McBride & The Ride

McBride & the Ride emerged as a country trio whose tight vocal blends and updated honky-tonk approach echoed the earlier successes of Alabama. MCA Nashville Executive Vice President Tony Brown assembled the lineup by pairing Texas songwriter Terry McBride with studio musicians Ray Herndon and Billy Thomas, whose voices meshed immediately upon first meeting.

Born in Texas to vocalist Dale McBride, Terry McBride picked up guitar early and immersed himself in both traditional and Texas-rooted sounds. After high school he auditioned for his father’s band, spent three years alongside him, then toured with Delbert McClinton and John Fogerty before relocating to Nashville to focus on songwriting. Herndon, meanwhile, began performing as a toddler with his siblings on the Phoenix television program Lew King Rangers, where the three-year-old played accordion and guitar, sang, and tap-danced; at four he recorded the novelty single “Christmas Eve.” He later contributed a duet to Lyle Lovett’s debut album and became a member of Lovett’s Large Band. Drummer Billy Thomas also started young, beginning in rock and roll before moving to Los Angeles in 1973, where he worked with Rick Nelson, Mac Davis, and the Hudson Brothers. By 1975 he had shifted to session work in Nashville, appearing on recordings by Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill, Dan Seals, and Jann Brown.

The trio made its first appearance in Detroit and soon embarked on nationwide touring. Their debut album, Burnin’ Up the Road, arrived in 1991 and contained nine McBride compositions or co-writes, earning them an opening slot on the Judds’ tour. Late that year the video for “Can I Count on You” entered rotation, lifting the single into the Top 15 and preserving the group’s MCA contract; follow-up “Same Old Star” reached the Top 30. The 1992 release Sacred Ground yielded the band’s first Top Five hit with its title track and added two more Top Ten singles. Their next project, 1993’s Hurry Sundown, spawned four charting singles, among them “No More Cryin’,” which was featured on the soundtrack to the film 8 Seconds.

In early 1994 Herndon and Thomas departed, with Kenny Vaughn, Randy Frazier, and Keith Edwards stepping in; the act was subsequently billed as Terry McBride & the Ride and issued one album under that name before disbanding. The original members reconvened for a one-off performance in September 2000. Encouraged by Herndon, they returned to the studio, cut demos, secured a deal with Dualtone, and issued Amarillo Sky in summer 2002.