Buck Page

Who was Buck Page?

Buck Page founded the first western band known as Riders of the Purple Sage.

Page, a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, began performing on local radio at age 11. He played string bass and rhythm guitar for a western band, The Valley Ranch Boys.

Two years later he formed a staff band for Pittsburgh radio station KDKA that he named Riders of the Purple Sage after the title of the Zane Grey novel. Riders of the Purple Sage performed five hour-long shows a week on KDKA from 1936–1938.

The band later moved to New York City and performed on radio station WOR and at a nightclub, Village Barn.

Page served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. During the war another western band using the name Riders of the Purple Sage was organized in California by singer Foy Willing. Page moved to the West Coast in the 1950s. He and Willing eventually met and the two men formed a lifelong friendship.

Page, who could play 21 instruments, worked as a studio musician in California. He played guitar on the original recording of the theme song for the NBC western series Bonanza and also served as background musician for the TV shows Wagon Train and Laramie. According to Bob Bain, however, the only one of the four guitarists on the Bonanza theme recording still living, Page was not one of the guitarists on that session.