Road Cage

This site will be a work in progress in an attempt to chronicle the past, present and ongoing career of Pedal Steel Master - Buddy Cage.

As one of the New Riders of the Purple Sage since 1971, Buddy Cage has sold over 4 million records. As an independent recording artist, he has performed on over 10 gold & platinum records and has contionued to tour the world with The New Riders and projects such as StirFried. Buddy can also be heard on his hit Sirius Satellite Radio show - Jam On 17.

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Check out the latest Tour Dates for The New Riders

With Bob Dylan:
* “Blood On The Tracks”
* “Biograph”
* “Official Bootleg Tapes”

NRPS:
* “Panama Red”
* “Powerglide”
* “Home, Home On The Road”
* “Gypsy Cowboy”

Also:
* Recorded w/Grateful Dead members Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart & GD lyricist Robert Hunter (”Tales Of The Rum Runners”)
* 4 multi-platinum albums w/Anne Murray
* John Cipollina (Quicksilver Messenger Service)
* Mario Cipollina (Huey Lewis & The News)
* Super Freak Rick James
* The Band w/Rick Danko & Garth Hudson
* Folk legends Ian & Sylvia (Great Speckled Bird)
* David Rea (Fairport Convention & Mountain)
* Folk greats Brewer & Shipley
* Allah Rahka (Ravi Shankar Ensemble)
* The Shondells
* David Bromberg w/Bonnie Raitt & Linda Ronstadt
* Papa John Creach (Hot Tuna)
* Sly Stone
* Legendary jazz flutist Charles Lloyd & jazz genius Lenny Breaux
* George Hamilton IV
* Lester Chambers (Chambers Bros.)

See More On Buddy’s Bio Here From Cool Groove

July 22, 2004 - Within the context of classic rock the name Buddy Cage resonates with a certain amount of cachet. As a master of the steel guitar, Cage has lent his signature sound to everyone from the New Riders of the Purple Sage to The Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, and The Band. And as such a pedigree would suggest, Cage has participated in his fair share of legendary concerts.

One such memorable event was The Festival Express, a historic cross-Canada tour that took place in the early ’70s after two enterprising promoters had the brilliant idea of organizing a rock and roll Orient Express. That is to say, they rented a train, stocked it with the most popular musicians of the day—The Grateful Dead, Buddy Guy, Janis Joplin, The Band, and countless others—and steamed across Canada, stopping in the major cities of each province to hold festival sized concerts.

Thankfully the historic events of the Festival Express were captured on film, which was lost for 30-odd years, but recently re-discovered and turned into a wondrous documentary of the same name. Cage was one of the lucky musicians who participated in the tour, an event that surely could not take place in this day and age. “They can’t do it because of the last four years,” Cage muses. “The last four years has been four years of back-to-back recession. You could thank this present administration or not. I could give a sh@t less. That’s not the point. The point is that’s the reality as it ends up with us in the music industry.” Cage pauses, then adds a little side note. “It was the music business when I started this thing, then it became the music industry, courtesy of Don Kirshner.”

The use of the terms music and industry together have always had a strange ring to them, but when Cage juxtaposes the terms “business” and “industry” alongside “music,” they ring all the more stranger. Let’s face it, there is a huge difference between business and industry. “It was a business like anything else,” he states. “Bob Weir said it best when he said ‘What a time it was to play music.’ And he was talking about 1970 [when we were on the Festival Express tour], when people really, really cared how much it meant, where it was part of the fabric of their lives, you know? People cared to discuss music and debate it. You know, everybody was having a personal symposium, they were going on all over the world on music. You know, it started with The Beatles on through that and then we got our psychedelic thing together…” Cage stops, smiles wryly, laughs, then adds “Well, we didn’t get it together, but that was part of psychedelic thing of it. Read More

Check Out A Scene From the Festival Express. I was on the Train touring with Ian & Sylvia at the Time.

More Festival Videos

A couple of years ago they finally released the documentary Festival Express. It detailed a trans-Canadian train ride and series of concerts with the Grateful Dead, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Janis Joplin, The Band, Buddy Guy, The Flying Burrito Brothers and other American and Canadian acts. It features some incredible and historical musical moments. Aside from the five mini-festivals that occurred along the way, the jams on the train were simply stunning. Buddy Guy and Jerry Garcia performing “I Can’t Do it Baby” and Garcia and Sylvia performing “Going Down the Road Feeling Bad” were among the highlights. Another highlight was when the then unknown (to the larger audience) Buddy Cage (touring with Ian & Sylvia) sat down across from Jerry, pedal steels in hand, or rather on laps. The significance of this first meeting wouldn’t be realized for nearly a year but it was significant.

“Nobody knew each other,” Buddy explained. “Jerry knew Janis. We knew vaguely of the Burrito guys [Flying Burrito Brothers]. And you knew Buddy Guy, and stuff, but nobody really knew each other. So everybody was kind of scared of each other or at least cautious. Jerry and Sylvia broke the ice really. He says, ‘Hey you want do a song?’ And she just went, ‘Well, sure.’ It was kind of like a dare, you know? And there she was trying to fit in. But then he started doing ‘Going Down the Road Feeling Bad’, shit, it was such a spiritual moment. That led to the idea for Garcia and me to set up our steels,” he continued, “and we became the focal point of a folk and country and bluegrass jam. Janis, Sylvia, Bonnie, Ian, and Garcia all sang on “No More Cane (On This Brazos)” as an example. Beautiful.”

At this time, 1970, Buddy was already becoming a legend in his own right. Much like Garcia, he incorporated diverse elements into his singular pursuit of pedal steel mastery. Jazz, rock, funk, country, soul and the kitchen sink found their way through his hands and feet and came out in some revolutionary sounds. Read More