Dedicated to my friend and neighbor in San Miguel de Allende, John "Marmaduke" Dawson (1945-2009), who started it all. In 1969, Marmaduke had the songs and Jerry Garcia was learning pedal steel. Together they created the New Riders of the Purple Sage. He wrote every song on that first album, co-wrote "Friend of the Devil," and gave the world the original psychedelic cowboy band. He retired to Mexico in '97, and we were neighbors. He was in the crowd that afternoon, watching his band carry his songs forward. Miss you, Marmaduke. You're my inspiration for doing this whole thing, dude.
The New Riders were pure Marin County that afternoon. The stage sat right on the waterfront, sailboats behind the amps, the hills of Tiburon across Richardson Bay. I was shooting with the Leica M8 and had the kind of access you dream about. Right up on stage, down in the crowd, wherever the music pulled me.
This was the Sausalito Art Festival at its best. Labor Day weekend, the sun pouring in under the tent, and a band that had been doing this since 1969 still playing like they meant every note.
- Chuck Jones
New Riders of the Purple Sage emerged from the Grateful Dead's orbit in 1969, with Jerry Garcia on pedal steel in the early days. By 2007 they were deep into their fourth decade, still carrying the spirit of the San Francisco sound to festivals and stages across the country.
All 25 images in this gallery show selection were shot on the Leica M8, Leica's first digital rangefinder. ISO 160, mostly at f/16 for depth across the stage. The M8's CCD sensor gives these images a particular quality that CMOS sensors of the same era couldn't match - there's a clarity and a color rendering that feels closer to film than digital.
Shutter speeds ranged from 1/125 to 1/500 as the afternoon light shifted under the festival tent and across the open waterfront.