Blue Sky Riding Song

MUSICIANS: Michael Martin Murphey-Vocals & Acoustic Guitar; Pat Flynn-Lead Acoustic Guitar; Ryan Murphey-Rhythm Acoustic Guitar; Craig Nelson-Acoustic Bass; Andy Hall-Dobro; Andy Leftwich-Fiddle, Charlie Cushman-Banjo, Ronny McCoury-Mandolin.

I wrote this song in the back of a Jeep Cherokee, bouncing over pot-hole backroads in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, on the way to meet Guy Dull Knife – Medicine Man of the Lakotas – a meeting arranged by my friend, Gary Thomas. I was an idealistic “wannabe” with long blond hair and a red beard. The Lakotas thought I looked like Custer – one even said I was “Custer come back as an Indian, to make up for all the things that went wrong”. Hey – I didn’t want that job! But it’s been an adventure, as a Texas-born Irishman with not one drop of Lakota blood in me, trying to fight for Indian rights. But if Native Americans don’t have civil rights in America, then who deserves them more?