I'm a Rider (Finally Home)

Album: Finally Home (2013)
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Songfacts®:

  • This is the first track from the band’s 2013 debut album, Finally Home. The song was written by the three members of Blue Sky Riders: Kenny Loggins, Georgia Middleman, and her husband, Gary Burr (who was inducted to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005).
  • Peter Asher co-produced the album with the band. He was one half of the 1960s British duo, Peter and Gordon. His production work totals over 100 albums that include James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, and Neil Diamond. During the recording of this song, he played percussion and received credit in the liner notes.
  • In Georgia Middleman's Songfacts interview, we asked her about the use of the word "Rider" in the song's title, and how it might be perceived "Writer" as well. "It totally could. We just started writing it." she replied. She added: "I think the 'rider' came out of the fact that our band is called Blue Sky Riders, and we were talking about the journey, how important the journey is more than the destination. It's kind of like riding the sky, that big, blue sky. It's like the world is an oyster, we can do whatever we want with our choices in life. We were using the analogy of riding. R I D I N G, it's a metaphor for traveling along this journey."
  • The band debated the song's title between "I'm a Rider" and "Finally Home" before officially deciding it would be "I'm A Rider (Finally Home)." Georgia Middleman told us: "When the three of us come together in one space, as soon as we start singing together, it's just like any troubles we had, traveling or hardships at airports or whatever, it all goes away because the music is so much fun. So 'finally home' is you make peace with wherever you are in your life. And, the riding, 'I'm A Rider,' was an anthology for traveling the world."
  • The snappy background vocals by Georgia Middleman and Kenny Loggins weave around Gary Burr's lead vocal within each verse. Loggins provides a brief touch of lead only in the song's bridge. The band arrives together with a soaring three part harmony in the chorus.

    The trio has been known to kick off the live version of this uptempo song with a blistering harmony that brings the listener back to the finest days of Country Rock. You can hear similar harmonies on songs like "Seven Bridges Road" from The Eagles and "Keep On Tryin'" by Poco.

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