RIP Marmaduke (John Dawson) of New Riders of the Purple Sage

Ben Sisario writes:

John Dawson, a singer and songwriter whose band New Riders of the Purple Sage began as a country-rock offshoot of the Grateful Dead but had a long life of its own, died on Tuesday in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where he lived. He was 64.

The cause was stomach cancer, said Trebbie Thomas, a family friend.

Mr. Dawson, known as Marmaduke, founded New Riders of the Purple Sage in 1969 with David Nelson and Jerry Garcia, whom Mr. Dawson had known from Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Band Champions, a Grateful Dead predecessor formed in 1964. Mr. Dawson was looking for a band to perform his country-inflected songs, and Mr. Garcia was eager for a project in which he could indulge his newest musical obsession, pedal-steel guitar.

link: John Dawson, Founding Member of New Riders of Purple Sage, Is Dead at 64 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com