The Long Ryders were originally formed by several American musicians who were each multi-instrumentalists and influenced by Gram Parsons, the Byrds, country music and various punk rock groups.

[6] The band featured Sid Griffin and Stephen McCarthy on vocals and guitar; Des Brewer on bass (later replaced by Tom Stevens); and Greg Sowders on drums.

Although two members were transplants from the American South, they became a popular Los Angeles rock band, forming in the early 1980s and originally associated with a movement called the Paisley Underground.

[9] With a sound reminiscent of Rubber Soul-era Beatles, electric Bob Dylan, Buffalo Springfield and the Flying Burrito Brothers, but with a harder edge, they anticipated the alternative country music of the 1990s by a decade.

Their early work contained influences of both punk (largely attributable to devoted record collector Griffin) and old-school country (championed by McCarthy).

[11] After one EP,[12] Kentucky-born[13] guitarist and vocalist Sid Griffin and Kansas-born[14] bassist Barry Shank left the Unclaimed in November 1981 with intentions to form a new band.

[17][18] Drummer Greg Sowders, a native of Los Angeles,[19] had met Griffin through a mutual friend[18] and joined the band in February 1982 after an informal audition.

[20] The band rehearsed shortly as a trio before guitarist and vocalist Stephen McCarthy completed the lineup after answering a musicians wanted ad in March.

[17] Originally from Virginia, McCarthy had recently moved to Los Angeles and was looking for something "a bit rockier" after playing in country and western bands in New York City and Nashville.

[21] The Long Ryders were initially linked with the neo-psychedelia of Los Angeles' Paisley Underground scene,[22] but McCarthy's arrival soon brought a country element to the band.

Two of the tracks, "Still Get By" and "And She Rides", later appeared on the various artists compilation albums The Radio Tokyo Tapes and The Rebel Kind – A Collection of Contemporary Garage and Psychedelic Bands in 1983.

[24][25] In September 1983,[20] PVC Records issued the band's self-funded 10-5-60 EP,[26][18] which was produced by former Sparks guitarist Earle Mankey at his home studio in California.

[20] Tom Stevens from Indiana became the Long Ryders' new bassist in late December,[33] playing his first gig with the band in January 1984,[34] after recommendations from mutual friends.

"[36] Released in October 1984,[20] Native Sons became the number 4 album on the college radio and Indie charts in the US and received positive critical reviews.

The band entered A&M Studios in February 1985 with engineer and co-producer Paul McKenna and recorded at least six tracks: "Time Keeps Travelling", "The Trip", "Sandwich Man", "As God Is My Witness", the Flamin' Groovies' "I Can’t Hide", and Bob Dylan's "Masters of War".

"[11] The Long Ryders had ended 1986 by recording their second Island album, Two-Fisted Tales, in November and December at A&M and Eldorado Studios in Hollywood with producer Ed Stasium (the Ramones, Soul Asylum, the Smithereens, Living Colour).

It was mixed in February 1987 at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas and features guest appearances by David Hidalgo of Los Lobos and Debbi and Vicki Peterson of the Bangles.

In the two years since the Long Ryders signed with Island, several key employees had left the label's A&R department, and the new team showed little interest in the band and the release of Two-Fisted Tales.

"[11] In 1989, the Long Ryders fan club released the authorized C90 audio cassette compilation Metallic B.O., which contained previously unreleased live recordings and studio outtakes.

Griffin, who relocated to London, kept busy as a solo artist and bandleader (the Coal Porters,[6] Western Electric[62]), and as a music journalist and author.

[65] McCarthy, after a stint leading his own band, Walker Stories,[60] and appearing on the 1990 multi-artist album True Voices in a duet with Carla Olson on the Tom Jans song "Loving Arms," returned home to Richmond, Virginia; he played in the indie supergroup Gutterball with Steve Wynn and fellow Richmondites Bryan Harvey and Johnny Hott of House of Freaks,[66] and in 2001 began playing with the Jayhawks.

[70] Brewer continued to play the Los Angeles circuit, first accompanying various female singer-songwriters, and then moving on to the old-school country band, the Misbegotten Cowboys.

He is the author of several books, including Dissonant Identities: The Rock 'n' Roll Scene in Austin, Texas (1994), A Token of My Affection: Greeting Cards and American Business Culture (2004), and The Political Force of Musical Beauty (2014).

[72] In 2003, a European booking agent approached the band about putting together a Long Ryders reunion for shows in the UK, Spain and the Netherlands in the summer of 2004,[11][73] including a performance at the Glastonbury Festival.

[16] In January 2014, the Long Ryders played their first show in Los Angeles in 27 years at the one-off Earle Mankey Appreciation Night concert at the Troubadour.

[54] In January 2016, Cherry Red Records released a Long Ryders box set, Final Wild Songs, composed of all the material from their three full-length albums, their one EP, various demos and rarities, and a previously unavailable 15-song performance from a Benelux radio appearance in March 1985.

Mojo magazine, in its February 2016 issue, gave the collection a lead review, saying, "They unwittingly invented Americana, but seldom receive credit for it.

[87] The LA Times said of the album, "The record sounds fantastic",[88] whilst Mojo wrote, "Psychedelic Country Soul puts them right back at the top of a world they helped create.

[105] Nine months later, the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville honored the Long Ryders by including the band in a new exhibition titled “Western Edge: The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock.” Lyric sheets for the songs “Looking for Lewis and Clark” and “Gunslinger Man” are on display, as well as band photos, posters, album covers and an interactive listening station where visitors can hear Long Ryders recordings.

Like its predecessor, it was produced by Ed Stasium at his Kozy Tone Ranch studio in Poway, California, and features contributions from, among others, violinist Kerenza Peacock of the Coal Porters and X's D. J. Bonebrake on vibes.