McBride & the Ride

McBride & the Ride are an American country music band initially consisting of Terry McBride (lead vocals, bass guitar), Ray Herndon (background vocals, guitars), and Billy Thomas (background vocals, drums). The group was founded in 1989 through the assistance of record producer Tony Brown. McBride & the Ride’s first three albums — Burnin’ Up the Road, the gold-certified Sacred Ground, and Hurry Sundown, released in 1991, 1992, and 1993, respectively — were all issued on MCA Nashville. These albums also produced several hits on the Billboard country charts, including the Top 5 hits "Sacred Ground" (their highest-peaking, at No. 2), "Going Out of My Mind", "Just One Night", and "Love on the Loose, Heart on the Run".

In 1994, the label removed Herndon and Thomas from the group, which was renamed Terry McBride & the Ride. McBride remained lead singer, while the other members were replaced with Keith Edwards (drums), Kenny Vaughan (electric guitar), Gary Morse (steel guitar), Jeff Roach (keyboards), and Randy Frazier (bass guitar), formerly of the band Palomino Road. Roach and Vaughan were respectively replaced by Rick Gerken and Bob Britt shortly before their fourth album (1994’s Terry McBride & the Ride), after which McBride & the Ride disbanded. During the hiatus, MCA issued a compilation called Country’s Best, while McBride and Herndon wrote singles for other artists. McBride, Thomas, and Herndon reunited as McBride & the Ride in 2000, releasing Amarillo Sky on Dualtone Records in 2002 before splitting up again. McBride later joined the backing band for the duo Brooks & Dunn and continued to write singles for other artists, while Herndon self-released a solo album, and Thomas joined The Time Jumpers.