New Riders Of The Purple Sage The Adventures Of Panama Red

If there was ever any doubt that the New Riders Of The Purple Sage were the ultimate hippie country rock band—and having had Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead as early members meant that there wasn’t much—The Adventures of Panama Red put them to rest. This 1973 album’s loosely connected tall tales of drug culture, complete with the album’s underground comic book graphics, ensured that this gatefold record was a long-time dorm room favorite for separating out those stems and seeds. But Panama Red (their only gold record) had a lot more going for it than just countercultural kicks, the band was much tighter than any outfit this stoned had a right to be, and with songwriting contributions from Peter Rowan (the hit “Panama Red” and “Lonesome L.A. Cowboy”) and Robert Hunter (“Kick in the Head”) as well as from the band’s own fine tunesmiths in John Dawson and Dave Torbert, the songs were of a uniformly high quality. Production by multi-instrumentalist Norbert Putnam, charts by the Memphis Horns and vocal contributions by Buffy Sainte-Marie and Donna Godchaux helped enshrine this record as one of the finest country-rock outings of the ‘70s. Limited edition of 1,000 copies on purple vinyl. Packaged with the original gatefold art festooned with comic book illustrations and inner sleeve lyric sheet.