Can the Country, This Here Is Western Purity : Return With Us Now to the Singing Days of Yesteryear, and Saddle Whiz, Biofeedbag and Deadwood Darlene Along for Laughs

Burned out on classic rock? Bored by jazz? Not ready for Beethoven? Maybe it’s time you tried . . . cowboy music.

Start with images of moonlight on the plains, lowing dogies and gingham-clad damsels. Add delicate harmonies and steady, unpretentious acoustic arrangements. It’s not necessarily country, but it is definitely Western, and in the capable hands of a Nashville-based trio called Riders in the Sky, it has become a modest phenomenon.

Longtime fans of the more mainstream schools of music, who thought they’d be ready for Western tunes about the time hell froze over, have embraced Riders in the Sky with something akin to religious fervor. The Buckaroos and Buckarettes, as the faithful are called, should be out in full force Monday night at the Crazy Horse Steak House in Santa Ana, where the Riders are co-billed with Asleep at the Wheel.

Looking straight out of the costume department of Republic Pictures circa 1947, on a stage set with a cactus, a tumbleweed, bleached cattle bones and a make-believe campfire, the Riders reverently resuscitate the singing cowboy tradition, punctuating it with funny commentary.

The format of their live act and of several of their nine albums brings to mind such old-time radio shows as “Melody Ranch.” Between the songs, the cowboys even plug their imaginary sponsor, Deadwood Darlene’s Prairie Lubricants, with commercial spots for such essential products as Biofeedbag and Saddle Whiz.

They are serious about their music, however, and about extolling the difference between Western music and what is known today as country.

“I think of country music as songs about heartbreak and gettin’ drunk a lot,” the group’s cattle master, “Ranger Doug,” said from a recent concert tour in Glendale, Ariz. “We sing about the wide-open spaces, the beauty of the West, the wonder of nature and the free life of the cowboy astride his faithful pony.”

Ranger Doug and his pardners, “Woody Paul” and “Too Slim,” are following the trail blazed by the likes of Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Tex Ritter and, most significantly, the Sons of the Pioneers.

It’s a genre that “had its great flowering in the ‘30s and ‘40s,” Too Slim said. “In all those B Westerns, there was always that point where the star would croon his number with the boys in the bunkhouse, so there was a tremendous need for Western material, and there were these really talented guys cranking it out.

“And then in the ‘50s, TV came in and the market dried up. Nobody could make a living doing it, so it became something you’d do part time. We were the first ones to come along in a long time and say, ‘This is all we’re going to do.’ ”

The songs on which the three share lead vocals include some that cowhands actually sang out on the trail (“Red River Valley”), along with standards from the Hollywood Western’s golden age (Billy Hill’s “The Last Roundup”) and a buoyant selection of the band’s own compositions, many so true to the tradition that they are virtually indistinguishable from the real thing.

Riders in the Sky signed on for a first trail drive a decade ago. “We were all playing acoustic music, and these songs (were) part of our childhood,” said the white-hatted Ranger Doug. “We got together just to play the little bars around Nashville--more for fun than anything--and it just took off. It was so much fun for us and so much fun for the audience. The time was right.”

Since then, the group repeatedly has sold out multiple-show engagements at such venues as McCabe’s in Santa Monica, has done guest spots on “Austin City Limits” and “A Prairie Home Companion,” and has become a sought-after opening act for many of the best-known country names.

Each of the three cowpokes has a fully developed stage persona (the press is discouraged from using their real names). In addition to his skill on the acoustic guitar, Ranger Doug’s trademarks are a melting, matinee-idol baritone and the meanest cowboy yodel this side of the Red River. To Buckaroos, he is known as the Idol of the American Youth.

Off stage, he is a former historian for the Country Music Foundation and author of several books on country-Western music.

Woody Paul--the naive, rope-spinning “King of the Cowboy Fiddlers”--described his character as a “goofball,” but in reality he has a doctorate in physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Before joining the Riders, he fiddled for Loggins & Messina.

Upright bass man Too Slim (“But he sure can play!” seasoned fans will shout in unison) is something of a sagebrush sage, with a clear, pleasing tenor and the group’s best repertoire of animal noises. He also doubles as the voices of assorted frontier characters who cameo in the Riders’ act. These include Side Meat, the grizzled chuck wagon cook, and Too Jaws, a talking equine skull who claims to have been, while living, “the fourth- or fifth-smartest horse in the movies.”

Too Slim writes much of the group’s comic material, though the fellers’ deadpan delivery often convinces many that all the jokes are ad-libbed. Though the humor is as corn-cake as you would expect cowboy repartee to be, there is the occasional contemporary or topical slant: At the concert in Arizona, for instance, a chorus of “Ev Mechaaammm!” found its way into the band’s shape-up-or-ship-out theme song, “(Ghost) Riders in the Sky.”

Children adore them. In concert, the Riders frequently invite the youngest Buckaroos and Buckarettes on stage for spirited ensemble harmonies. “Saddle Pals,” one of their seven albums for the Rounder label, is a fun, enriching collection of cowboy songs for children (the Riders have, among them, 11 young ‘uns of their own).

By all means, if you’re looking to cultivate a good relationship with your grandparents, a Riders concert would prove far more beneficial than one by Motley Crue. “It’s a very broad audience,” Woody Paul noted. “They’re yuppies, they’re ‘Hee Haw’ watchers, they’re news watchers--such a cross section.”

After 10 years of touring the United States and Europe, six years as regulars on the Grand Ole Opry and four seasons as hosts for “Tumbleweed Theater,” a daily Western movie showcase on the Nashville Network, the Riders are still blazing new trails. This month, National Public Radio stations across the country will be offered the pilot for “Riders Radio Theater,” a half-hour live music and comedy show to be broadcast weekly from Nashville.

Many consider the band’s music/comedy vehicle a natural for the movies. Not coincidentally, one side of their second MCA recording, due for release next month, is a feature entitled “Meltdown on the Mesa”--a B-Western on the screen of the listener’s imagination.

“We’re waiting for Zanuck to call any minute,” Ranger Doug admitted.

Meanwhile, Riders in the Sky fans carry Buckaroo Club cards prominently in their wallets. They strive to live by “the Cowboy Way,” an unspoken code of integrity. Best of all, they find their heroes as accessible personally as they are musically: Quite often, the three will mosey into concert hall lobbies following a show to hobnob with their fans, press flesh and autograph albums, calendars and other Riders merchandise bought from Too Slim’s Mercantile.

“They’re nice people,” Too Slim said of his admirers. “It’s not a problem to go out and meet them. They don’t throw up on you.”

Asleep at the Wheel and Riders in the Sky will play Monday at 7 and 10 p.m. at the Crazy Horse Steak House, 1580 Brookhollow Drive, Santa Ana. Admission: $23.50. Information: (714) 549-1512.