The Long Ryders

The Long Ryders are an American alternative country and Paisley Underground band, principally active between 1982 and 1987, who have periodically regrouped for brief reunions (2004, 2009, 2014, 2016). In 2019 they released a new studio album – their first in 32 years – and played a series of tour dates.

The Long Ryders were originally formed by several American musicians who were each multi-instrumentalists and influenced by Gram Parsons, the Byrds, country music and various punk rock groups. They were named after the Walter Hill film, the Long Riders. With a sound reminiscent of Rubber Soul-era Beatles, electric Bob Dylan, Buffalo Springfield and the Flying Burrito Brothers, but with a harder edge, they anticipated the alternative country music of the 1990s by a decade. Their early work contained influences of both punk (largely attributable to devoted record collector Griffin) and old-school country (championed by McCarthy). Former Byrd Gene Clark joined them on their first full-length album, 1984's Native Sons, adding vocals to the song "Ivory Tower". Their initial studio release, the 10-5-60 EP, consisted of Griffin, Brewer, McCarthy, and Sowders. Brewer left after the release of 10-5-60. He was replaced by Tom Stevens, and that line-up remained in place as a recording unit until their eventual demise. After one EP, Kentucky-born guitarist and vocalist Sid Griffin and Kansas-born bassist Barry Shank left the Unclaimed in November 1981 with intentions to form a new band. Griffin: "I had this idea of what would happen if the top of the band, the guitars and the vocals were very West Coast [1960s], punchy and beautiful, but the bass and drums were as aggressive as a punk band. Drummer Greg Sowders, a native of Los Angeles, had met Griffin through a mutual friend The band rehearsed shortly as a trio before guitarist and vocalist Stephen McCarthy completed the lineup after answering a musicians wanted ad in March.

The Long Ryders were initially linked with the neo-psychedelia of Los Angeles' Paisley Underground scene, but McCarthy's arrival soon brought a country element to the band. Griffin: "His Clarence White-style country guitar-playing gave us a direction that nobody else had." Shank left the band in August 1982 to go back to college

10-5-60 and Native Sons (1983–1984)

In September 1983, who agreed to take on distribution. The EP showed a strong 1960s influence, from garage rock and psychedelia to Byrdsian folk and country rock. It was well received by critics, prompting the band to tour the US. playing his first gig with the band in January 1984, after recommendations from mutual friends. "I didn’t even have to formally audition," Stevens said. "The Long Ryders had gigs coming up in the San Francisco area and needed someone quickly." the Long Ryders signed with Los Angeles-based independent record label Frontier Records and recorded their first full-length album, Native Sons, at A&M Studios in Los Angeles in early summer. They chose veteran producer Henry Lewy (Joni Mitchell, the Flying Burrito Brothers) to co-produce the album. Musically, the band had toned down the psychedelia, emphasizing country and rock and roll. The album and the single reached number 1 and 4 on the UK Indie Chart, respectively.

State of Our Union (1985–1986)

Following the success of Native Sons, the Long Ryders decided to reissue the 10-5-60 EP as a full-length album, retitled 5 by 5 with five new studio tracks. The band entered A&M Studios in February 1985 with engineer and co-producer Paul McKenna and recorded at least six tracks: "Time Keeps Travelling", "The Trip", "Sandwich Man", "As God Is My Witness", the Flamin' Groovies' "I Can’t Hide", and Bob Dylan's "Masters of War". The planned album, however, was abandoned when the band would sign a new record deal and prepare to record their next proper album later in the year. "Upon our arrival in the UK," Stevens said, "we were greeted with sold out shows, amazing crowd receptions, the cover of NME, and literally twelve record companies at our London hotel door after our second London show." The album was a success at college and alternative radio stations in the US, but its more prominent rock sound didn't please UK critics as much as Native Sons. State of Our Union reached number 66 on the UK Albums Chart as well as number 2 on the UK Country Chart. The single "Looking for Lewis and Clark" peaked at number 59 on the UK Singles Chart but was never released commercially in the US. "The Long Ryders doing the Miller Beer ad killed us in the USA. It killed us stone dead. We went from hot to cold in about three weeks," Griffin said. The band, however, continued to tour, building on their success in Europe. In Spain, they headlined in front of 100,000 people at a Barcelona festival in September 1986 which was broadcast live on national radio. Griffin: "Probably the highest of the high points. Graham Parker and the Shot, Wilson Pickett – they were both opening for us that day. I nearly fainted." but were still rooted in traditional Americana music. The finished album was delivered to Island in March, but the release was delayed for two months. "Tom Waits was selling better than Island expected, U2 were still shifting units, and so we were told to wait", Griffin said. In the two years since the Long Ryders signed with Island, several key employees had left the label's A&R department, and the new team showed little interest in the band and the release of Two-Fisted Tales.

