 Buck Page's and Jack Dalton's band derived the name from the title of a Zane Grey novel.In 1932 (when Jack Dalton formed his Riders of the Purple Sage), Buck Page was nine years old, and at 13 when he formed his "Riders of the Purple Sage" coast to coast radio was nonexistent (with the exception of NBC, which began broadcasting nationwide in 1927, or CBS, which was broadcasting across the country by 1929).With Page on the East Coast and Dalton on the West Coast, it is uncertain if either would have had reason to know of each other's band.