John Marmaduke Dawson
John Collins Dawson IV, nicknamed "Marmaduke" (June 16, 1945 – July 21, 2009), was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was best known as the leader and co-founder
John Dawson was born in Detroit, Michigan. The son of a Los Altos Hills, California filmmaker, he took guitar lessons from Mimi Fariña, Joan Baez's sister, before attending the Millbrook School near Millbrook, New York. While at Millbrook, he took courses in music theory & history and sang in the glee club.
After stints at Foothill College and Occidental College, Dawson's musical career began in the mid-1960s folk music scene in the San Francisco Bay Area. There he met fellow guitarist David Nelson, and was part of the rotating lineup of Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, a jug band that included Jerry Garcia and several other future members of the Grateful Dead.[1] Dawson was also heavily influenced by the Bakersfield sound genre of country music.
By 1969, Dawson had written a number of country rock songs, and Garcia had become interested in playing pedal steel guitar. Joined by Nelson, they formed the New Riders of the Purple Sage.[2] The New Riders became the opening act for the Grateful Dead, and their original lineup included three Grateful Dead members — Garcia on pedal steel, Phil Lesh on bass, and Mickey Hart on drums. Within a year, Dave Torbert replaced Lesh and Spencer Dryden replaced Hart in the New Riders lineup, with Garcia continuing to play in both bands. In 1970 and 1971, the New Riders and the Grateful Dead performed many concerts together.[3][4] In November 1971, Buddy Cage replaced Jerry Garcia as the New Riders' pedal steel player, allowing NRPS to tour independently of the Dead.[5]
During this same period, Dawson appeared as a guest musician on three Grateful Dead albums — Aoxomoxoa, Workingman's Dead, and American Beauty.[6] With Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter, he co-wrote the song "Friend of the Devil".[7]
In the years that followed, Dawson and Nelson led a gradually evolving lineup of musicians in the New Riders of the Purple Sage, playing their psychedelic influenced brand of country rock and releasing a number of studio and live albums. In 1982, David Nelson and Buddy Cage left the band. John Dawson and the New Riders carried on without them, taking on more of a bluegrass influence with the addition of multi-instrumentalist Rusty Gauthier to the group. NRPS continued to tour intermittently and released the occasional album. Then, in 1997, Dawson retired from the music business, moved to Mexico, and became an English teacher, and the New Riders disbanded.
In 2005, David Nelson and Buddy Cage revived the New Riders of the Purple Sage, without Dawson's participation but with his agreement and moral support. Subsequently Dawson made several guest appearances at New Riders concerts.[8]
Dawson died in Mexico of stomach cancer on July 21, 2009.
John "Marmaduke" Dawson had original tunes in his pocket and a guitar in his hands in 1969 when a buddy just learning to play pedal steel guitar often joined his weekly gig at the Underground, a San Francisco Bay Area hofbrau house.
The friend was Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, and those sessions set the stage for the New Riders of the Purple Sage, a group they considered "the original psychedelic cowboy band."
Mr. Dawson, 64, died Tuesday of stomach cancer in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, said Buddy Cage, who has played pedal steel guitar with the group since Mr. Garcia left in 1971. Mr. Garcia died in 1995.
The New Riders initially gave Mr. Garcia and two other members of the Grateful Dead -- Mickey Hart on drums and Phil Lesh on bass guitar -- a way to further indulge their taste for country music. But Mr. Dawson's songwriting skills quickly helped the offshoot band develop an independent country-rock identity.
Rob Bleetstein, archivist for the New Riders, wrote in an e-mail, "Dawson's songwriting brought an incredible vision of classic Americana to light with songs like 'Glendale Train' and 'Last Lonely Eagle.' "
With that material and such other "wonderful" Dawson songs as "Garden of Eden" and "Henry," the band "simply had to become a reality," Dennis McNally, a Grateful Dead publicist, said last week on Relix magazine's Web site.
They toured with the Grateful Dead, as the psychedelic rock band's opening act from 1969 to 1971, then became successful touring on their own, Mr. Bleetstein said.
In 1974, the New Riders played a free concert for an estimated 50,000 fans in New York City's Central Park.