left|thumb|Stephen McCarthy and Greg Sowders in 2023.

The album was finally released in June and despite its first single, a cover of NRBQ’s "I Want You Bad", getting radio airplay, neither single nor album charted. The lack of commercial success and label support as well as a relentless touring schedule began to take its toll on the band. Griffin: "He went on the road with us and learned while driving across the country and in motel rooms at night. We never had a formal rehearsal." In 2013, Stevens explained his reasons for leaving: "The spring 1987 tour of Europe was a nightmare. Despite a major label "deal," we were broke, and I found myself having to find another source of income so that my growing family could eat and have a roof over their heads. In June 1987, when the other Long Ryders insisted upon doing a U.S. tour that was expected to lose five figures, I announced that I was leaving the band."

In August, McCarthy announced to the band that he would be leaving at the end of the US tour. "It was a dead end," he said in 1988. "I don’t regret a day I played in the Long Ryders, but it was futile. I quit before it got to the point of beating each other on stage." Even though Island offered Griffin and Sowders the opportunity to record a third album for the label,), and as a music journalist and author. Since 1994, he has run his own label, the London-based Prima Records. The label is primarily, but not exclusively, an outlet for Griffin's solo projects, and releases by the Long Ryders and the Coal Porters. He wrote several books, including Gram Parsons: A Music Biography (1985), Million Dollar Bash: Bob Dylan, The Band & the Basement Tapes (2007) and Shelter from the Storm: Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Years (2010). The second volume was reissued in 2014 to coincide with the release of The Bootleg Series Vol. 11: The Basement Tapes Complete, a six-CD collection to which Griffin contributed liner notes.

McCarthy, after a stint leading his own band, Walker Stories, and in 2001 began playing with the Jayhawks. Stevens returned to his native Indiana, earned a degree in computer science and released solo albums. Additionally, Sowders, who was briefly married to singer Lucinda Williams, went to work in music publishing. Brewer continued to play the Los Angeles circuit, first accompanying various female singer-songwriters, and then moving on to the old-school country band, the Misbegotten Cowboys. Original bassist Shank holds a PhD in American studies and is a professor at Ohio State University. He is the author of several books, including Dissonant Identities: The Rock 'n' Roll Scene in Austin, Texas (1994), A Token of My Affection: Greeting Cards and American Business Culture (2004), and The Political Force of Musical Beauty (2014).

Reunion (2004–2018)

In 2003, a European booking agent approached the band about putting together a Long Ryders reunion for shows in the UK, Spain and the Netherlands in the summer of 2004, including a performance at the Glastonbury Festival. A live album entitled State of Our Reunion resulted from the reunion tour. The band played their first live dates in the US in more than 20 years when they played two shows at the EARL in Atlanta, Georgia in January 2009. "Just some crazy guy with money," Griffin said. In January 2014, the Long Ryders played their first show in Los Angeles in 27 years at the one-off Earle Mankey Appreciation Night concert at the Troubadour. A five date Spanish tour followed in December.

In January 2016, Cherry Red Records released a Long Ryders box set, Final Wild Songs, composed of all the material from their three full-length albums, their one EP, various demos and rarities, and a previously unavailable 15-song performance from a Benelux radio appearance in March 1985. Mojo magazine, in its February 2016 issue, gave the collection a lead review, saying, "They unwittingly invented Americana, but seldom receive credit for it. This 4-CD box set puts the record straight." The band subsequently played 12 dates on the Continent and in the UK in April and May, and 4 East Coast dates in the US in November.

