Mc Bride & The Ride - Musical Career

Musical Career

McBride & the Ride performed its first concert in Detroit, Michigan. In 1990, the band released its first single, "Felicia," which peaked at number 74 on the RPM country charts in Canada in 1990 but did not enter the U.S. country charts. Its followup, "Every Step of the Way," failed to chart in both countries. The band was almost dropped from MCA's roster due to poor chart performance, until the release of "Can I Count on You", which peaked at number 15 on the Billboard country charts and was made into a music video. This song's success led to the release of McBride & the Ride's 1991 debut album Burnin' Up the Road, on which McBride co-wrote all but one of the songs. The last single from this album, "Same Old Star," peaked at number 28. After the album's release, the band began touring the United States with The Judds and Highway 101. Thomas also played drums for The Remingtons, a country vocal group featuring former Bread member Jimmy Griffin, on its 1991 debut album Blue Frontier, while Thomas and Herndon sang background vocals on then-labelmate Marty Stuart's 1991 album Tempted.

Sacred Ground, the band's second album, came out in 1992. This album was McBride & the Ride's most successful, with all three of its singles reaching Top 5 on the country charts: "Sacred Ground" at number 2, followed by "Going Out of My Mind" (which McBride co-wrote with Kostas) and "Just One Night," both at number 5. "Sacred Ground" was co-written by Kix Brooks, who had previously released the song in 1989 from his self-titled debut album for Capitol Records before joining Ronnie Dunn to form Brooks & Dunn in 1991. In 1992, McBride & the Ride received a Best New Vocal Group or Duo nomination from the Country Music Association and Vocal Group of the Year nomination from the Academy of Country Music. More than four years after its release, Sacred Ground was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipping 500,000 copies.

McBride & the Ride's third album, Hurry Sundown, was released in 1993. It produced the band's fourth and final Top 5 hit in the number 3 "Love on the Loose, Heart on the Run" (which Kostas also co-wrote), as well as a Top 20 in its title track, the only other single release. "Hangin' In and Hangin' On", the B-side to "Love on the Loose, Heart on the Run", was later released by David Ball as a single from his 1996 album Starlite Lounge. In 1994, the band charted its last Top 40 hit, "No More Cryin'", which McBride and Josh Leo co-wrote for the soundtrack to the film 8 Seconds. Also that same year, McBride & the Ride recorded a cover version of Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Saturday Night Special" on the MCA compilation album Skynyrd Frynds, which featured country artists' renditions of Lynynrd Skynyrd songs.