Expect the West

The recent passing of Roy Rogers has brought renewed attention to western music. So the timing couldn’t be better for tonight’s county fair concert in Costa Mesa by Riders in the Sky, a group that followed the trail blazed by that famous singing cowboy.

Rogers--who died July 6 of congestive heart failure at age 86--was a big influence, said Ranger Doug (nee Douglas B. Green), the Riders’ lead vocalist, guitarist and songwriter. Rogers’ group, Sons of the Pioneers, founded in 1933, inspired the forming of Riders in 1977.

“The Sons of the Pioneers were largely responsible for changing the face of western music,” Ranger Doug said. “They altered the whole feel of it. Before them, the genre was just songs about cowboys and the ranch life. The Sons of the Pioneers brought a whole new, imaginative look at it, an appreciation of the beauty and grandeur of the West.

“Just listen to ‘Tumblin’ Tumbleweeds.’ Not only is it literary and appealing poetically, but it’s also musically very complex and challenging. They were singing through some very difficult chord progressions. There’s a lot of musical depth to what they did. They were certainly ahead of their time. In fact, they gave us quite a repertoire . . . just this incredible body of songs.”

Since the ‘70s, Riders--who will also play Sunday at McCabe’s in Santa Monica--has carried the torch, keeping cowboy music alive for aficionados and a new generation of buckaroos.

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With fiddler-vocalist Woody Paul and upright-bassist-vocalist Too Slim, Ranger Doug and the Riders are busy enough to make an accountant’s head spin: sixteen albums, more than 3,000 concerts, 180 network television appearances, two TV series and 200 public radio shows.

These accomplishments are amazing when you consider that, despite a minor resurgence several years ago, western music is about as unhip as “The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet.” This point is not lost on Ranger Doug, who shakes his head and chuckles when asked to contemplate the group’s surprisingly long ride.

“Well, our music isn’t any more out of date now than when we started,” he said last week from the group’s Nashville office. “Sure, some people look at us like we’re total squares. But I think folks get tired of songs about feeling sorry for ourselves, getting drunk and how my woman left me.

“There’s just something about songs concerning the open range, timber trails . . . the tumbling tumbleweeds . . . it’s so refreshing. You might not want to hear it on the radio everyday, but, now and again, it’s very uplifting stuff.”

Humor is as essential to Riders in the Sky as cattle is to rustlers. The group is known for its goofball antics and one-liners onstage.

The wholesome, family-oriented act includes an array of classic stunts, gags and props among its supporting cast, including saddles, electric campfires and that saguaro cactus of theirs.

“It’s part of our personality,” Ranger Doug said. “Humor is how we keep it fresh . . . the ad-libbing, the goofy exchanges between us, the slapstick. I don’t know that we’d be as popular as we are without that sense of crazy comedy and freewheelin’ spontaneity.”

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Still, the group’s showmanship does not overshadow the caliber of its playing. Riders may indeed appeal to nostalgia-seekers, but they are hardly a museum piece.

Released just last week, “A Great Big Western Howdy! From Riders in the Sky” (Rounder) serves up both tasty originals and a handful of well-chosen covers, including “Wah-Hoo,” taken from the 1936 musical of the same name.

Soaring harmonies, folksy ensemble playing (including adjunct member Joey the Cowpolka King on accordion) and Ranger Doug’s full-bodied yodeling--are first-rate.

He’s looking forward to playing some of the new material live--the group’s local stopover at the Orange County Fair marks a homecoming of sorts for Ranger Doug. While a teenager in the mid-’50s, he lived in Costa Mesa for three years and vividly remembers his only previous visit to the fairgrounds.

“I’m excited about returning to the Orange County Fair, let me tell ya,” he said with a hint of sarcasm. “When I was a kid, I threw up there. I was riding some bullet-shaped thing that went around and around. Yep, I threw up right at the top of it.”

Even so, Ranger Doug seems to have enjoyed his brief stay here.

“I heard my first western music at Knott’s Berry Farm when I saw the Wagonmasters in ’54 or ’55. Whenever we play California, the smell of eucalyptus makes me feel like a kid again.”

He also has fond memories of the Mesa Theatre, where he saw Gene Autry and Roy Rogers movies.

From one yodeler to another, Ranger Doug praises Rogers and Pioneers founders Bob Nolan and Tim Spencer for laying down a template for others.

“He was one of, if not the first, to do tricky yodels,” Ranger Doug said. “Roy had a beautiful voice. He didn’t have that down-home Texas twang that Tex Ritter and Gene Autry had--but he had excellent pitch and enunciation.”

Ranger Doug fondly recalls when Riders in the Sky performed with Rogers during a “Hee Haw” television appearance about 10 years ago.

“I think he was tired of performing with the bands he was generally stuck with on TV,” he said. “Not that they were bad, but they were country bands--with electric bass and drums--and it made him a little uncomfortable trying to fit into that sound. With us, we all had that western feel . . . and that acoustic sound . . . and man, he just lit up like a lightbulb. Roy said to us, ‘This is just like when Bob, Tim and I got together.’ ”

* Riders in the Sky perform at 7 and 9 tonight at the Orange County Fair, 88 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa. (714) 708-3247. Included with fair admission, $2-$6. Also appearing Sunday at McCabe’s Guitar Shop, 3101 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica. 6 and 8:30 p.m. $17.50 (310) 828-4403.