Bankin’ on nineties country sensation McBride & The Ride

Singer-bassist Terry McBride and guitarist-harmony vocalist Ray Herndon still find joy and no cryin’ performing as McBride & The Ride on June 15, 2024, at Chief’s on Broadway, a six-story bar and restaurant in Nashville owned by “Hell of a View” artist Eric Church. Photography by Elliott Lopes / McBride & The Ride’s

If you are not a Medium member, join today or read the entire article here for free.

galloped all over Billboard’s country chart with “Same Old Star,” “Sacred Ground,” “Going Out of My Mind,” “Just One Night,” “Love on the Loose, Heart on the Run,” “Hurry Sundown,” and “No More Cryin’”, the lead single from Luke Perry’s cult rodeo drama 8 Seconds.

Discovered and produced by Elvis Presley’s last TCB Band keyboardist Tony Brown, the original trio of bassist Terry McBride, guitarist Ray Herndon, and drummer Billy Thomas, augmented on tour by pedal steel guitarist Bruce Bouton [a Nashville A-Team session cat who can be heard on hundreds of hits], found their calling card with close harmonies and contemporary honky tonk. Brown, soon to become president of MCA Records, engineered the group’s fateful rendezvous backstage at the label’s June 1989 Fan Fair concert.

Herndon picked six strings with Lyle Lovett and His Large Band. Having earned his stripes during Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer Rick Nelson’s Saturday Night Live-hosted 1979 episode, Thomas manned the sticks for Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill, Marty Stuart, and Steve Wariner.

And McBride had been toiling in the business ever since graduating from high school and joining his father Dale, a country singer with…