History Music / RidersInTheSky

* BalladOfX: [[https://youtu.be/k_lIEmMgC8s "The Ballad of Palindrome"]], a parody of "The Ballad of Paladin".
** They also did a cover of [[Series/DavyCrockett "The Ballad of Davy Crockett"]].

* IconicSongRequest: "Let's do our most requested song: "[[https://youtu.be/98SWVg8jGn4 That's How The Yodel Was Born]]"." -Ranger Doug at every live performance since 1979.

* RunningGag: Several times during each concert, Woody or Slim will talk about something, then Doug will gently reprimand them by saying "You fellers know that would be the ''easy'' way. But it wouldn't be the ''cowboy'' way."

* Main/InkSuitActor: The Riders appeared as themselves alongside Daffy Duck in the ''WesternAnimation/DuckDodgers'' animated series. They also appeared as themselves in [[WesternAnimation/Stanley Stanley's Dinosaur Round-Up]].

Riders In The Sky is a Grammy award winning country/western band that first began performing on November 11th, 1977. The band consist of Ranger Doug (Douglas B. Green) on rhythm guitar, Woody Paul (Paul W. Chrisman) on fiddle, Too Slim (Fred [=LaBour=]) on bass, and Joey The Cow-Polka King (Joey Miskulin) on accordion. Over the course of their long and semi-illustrious career, they've released 35 albums over the course of 40 years, hosted and starred in numerous television shows and specials, including the TNN series Series/TumbleweedTheater for three seasons, their own CBS children's show in 1991, and created the National Public Radio series Radio/RidersRadioTheater which ran for 15+ years, but they are perhaps best known for singing ''Woody's Round-Up'' in WesternAnimation/ToyStory2.

* AgeProgressionSong: [[https://youtu.be/EVZ8zxUZPzM Cowboy Song]] follows the life of a cowboy from before his birth, as a young man, and eventually to him as an old man watching cities being built "where the long-horn cow once grazed".
* AudienceParticipationSong: In live concerts, the Riders invite children to come onstage and sing ''I'm Going To Leave Old Texas Now''.

* BalladOfX: [[https://youtu.be/k_lIEmMgC8s The Ballad of Palindrome]], a parody of ''The Ballad of Paladin''.
** They also did a cover of ''[[Series/DavyCrockett The Ballad of Davy Crockett]]''.

* ConceptAlbum: Their 1989 album ''Riders Go Commercial'' is based around the idea that one day there will be commercials on "records, tapes, and cd's", with half of the album consisting of parody commercials for fictional products and the other half with actual music.

* CoverVersion: Being a cowboy band means you have to cover the classic cowboy songs, such as [[https://youtu.be/FRc7KTAuoOc Back In The Saddle Again]], [[https://youtu.be/yK5_szE98AY Cool Water]], [[https://youtu.be/nofbteWzXJU Tumbling Tumbleweeds]], and [[https://youtu.be/WZ_uIcMCXx4 Home On The Range]]. Most of their albums are 50% covers and 50% original songs.
* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler: The cattle rancher-turned outlaw (AKA the narrator)]] in [[https://youtu.be/jz_2GWHTRys Desperado Trail]].

* Main/FunWithPalindromes: [[https://youtu.be/k_lIEmMgC8s The Ballad of Palindrome]] is about a fictional television show featuring the adventures of [[Main/EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep a man named Palindrome]] who has the ability to speak only in palindromes.
* GreatestHitsAlbum: ''Best of The West''(1987), ''Best of The West Rides Again''(1990), ''Saturday Morning With Riders In The Sky''(1992), ''Cowboy Songs''(1996), ''Yodel The Cowboy Way''(1998), and ''America’s Favorite Cowboy Songs''(2012).
* GroinAttack: The unnamed subject of "That's How The Yodel Was Born".

* IconicSongRequest: "Let's do our most requested song: [[https://youtu.be/98SWVg8jGn4 That's How The Yodel Was Born]]." -Ranger Doug at every live performance since 1979.
* IncrediblyLongNote: The grand finale of [[https://youtu.be/xZCliTkppw4?t=1m24s That's How The Yodel Was Born]] has two.
* Main/InkSuitActor: The Riders appeared as themselves alongside Daffy Duck in the WesternAnimation/DuckDodgers animated series. They also appeared as themselves in [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WesternAnimation/Stanley Stanley's Dinosaur Round-Up]].
* LiveAlbum: ''Riders In The Sky Live!''(1983), ''The Cowboy Way''(1987), ''Lassoed Live at the Schermerhorn with the Nashville Symphony''(2009), and parts of ''Silver Jubilee''(2003).
* LocationSong: [[https://youtu.be/03ZM_HDX3OM Nevada]], [[https://youtu.be/Zp1_aFn1Afo Old El Paso]], and [[https://youtu.be/WS9CJYE4aic Blue Montana Skies]] are just a few examples of songs inspired by a certain location the Riders have performed.
* ParentalLoveSong: [[https://youtu.be/yiQPDVwCrhI Pretty Prairie Princess]], written by Woody Paul shortly after his daughter was born.

* TitleTrack: ''Three On The Trail'', ''Cowboy Jubilee'', ''Prairie Serenade'', ''Harmony Ranch'', and ''Always Drink Upstream From The Herd'' are all albums named after songs appearing on said albums.

* SidekickSong: The Riders' faithful sidekick and chuckwagon cook Sidemeat occasionally gets to sing a song on the albums, such as [[https://youtu.be/J8YrKD-82fw Sidekick Heaven]] and [[https://youtu.be/ympIfEY8rPc Biscuit Blues]]
* TheSomethingSong: ''Cowboy Song'' written by Woody Paul.

