The Woodward News

Local News

March 5, 2013

Rhythm Riders set final performance Saturday

Charise Smith Woodward News

Woodward, Okla. — The Original Rhythm Riders will perform their final show this Saturday at the Woodward Elks Lodge.

The show is set to start at 7 p.m.

Chuck Carrico, Sabra Rogers, Harvey Baird, Ron Stevens, and L.O. Spray Jr. formed the Rhythm Riders in 1963 and have played together off and on for almost 50 years.

They played their first show in Buffalo for a full house.

“Right then we knew we had something everyone liked,” said L.O. Spray Jr. drummer for the Rhythm Riders.

Throughout the years the band has performed for many different events ranging from rodeos, benefits, and snake hunts to weddings, birthdays, and anniversaries. Even after a number of years apart the band can still come together and play like they used to. Their sound has not changed as they still perform the same classics they have always played.

“A musician never gets it out of his system,” Spray said.

The Rhythm Riders'  first reunion show, after a 23-year lull, came in 2011.

“Main reason for doing that was because we had grandkids and great grandkids that never knew we were in a band,” Spray said.

They performed for a standing room only crowd and by popular demand were asked to come back again the next year.

“We hadn't played together in 23 years but it sounded like we did it every other weekend,” Spray said.

On Saturday April 14, 2012 the band came together again despite the bad weather (tornado warnings throughout the day), to play their last show.

“We could have called it off but we spent so much time and effort we decided to go ahead," Spray said.

But the performance was cut short by a tornado that ripped through Woodward just after midnight on April 15.

The tornado missed the Elks Lodge by a few hundred yards.

“We ended up in the women's bathroom with the lights out,” Spray said.

The band members did not want to go out on that note and decided to do one more show this year and they’re planning a great show Saturday, Spray said.

The Rhythm Riders will be bringing their “honky tonk” style 60's music and are hoping to see ex-Rhythm Riders members come out and play as well.

Chaunce and Cashan, “The Carrico Brothers,” will be opening for the group along with many other great musicians.

“It will be a fun deal,” Spray said.

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