McBride & The Ride

McBride & the Ride was an American country music band consisting of Terry McBride (lead vocals, bass guitar), Ray Herndon (vocals, lead guitar, Dobro) and Billy Thomas (vocals, drum kit|drums). The group was founded in 1989 through the assistance of record producer Tony Brown, who wanted to create a new country music act to compete with the likes of Alabama and other country bands. McBride & the Ride's first three albums — Burnin' Up the Road, Sacred Ground, and Hurry Sundown, released in 1991, 1992, and 1993, respectively — were all issued on MCA Records, utilizing the original three-piece lineup. These albums also produced several hits on the Billboard (magazine)|Billboard country music charts, including the Top 5 hits "Sacred Ground" (#2), "Going Out of My Mind" (#5), "Just One Night" (#5) and "Love on the Loose, Heart on the Run" (#3). In 1994, Herndon and Thomas left the group, which was subsequently re-named Terry McBride & the Ride. Terry remained as lead singer, while the other members were replaced with Keith Edwards (drums), Randy Frasier (bass guitar), Kenny Vaughn (lead guitar), Gary Morse (steel guitar) and Jeff Roach (keyboards). This six-piece lineup produced a fourth album (1994's Terry McBride & the Ride) and additional, low-charting singles before a 1995 disbanding. A compilation album entitled Country's Best was issued by MCA in 1996. McBride, Thomas and Herndon briefly reunited as McBride & the Ride in 2002, releasing their final album (Amarillo Sky) on the Dualtone Records label that year before splitting up again. McBride has since joined the backing band for the country duo Brooks & Dunn, in addition to co-writing several of the duo's songs.