This is like deja vu all over again, because the previous set I just posted, of the Rowan Brothers, also featured Garcia playing on all the songs. And, just like that set, in this set, he played pedal steel guitar instead of his usual electric guitar. It's played quite differently, as you can see from the cover photo, and one has control over foot and knee pedals to help adjust the pitch of the notes. Around this time Garcia was enjoying learning how to play it well. For instance, that's Garcia playing pedal steel on the classic song "Teach Your Children" by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.
The Wikipedia introduction to this band is pretty short, and not that helpful, but here's what it says anyway:
"New Riders of the Purple Sage was 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 as the New Riders or as NRPS."
The rest of the article is quite long and informative, so here's the link for that:
New Riders of the Purple Sage - Wikipedia
I want to add a bit more to explain more about Garcia playing with this band in this concert. The New Riders of the Purple Sage were mainly led by musicians John Dawson and David Nelson. Both of them had musical ties to Garcia even before the band was formed in 1969. When it was formed, Garcia was essentially a full member. It was an outlet for Garcia to express his enjoyment of bluegrass and country music, and practice pedal steel guitar. In 1970 and 1971 especially, this band frequently was the opening act for Grateful Dead concerts, with Garcia and other Grateful Dead members sitting in on their set, and Dawson and Nelson would often perform on songs in the acoustic portion of the Dead's set.
By the time of this concert, the band members had written a bunch of original songs. However, they still hadn't released any music. Their first album would be released in August 1971, just a month later. Garcia's pedal steel playing was all over the album. However, by the end of 1971, Garcia essentially cut ties with the group, so they could stand on their own instead of being seen as a Grateful Dead side group.
Note that three songs from this concert, "Down in the Boondocks," "Superman," and "The Weight," were eventually released as bonus tracks on the band's 1971 debut album. The song "Henry" was also included on the "Fillmore - The Last Days" album. The rest of the songs here remain unreleased.
This album is an hour and nine minutes long.
01 Workin' Man Blues (New Riders of the Purple Sage)
02 Superman (New Riders of the Purple Sage)
03 I Don't Know You (New Riders of the Purple Sage)
04 Down in the Boondocks (New Riders of the Purple Sage)
05 Dirty Business (New Riders of the Purple Sage)
06 Glendale Train (New Riders of the Purple Sage)
07 Portland Women (New Riders of the Purple Sage)
08 talk (New Riders of the Purple Sage)
09 Henry (New Riders of the Purple Sage)
10 Sailin' (New Riders of the Purple Sage)
11 Last Lonely Eagle (New Riders of the Purple Sage)
12 Louisiana Lady (New Riders of the Purple Sage)
13 talk (New Riders of the Purple Sage)
14 Honky Tonk Women (New Riders of the Purple Sage)
15 talk (New Riders of the Purple Sage)
16 The Weight (New Riders of the Purple Sage)
https://bestfile.io/en/Ccby7L4aRfW28IG/file
I couldn't find any good photos of the New Riders of the Purple Sage from this exact concert, or even other concerts from around this time. But I did find a nice one of Jerry Garcia playing pedal steel guitar. And while it also isn't from this exact concert, it is from the Fillmore West, except the year before. (Specifically, a concert on June 5, 1970.) I thought it was a worthy picture to use, because it illustrates how playing pedal steel is very different from playing a typical guitar.
Oh, also, the original picture was in black and white, but I colorized it with the use of the Kolorize program.
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