In 2017, Griffin, McCarthy, Sowders and Stevens recorded the first new material for the Long Ryders since 1987. McCarthy: "The band played a number of shows in 2016 and we felt it would be worthwhile to try and write/record some new material." McCarthy and Sowders recorded their parts for a few new songs with engineer and co-producer Adrian Olsen at his Montrose Recording studio in Virginia, while Griffin and Stevens recorded remotely from London and Indiana. A single from these recordings, "Bear in the Woods," was released on April 17, 2017 in time for a 4 date Californian tour in late April.

Psychedelic Country Soul and September November (2019–present)

On February 15, 2019, the Long Ryders released Psychedelic Country Soul, the band's first album of new material in 32 years. The opening track, "Greenville", premiered on the Billboard website. and reached number 2 on the UK Americana Chart, number 4 on the UK Country Chart, and number 10 on the UK Independent Chart. The LA Times said of the album, "The record sounds fantastic", whilst Mojo wrote, "Psychedelic Country Soul puts them right back at the top of a world they helped create." The album was produced by Ed Stasium and recorded mainly at Dr. Dre's Record One studio in Los Angeles, featuring members of the Bangles on harmony vocals and Dave Pearlman (Dan Fogelberg, Phil Everly, Hoyt Axton) on pedal steel guitar. The Long Ryders announced a series of tour dates in 2019 to support the album's release. It was the band's most extensive tour since the 1980s with 43 dates in Europe and North America. Between January 29 and February 3, 2020, the band participated in the Outlaw Country Cruise music festival, a 5-night boat cruise from Miami, Florida to Falmouth, Jamaica with over 30 artists including Lucinda Williams, the Mavericks and Steve Earle and the Dukes.

McCarthy contributed to Carla Olson's 2020 album, Have Harmony, Will Travel 2, where he plays guitar and duets with Olson on "Timber, I'm Falling In Love", originally a No. 1 hit for Patty Loveless on Billboard's Hot Country Singles and Tracks chart in 1989. He also appears on the 2021 various artists album Americana Railroad, duetting with Olson on two tracks. Their first-ever duet album, The Night Comes Falling, was released in November 2022.

On September 4, 2020, the Long Ryders released a new single titled "Down to the Well". The song had been recorded in February 2017 at the same sessions that produced "Bear in the Woods". The download single includes a remix of "If You Want to See Me Cry", originally from Psychedelic Country Soul.

On January 23, 2021, Tom Stevens died suddenly at the age of 64 at his home in Indiana of undisclosed causes. The tribute single "Tom Tom" was released as a download on January 21, 2022. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Long Ryders and producer Ed Stasium recorded the track remotely, sending audio files back and forth between California (Sowders and Stasium), Virginia (McCarthy), and England (Griffin).

The Long Ryders received the International Trailblazers Award from the Americana Music Association UK in January 2022. Nine months later, the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville honored the Long Ryders by including the band in a new exhibition titled “Western Edge: The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock.” Lyric sheets for the songs “Looking for Lewis and Clark” and “Gunslinger Man” are on display, as well as band photos, posters, album covers and an interactive listening station where visitors can hear Long Ryders recordings. The exhibition is scheduled to continue to May 2025.

thumb|The Long Ryders in 2023. L to R: Stephen McCarthy, touring bassist Murry Hammond, Sid Griffin, Greg Sowders.

Recording sessions for the band's next studio album took place during summer 2022, followed by a six-date US tour in November. On these dates, the band was augmented by touring bassist Murry Hammond of Old 97's. On December 2, 2022, the band announced the release of their fifth studio album September November on March 10, 2023, released worldwide by Cherry Red. Like its predecessor, it was produced by Ed Stasium at his Kozy Tone Ranch studio in Poway, California, and features contributions from, among others, violinist Kerenza Peacock of the Coal Porters and X's D. J. Bonebrake on vibes. Bass duties on the album were shared by McCarthy and Hammond. The band – still including Hammond – set out on a European tour in May and June 2023, with a second leg planned for October.