* TrainSong: [[https://youtu.be/GtohNZV9tcw Here Comes The Santa Fe]].
* SelfTitledAlbum: ''Riders In The Sky'' in the early 80s. It was later rereleased as ''Weeds And Water'' in 1983.

* VillainSong: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfwFanO6rkQ Someone's Got To Do It]] from ''Horse Opera''.
** [[https://youtu.be/sRoWtvfR_AI Compadres In The Old Sierra Madres]], a song about an outlaw hideout hidden in the mountains, could be considered a Villain Song since the outlaws are willing to kill any lawman who stumbles across their secret hideaway.

* Main/InkSuitActor: The Riders appeared as themselves alongside Daffy Duck in the WesternAnimation/DuckDodgers animated series.
** They also appeared as themselves in [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WesternAnimation/Stanley Stanley's Dinosaur Round-Up]].

* RecordProducer: Joey Miskulin not only plays for Riders In The Sky, but produces their albums as well.\

* BizarreInstrument: Too Slim plays [[https://youtu.be/09mIiKdEX38 his face/cheeks]]. He often refers to it as "the world's second oldest instrument". On their major label debut "The Cowboy Way", when the audience cheered this enthusastically, Slim quipped "My kinda crowd! Starved for entertainment!"

* RecordProducer: Joey Miskulin not only plays for Riders In The Sky, but produces their albums as well.

* TheStoner: Woody Paul (formerly). A famous story involves the Riders performing at Ronald Reagan's inaugural ball in 1981 and Woody Paul trying to sneak his weed past the secret service.

* BizarreInstrument: Too Slim plays [[https://youtu.be/09mIiKdEX38 his face/cheeks]]. He often refers to it as "the world's second oldest instrument".

* LiveAlbum: ''Riders In The Sky Live!''(1983),''The Cowboy Way''(1987),''Lassoed Live at the Schermerhorn with the Nashville Symphony''(2009), and parts of ''Silver Jubilee''(2003).

* AgeProgressionSong: [[https://youtu.be/EVZ8zxUZPzM Cowboy Song]] follows the life off a cowboy from before his birth, as a young man, and eventually to him as an old man watching cities being built "where the long-horn cow once grazed".

Riders In The Sky is a Grammy award winning country/western band that first began performing on November 11th, 1977. The band consist of Ranger Doug (Douglas B. Green) on rhythm guitar, Woody Paul (Paul W. Chrisman) on fiddle, Too Slim (Fred LaBour) on bass, and Joey The Cow-Polka King (Joey Miskulin) on accordion. Over the course of their long and semi-illustrious career, they've released 35 albums over the course of 40 years, hosted and starred in numerous television shows and specials, including the TNN series Series/TumbleweedTheater for three seasons, their own CBS children's show in 1991, and created the National Public Radio series Radio/RidersRadioTheater which ran for 15+ years, but they are perhaps best known for singing ''Woody's Round-Up'' in WesternAnimation/ToyStory2.

* StageNames: All of the members use stage names.

Riders In The Sky is a Grammy award winning country/western band that first began performing on November 11th, 1977. The band consist of Ranger Doug (Douglas B. Green) on rhythm guitar, Woody Paul (Paul W. Chrisman) on fiddle, Too Slim (Fred LaBour) on bass, and Joey The Cow-Polka King (Joey Miskulin) on accordion.

* ThePeteBest: The Riders have two Pete Best equivalents: "Windy Bill" Collins and "Tumbleweed Tommy" Goldsmith.

* AgeProgressionSong: ''Cowboy Song'' follows the life off a cowboy from before his birth, as a young man, and eventually to him as an old man watching cities being built "where the long-horn cow once grazed".

* BalladOfX: ''The Ballad of Palindrome'', a parody of ''The Ballad of Paladin''.
* BizarreInstrument: Too Slim plays his face/cheeks. He often refers to it as "the world's second oldest instrument".

* IconicSongRequest: "Let's do our most requested song: ''That's How The Yodel Was Born''." -Ranger Doug at every live performance since 1979.

* TrainSong: ''Here Comes The Santa Fe''.

* ConceptAlbum: Their 1989 album ''Riders Go Commercial'' is based around the idea that one day there will be commercials on "records, tapes, and CDs", with half of the album consisting of parody commercials for fictional products and the other half with actual music.

* SingerSongwriter: All of the band members have written songs and performed said-songs on their albums.

* IconicSongRequest: "Let's do our most requested song: ''That's How The Yodel Was Born''." -Ranger Doug at every live performance since 1984.
* LiveAlbum: ''Riders In The Sky Live!''(1983) and ''The Cowboy Way''(1987).

* TitledAfterTheSong: ''Ghost Riders In The Sky'', although they are actually named after the album ''Riders In The Sky'' by The Sons of The Pioneers (which is named after the song).

Riders In The Sky is a Grammy award winning country/western band that first began performing on November 11th, 1977. The band consist of Ranger Doug(Douglas B. Green) on rhythm guitar, Woody Paul(Paul W. Chrisman) on fiddle, Too Slim(Fred La-Bour) on bass, and Joey The Cow-Polka King(Joey Miskulin) on accordion.

* TheStoner: Woody Paul(formerly). A famous story involves the Riders performing at Ronald Reagan's inaugural ball in 1981 and Woody Paul trying to sneak weed past the secret service.

* SingerSongwriter: All of the band members have written and performed songs they have written.