Classic cowboy music rides into Edmonds

Experience “The Cowboy Way” when Grammy-winners Riders in the Sky ride into Edmonds Center for the Arts, Saturday May 2.

For more than thirty years Riders In The Sky have been keepers of the musical flame passed on by the Sons of the Pioneers, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, while reviving and revitalizing the genre. But while they have remained true to the integrity of Western music, they have also branded the genre with their own wacky humor and way-out Western wit.

Beginning each performance with their trademark greeting, “Mighty fine and a great big Western ‘Howdy,’ all you buckaroos and buckarettes,” Riders in the Sky — Ranger Doug (born Douglas B. Green), Woody Paul (born Paul Chrisman) on fiddle and vocals, Too Slim (string bass and guitar), and “Cowpolka King” Joey Miskulin on accordion — simultaneously pay tribute to and poke gentle fun at the classic cowboy songs of the 1930s and 1940s.

Before forming the band, Michigan-born Ranger Doug was a member of Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys and also a country music journalist, working at the Country Music Foundation Press as editor of the Journal of Country Music. Prior to joining the Riders, Woody Paul, a formidable swing fiddler, played with Loggins &Messina, and Too Slim was a member of Dickey Lee’s band in addition to being a songwriter.

Riders have chalked up over 5400 concert appearances in all 50 states and 10 countries, appearing in venues everywhere from the Nashville National Guard Armory to Carnegie Hall, and from county fairs to the Hollywood Bowl. In addition to being inducted into the Grand Ol’ Opry, Riders are in the Western Music Association’s Hall of Fame, the Country Music Foundation’s Walkway of Stars, and the Walk of Western Stars (in Newhall, CA, near Melody Ranch Studios) along with Gene, Roy, John Wayne and other cowboy legends, and were named the Western Music Association’s “Entertainers of the Year” in 2007.

Riders performed “Woody’s Round Up” in “Toy Story 2,” with the album of the same name garnering Riders their first Grammy Award in 2001 for “Best Musical Album for Children.” Two years later, Riders roped their second Grammy in the same category, for “Monsters Inc. – Scream Factory Favorites,” the companion CD to Pixar’s award-winning movie.