America’s favorite cowboys, Riders In The Sky, come to PAC on Feb. 6

Riders In The Sky, the classic cowboy quartet, performs at the Auburn Performing Arts Center in a 3 p.m. matinee Saturday, Feb. 6, part of the City of Auburn's Bravo Performing Art Series.

January 20, 2016 3:05 pm
Riders in the Sky
Riders in the Sky

For the Reporter

Riders In The Sky, the classic cowboy quartet, performs at the Auburn Performing Arts Center in a 3 p.m. matinee Saturday, Feb. 6, part of the City of Auburn’s Bravo Performing Art Series.

For more than 30 years, Riders In The Sky have been keepers of the flame passed on by the Sons of the Pioneers, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, reviving and revitalizing the genre. And while remaining true to the integrity of Western music, they have themselves become modern-day icons by branding the genre with their own legendary wacky humor and way-out Western wit, and all along encouraging buckaroos and buckarettes to live life “The Cowboy Way.”

Riders In The Sky’s first official public performance was Nov. 11, 1977, at the erstwhile Nashville nightspot “Phranks & Steins.” As a classic cowboy quartet, the trail has led them to heights they could have never predicted. Riders have chalked up more than 6,100 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.

Their cowboy charisma and comedic flair made them naturals for TV, and landed them their own weekly show on TNN, as well as a Saturday morning series on CBS. They have been guests on countless TV specials, documentaries and variety shows, appearing with everyone from Barney to Penn & Teller. And their animated likenesses have shared the screen with Daffy Duck on the Cartoon Network, and the Disney Channel’s Stanley.

Equally as exceptional, is that in 1982, Riders In The Sky became the first, and to date only, exclusively Western music artist to join the Grand Ole Opry, the longest running radio show in history, and thus began a love affair with radio as well. In 1988, they recorded comedy skits for the album “Riders Radio Theatre” and launched the long-running international weekly radio show of the same name on public radio.

Tickets are $20 regular, $18 students and seniors. Call Auburn Parks, Arts & Recreation at 253-931-3043, Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday, 8 a.m. to noon, or in person Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., at 2840 Riverwalk Drive SE, or order online at www.auburnwa.gov/arts.