Riders Bring Wit and West to Season
Johnson County Community College |
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Since 1977, the Riders in the Sky have faithfully tended a musical tradition kindled by such singing cowboy legends as Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers. After 30 years, America’s Favorite Cowboys are now legends themselves.
Ranger Doug (Idol of American Youth), Woody Paul (King of the Cowboy Fiddlers), Too Slim (a Righteous Tater) and Joey (the Cow Polka King) will gather round the corral, roll up their sleeves and do what they do best – put on a show, Christmas the Cowboy Way, featuring a 20minute salute to Gene Autry, at 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 8, in Yardley Hall of the Carlsen Center for the Performing Arts, Johnson County Community College. Christmas the Cowboy Way is traditional carols seasoned with a Western flavor – The Christmas Yodel, An Old Fashioned Christmas Polka and The Prairie Dog Christmas Ball, plus Autry’s Rudolph the Red -Nosed Reindeer. This family show is also packed with Western classics and Autry material in honor of the centennial of Public Cowboy #1's birth.
The Riders have become one of the most historically significant acts in the history of American music. The Riders have won two Grammy Awards and have had a TV series and their own NPR radio show. Riders in the Sky have movie appearances, soundtracks, 34 albums and more than 5,400 appearances (two in Yardley Hall – one in 1996, one in 2005). They have been inducted into the prestigious Walk of Western Stars, Grand Ole Opry and Western Music Association Hall of Fame.
Foremost on their list of achievements are their Grammy albums used in the movies Toy Story 2 and Monster’s Inc.; the original score to the Academy-Award-winning short, For the Birds; and the theme for a new Internet cartoon, Thomas Timberwolf, by Bugs Bunny-creator Chuck Jones. Their own animated characters make a guest appearance in the Warner Bros. cartoon series of Duck Dodgers, for which they sing Ballad of Duck Dodgers.
While the Riders feel a serious obligation to be the foremost custodians of America's great Western music heritage, it’s their humor that wins them devoted audiences. Guitarist Ranger Doug, "Governor of the Great State of Rhythm," sings lead and baritone vocals. A yodeler of breathtaking technique, he is also an awardwinning Western music songwriter and a distinguished music historian whose 2002 Vanderbilt University Press book Singing in the Saddle was the first comprehensive look at the singing cowboy phenomenon that swept the country in the 1930s.
Bassist Too Slim, easily the sharpest wit in the West, was, prior to the Riders, a janitor, industrial galvanizer, puppeteer, rumor-monger, hay stacker, burlesque show emcee, sportswriter, wildlife manager and electric bass man. He can also play his face.
Woody Paul sings lead and tenor vocals and gained early experience in country-western music by hanging out with the likes of Roy Acuff. When not dazzling Riders fans with his fiddle, he's thrilling them with intricate rope tricks, which he swears he'll get right before his career is over.
Accordionist Joey The Cow Polka King, who apprenticed with the late polka king Frank Yankovic and has played with everyone from Roy Rogers to U2, is also the Riders' album producer and adds vocals to the harmonies.
There can be no doubt that after 30 years, Riders In The Sky, whose history has now been recounted in Don Cusic's biography, It's the Cowboy Way!, are among the most historically significant acts in American music.
Riders in the Sky tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for youth, available by calling 9134694445 or online at www.jccc.edu/CarlsenCenter. ###
