock band Grateful Dead. He played with the band for its entire thirty-year career, usually alongside fellow drummer Mickey Hart, and has continued to ...

from the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...

, along with noted session player

Nicky Hopkins Nicholas Christian Hopkins (24 February 1944 – 6 September 1994) was an English pianist and organist. He performed on many popular and enduring British and American rock music recordings from the 1960s to the 1990s, including on songs recorde ...

. The album contains six original tunes by the band, plus covers such as "I Don't Need No Doctor", "Hello Mary Lou", and "Willie and the Hand Jive". ''Powerglide'' was the first New Riders album to feature

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.

, who had replaced Garcia as the New Riders'

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...

player. It was the band's highest-charting album, reaching number 33 on the ''Billboard'' 200.

Artwork

The album cover artwork for ''Powerglide'' was done by

Alton Kelley Alton Kelley (June 17, 1940 – June 1, 2008) was an American artist known for his psychedelic art, in particular his designs for 1960s rock concert posters and album covers. Along with artists Rick Griffin, Stanley Mouse, Victor Moscoso ...

and

Stanley Mouse Stanley George Miller (born October 10, 1940), better known as Mouse or Stanley Mouse, is an American artist who is notable for his 1960s psychedelic rock concert poster designs and album covers for the Grateful Dead, Journey, and other bands. ...

, under the name Kelly and Mouse Studios. The original LP contained a 12 inch by 12 inch heavy paper insert with the album credits. The artwork for the insert was drawn by Lore Orion, then known as Lore Shoberg. It is a

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, ...

that portrays the band members as Western outlaws. Depicted from left to right are David Nelson, John Dawson,

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 Butt ...

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 ...

, and

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.

Track listing

#" Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (And Loud, Loud Music)" (

Joe Maphis Otis Wilson "Joe" Maphis ( ; May 12, 1921 – June 27, 1986), was an American country music guitarist. He married singer Rose Lee Maphis in 1953 and they performed together. One of the flashiest country guitarists of the 1950s and 1960s, Joe ...

, Max Fidler, Rose Lee Maphis) – 4:15 #"Rainbow" ( John Dawson) – 3:05 #"California Day" (

) – 2:40 #"Sweet Lovin' One" (Dawson) – 2:30 #"Lochinvar" (Dawson) – 3:33 #"

I Don't Need No Doctor "I Don't Need No Doctor" is an R&B song written by Nick Ashford, Valerie Simpson, and Jo Armstead. First released by Ashford on Verve in August 1966, it went nowhere. It was then picked up and recorded by Ray Charles and released in Octob ...

" (

Nick Ashford Ashford & Simpson were an American husband-and-wife songwriting, production and recording duo composed of Nickolas Ashford (May 4, 1941 – August 22, 2011) and Valerie Simpson (born August 26, 1946). Ashford was born in Fairfield, South Carol ...

Valerie Simpson Ashford & Simpson were an American husband-and-wife songwriting, production and recording duo composed of Nickolas Ashford (May 4, 1941 – August 22, 2011) and Valerie Simpson (born August 26, 1946). Ashford was born in Fairfield, South Carol ...

Jo Armstead Josephine Armstead (born October 8, 1944), also known as "Joshie" Jo Armstead, is an American soul singer and songwriter. Armstead began her career singing backing vocals for blues musician Bobby "Blue" Bland before becoming an Ikette in the Ike ...

) – 4:47 #"Contract" (Torbert) – 3:10 #"Runnin' Back to You" (Dawson) – 4:12 #"

Hello Mary Lou "Hello Mary Lou" is a song written by American singer Gene Pitney first recorded by Johnny Duncan in 1960 and by Ricky Nelson at United Western Recorders Studios on March 22, 1961. Nelson's version, issued as a double A-side with his No. 1 hit ...

" (

Gene Pitney Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American pop and country singer, songwriter, and musician. Pitney charted 16 top-40 hits in the United States, four in the top ten. In the United Kingdom, he had 22 top-40 h ...

, Cayet Mangiaracina) – 2:58 #"

Duncan and Brady "Duncan and Brady" (Roud 4177), also known as "Been on the Job Too Long", "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", or simply "Brady", is a traditional murder ballad about the shooting of a policeman, Brady, by a bartender, Duncan. The song's lyrics stemm ...

" ( trad., arranged by

John Koerner "Spider" John Koerner (August 31, 1938 – May 18, 2024) was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was best known as a guitarist and vocalist in the blues trio Koerner, Ray & Glover, with Dave "Snaker" Ray, Dave Ray and Tony Glover ...

) – 5:23 #"

Willie and the Hand Jive "Willie and the Hand Jive" is a song written by Johnny Otis and originally released as a single in 1958 by Otis, reaching #9 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and #5 on the Billboard R&B chart. The song has a Bo Diddley beat and was partly in ...

" (

Johnny Otis Johnny Otis (born Ioannis Alexandres Veliotes (Greek language, Greek: Ιωάννης Αλέξανδρος Βελιώτης)); December 28, 1921 – January 17, 2012) was a Greek American singer, musician, composer, bandleader, record producer, ...

) – 6:50

Personnel

New Riders of the Purple Sage

* John Dawson – acoustic and

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

, lead vocals on "Rainbow", "Sweet Lovin' One", "Lochinvar", "Runnin' Back to You", "Duncan and Brady" * David Nelson –

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

, vocals, mandolin on "Runnin' Back to You", lead vocal on "Dim Lights, Thick Smoke" *

–

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

, vocals, electric rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar on "California Day" and "Hello Mary Lou",

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

on "Duncan and Brady", lead vocals on "California Day", "I Don't Need No Doctor", "Contract", "Hello Mary Lou", and "Willie and the Hand Jive" *

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.

–

dobro Dobro () is an American brand of resonator guitars owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally a gui ...

on "Lochinvar" and "Duncan and Brady" *

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

, broom, whistle, and whoopee on "Duncan and Brady"

Additional musicians

– piano on "Dim Lights, Thick Smoke", "California Day", "I Don't Need No Doctor", "Contract", "Runnin' Back to You", "Willie and the Hand Jive" *

–

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

on "Sweet Lovin' One", "Duncan and Brady"; piano on "Lochinvar" * Billy Kreutzmann – percussion on "Duncan and Brady", "Willie and the Hand Jive" *Peoples chorus on "Duncan and Brady" – Nelson, McDuke, Buddy, Judy, Steve *Riderettes on "I Don't Need No Doctor" – our boys in drag

Production

*Producer – Steve Barncard and the New Riders *Engineer – John Fiore *Second engineer – George Beauregard *Mastering – Bob McCloud, Artisan Sound, Hollywood *Outside album design –

Kelly Kelly may refer to: Art and entertainment * ''Kelly'' (Kelly Price album), 2011 * ''Kelly'' (Andrea Faustini album) * ''Kelly'' (musical), by Mark Charlap, 1965 * "Kelly" (song), by Kelly Rowland, 2018 * ''Kelly'' (film), Canada, 1981 * ...

and

Mouse A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus'' ...

Studios *Inside artwork – Lore Shoberg

References

{{Authority control New Riders of the Purple Sage albums 1972 albums Albums produced by Stephen Barncard Columbia Records albums