Band members

Current members

Sid Griffin – vocals, guitar, harmonica, mandolin, autoharp, mandocello, banjo, bugle
Stephen McCarthy – vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, lap steel guitar, banjo, mandolin, bouzouki, bass, upright bass, keyboards, Mellotron
Greg Sowders – drums, percussion, vibraphone, keyboards, trombone

Former members

Barry Shank – bass
Des Brewer – bass
Tom Stevens – vocals, bass, upright bass, guitar, acoustic guitar, cello

Touring musicians

Don McCall – bass
Larry Chatman – bass
Simon Hancock – drums
Murry Hammond – bass

Discography

Studio albums

Native Sons (1984, Frontier)
State of Our Union (1985, Island)
Two-Fisted Tales (1987, Island)
Psychedelic Country Soul (2019, Cherry Red / Omnivore)
September November (2023, Cherry Red)
High Noon Hymns (2026, Cherry Red)

Live albums

BBC Radio One Live in Concert (1994, Windsong)
Three Minute Warnings: the Long Ryders Live in New York City (2003, Prima)
State of Our Reunion (2004, Prima)

Compilations

Metallic B.O. (1989, R.O.W.Y.C.O.)
Looking for Lewis and Clark: the Long Ryders Anthology (1998, Chronicles)
The Best of the Long Ryders (2004, Prima)
Final Wild Songs (2016, Cherry Red)

Extended plays

10-5-60 (1983, PVC)
Live EP – Copenhagen '23 (2023, Cherry Red) (Digital download)

Singles

{| class="wikitable"

! rowspan="2"| Year

! rowspan="2" style="width:18em;"| Single

! rowspan="2" | Label and format

! rowspan="2" style="width:26em;"| Tracks

! colspan="2"| Peak chart positions

! rowspan="2" | Album

! style="width:3.5em;font-size:75%"| UK

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"

! scope="col" style="width:18em;" | Title

! scope="col" | Year

! scope="col" | Album

! scope="col" style="width:25em;" | Notes

! scope="row" | "Still Get By"

| rowspan="2"| 1983

| The Radio Tokyo Tapes

| style="text-align:left;" | Various artists compilation album; recorded at Radio Tokyo Studio, 1982.

! scope="row" | "And She Rides"

|The Rebel Kind – A Collection of Contemporary Garage and Psychedelic Bands

|Various artists compilation album; recorded at Radio Tokyo Studio, 1982.

! scope="row" | "Christmas in New Zealand" (as the Spinning Wighats)

|1985

|7" flexi disc given away free as a fan club Christmas release and at a few selected gigs; recorded during the State of Our Union sessions, summer 1985.

! scope="row" | "Encore From Hell" / "10-5-60" (Live) (as the Spinning Wighats)

|rowspan="3"| 1986

|7" flexi disc given away free with issue 17 of Bucketfull of Brains magazine; recorded live at the Mean Fiddler, London, December 1985.

! scope="row" | "Baby We All Gotta Go Down" (Live) (as the Spinning Wighats)

|What a Nice Way to Turn Seventeen No. 6

|Given away free with issue 6 of What a Nice Way to Turn Seventeen fanzine, which combined a magazine with a full-length LP; recorded live at the Mean Fiddler, London, December 1985.

! scope="row" | "I Can't Hide" (as the Spinning Wighats)

|7" flexi disc given away free with issue 28 of the Bob magazine; recorded at A&M Studios, Hollywood, February 1985.

DVDs

Rockin' at the Roxy (2002, Classic Pictures Entertainment)
State of Our Reunion (2009, Prima)

References

External links

The Official Long Ryders website
Sid Griffin's Long Ryders page
An Oral History of the Long Ryders, by Diane Roka
Rebels Without Applause Long Ryders page
photos from the 9 January 2009 show in Atlanta
Encyclopedia of Popular Music