Riders In The Sky Ride Off With Western Music Association Awards

Riders walked away with three trophies including the "big two" of "Outstanding Entertainer-Group of the Year" and "Album of the Year," in addition to "Collaborative/Composite Album of the Year." The album awards were for the monumental project Riders recorded with the Nashville Symphony entitled "Lassoed Live at the Schermerhorn".

"We are stunned and deeply honored to be so recognized by our peers" said "Idol of American Youth" Ranger Doug, vocalist and guitarist for the quartet. Bunkhouse bass-player and funnyman Too Slim added "When we heard we'd won three WMA awards we threw our huge hats in the air, yodeled in perfect outdoor harmony, enjoyed a celebratory plate of biscuits and beans, and hit the trail for another show. The WMA folks are with us in the trenches of presenting, promoting, and preserving cowboy music, and we're so pleased they recognize what we do."

The Grammy Award-winning and WMA Hall of Fame members Riders In The Sky just celebrated their 33rd anniversary on Nov. 11th. They were not able to attend as they were booked for their 6,024th career appearance in Cody, Wyoming, that night.

Too Slim explained "We found out we'd won Western Music's Entertainers of the Year when we were entertaining folks Saturday night in Cody, Wyoming. We packed up the bus in a driving snow and drove 750 miles through intermittent white-out weather to a matinee performance the next afternoon. Why? Because we love this music, we love taking people to a cowboy world they remember from childhood or some corner of their imagination, and we've stayed the best of friends. Thanks to the WMA for recognizing our work. It's truly a labor of love."

The Western Music Association is the trade organization for the genre, and is dedicated to preserving western music and the ways of the American cowboy. It holds it conference and awards show annually.


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