The Bay Area was awash with live music during the final days of 2023. During the week leading up to and including New Year’s Eve, live music fans in the region could choose The String Cheese Incident, LCD Soundsystem, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Les Claypool’s Bastard Jazz, Jerry Harrison and Adrian Belew’s “Remain in Light” Talking Heads tribute, Charlie Musselwhite, and Jerry’s Middle Finger, among others. And of course, some folks stayed home to stream Phish.

Today, legendary psychedelic country rock band New Riders of the Purple Sage, whose original lineup included several members of the Grateful Dead, announced their new live album Lyceum ‘72 will be released on September 23, 2022 via Omnivore Recordings.

“The last night of the Grateful Dead’s 1972 European tour was memorable for a host of reasons, and prime amongst them, was the fun fact that the whole extended musical ‘family’ of the Grateful Dead was reunited at the London gig in the Lyceum Ballroom just off the Strand....”

Best-known for gracing the pedal steel chair in Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen, Asleep at the Wheel, and the New Riders of the Purple Sage, Bobby Black is one of the greats at his chosen instrument and one of the last members of the first generation of players to introduce it to American music. And he is definitely the only member of that club who spent most of his life in Northern California, San Mateo to be specific.

This December, Grateful Web had the opportunity to catch up with guitarist, singer and songwriter Michael Falzarano. Michael is a tenured veteran of legendary bands New Riders of the Purple Sage and Hot Tuna, a regular contributor at Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peace Ranch, and bandleader of his own long-standing Memphis Pilgrims and Dead Tribute group, The Englishtown Project.

I’m not a fan of Thanksgiving. I like being with family, the time off from work and of course all the decadent trimmings, but sadly it now signifies personal tragedy. Even the weeks heading towards Turkey Day causes debilitating anxiety. (Try not to die on a major holiday. It makes the healing process more arduous.) This year, due to the pandemic, my emotional state is much worse. I will be home instead of trying to enjoy a little vacation get-a-way to distract from the nightmare that transpired. Avoiding the day and skipping straight to Christmas never seemed like a possibility.

Omnivore Recordings today announced its titles for Record Store Day/Black Friday, observed by brick and mortal music retail establishments (and their rabid fans) during Thanksgiving weekend, Friday, November 23.

Ronnie Penque will release his second studio album titled "Family Business". The album features 9 new songs written and produced by Penque including the hit tune "Wookie Kids". Family Business is an eclectic collection of cool songs featuring extended jams, smooth harmonies, and catchy hooks. It’s a classic rock album with cross over country flare. Included in the album are a couple of songs with The New Riders of The Purple Sage. Buddy Cage’s pedal steel guitar drives through you as Penque and crew rock these tunes.

The Grateful Dead – New Riders of the Purple Sage – Marshall Tucker Band concert on September 3, 1977, is a special moment in the Dead’s legendary career. The largest concert in New Jersey history, it drew well over 100,000 fans to hear the Dead in spectacular form (and after a three-month break necessitated by Mickey Hart’s car accident and broken shoulder). Not just the Dead: as Mike Falzarano toured with the New Riders a few years later, most shows would include someone saying that they’d seen the Riders at Englishtown.

And what musical lives they’ve been! Nelson and Cage, both synonymous with many decades of NRPS’ psychedelicized countrified stylings, have entertained concert audiences and home listeners with many, many other bands – Nelson with the David Nelson Band, as well as Old & In the Way, Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band, The Good Old Boys, Dead Ringers, Al Rapone & the Zydeco Express, The Papermill Creek Rounders, and way back in the early 1960s with the Wildwood Boys bluegrass band alongside Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter. Cage, in addition to his storied career with the NRPS, has delivered his trademark pedal steel guitar articulations with Great Speckled Bird, Stir Fried, Solar Circus, The Brooklyn Cowboys, Terry & the Pirates, and on substantial studio work with Bob Dylan and Anne Murray.