According to the "Encyclopedia of Popular Music" (1998), their first, self-titled release "blended country rock with hippie idealism, yet emerged as a worthy companion to the parent act's lauded 'American Beauty.' "
John Dawson was born in Detroit, Michigan. The son of a Los Altos Hills, California filmmaker, he took guitar lessons from Mimi Fariña, Joan Baez's sister, before attending the Millbrook School near Millbrook, New York. While at Millbrook, he took courses in music theory & history and sang in the glee club.
After stints at Foothill College and Occidental College, Dawson's musical career began in the mid-1960s folk music scene in the San Francisco Bay Area. There he met fellow guitarist David Nelson, and was part of the rotating lineup of Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, a jug band that included Jerry Garcia and several other future members of the Grateful Dead.[1] Dawson was also heavily influenced by the Bakersfield sound genre of country music.
By 1969, Dawson had written a number of country rock songs, and Garcia had become interested in playing pedal steel guitar. Joined by Nelson, they formed the New Riders of the Purple Sage.[2] The New Riders became the opening act for the Grateful Dead, and their original lineup included three Grateful Dead members — Garcia on pedal steel, Phil Lesh on bass, and Mickey Hart on drums. Within a year, Dave Torbert replaced Lesh and Spencer Dryden replaced Hart in the New Riders lineup, with Garcia continuing to play in both bands. In 1970 and 1971, the New Riders and the Grateful Dead performed many concerts together.[3][4] In November 1971, Buddy Cage replaced Jerry Garcia as the New Riders' pedal steel player, allowing NRPS to tour independently of the Dead.[5]
During this same period, Dawson appeared as a guest musician on three Grateful Dead albums — Aoxomoxoa, Workingman's Dead, and American Beauty.[6] With Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter, he co-wrote the song "Friend of the Devil".[7]
In the years that followed, Dawson and Nelson led a gradually evolving lineup of musicians in the New Riders of the Purple Sage, playing their psychedelic influenced brand of country rock and releasing a number of studio and live albums. In 1982, David Nelson and Buddy Cage left the band. John Dawson and the New Riders carried on without them, taking on more of a bluegrass influence with the addition of multi-instrumentalist Rusty Gauthier to the group. NRPS continued to tour intermittently and released the occasional album. Then, in 1997, Dawson retired from the music business, moved to Mexico, and became an English teacher, and the New Riders disbanded.
In 2005, David Nelson and Buddy Cage revived the New Riders of the Purple Sage, without Dawson's participation but with his agreement and moral support. Subsequently Dawson made several guest appearances at New Riders concerts.[8]
Dawson died in Mexico of stomach cancer on July 21, 2009.
John "Marmaduke" Dawson had original tunes in his pocket and a guitar in his hands in 1969 when a buddy just learning to play pedal steel guitar often joined his weekly gig at the Underground, a San Francisco Bay Area hofbrau house.
The friend was Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, and those sessions set the stage for the New Riders of the Purple Sage, a group they considered "the original psychedelic cowboy band."
Mr. Dawson, 64, died Tuesday of stomach cancer in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, said Buddy Cage, who has played pedal steel guitar with the group since Mr. Garcia left in 1971. Mr. Garcia died in 1995.
The New Riders initially gave Mr. Garcia and two other members of the Grateful Dead -- Mickey Hart on drums and Phil Lesh on bass guitar -- a way to further indulge their taste for country music. But Mr. Dawson's songwriting skills quickly helped the offshoot band develop an independent country-rock identity.
Rob Bleetstein, archivist for the New Riders, wrote in an e-mail, "Dawson's songwriting brought an incredible vision of classic Americana to light with songs like 'Glendale Train' and 'Last Lonely Eagle.' "
With that material and such other "wonderful" Dawson songs as "Garden of Eden" and "Henry," the band "simply had to become a reality," Dennis McNally, a Grateful Dead publicist, said last week on Relix magazine's Web site.
They toured with the Grateful Dead, as the psychedelic rock band's opening act from 1969 to 1971, then became successful touring on their own, Mr. Bleetstein said.
In 1974, the New Riders played a free concert for an estimated 50,000 fans in New York City's Central Park.
According to the "Encyclopedia of Popular Music" (1998), their first, self-titled release "blended country rock with hippie idealism, yet emerged as a worthy companion to the parent act's lauded 'American Beauty.' "
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