By Frank Roberts

Saturday is Valentine’s Day, but you can forget the chocolates and flowers.

Give her something a lot less romantic, but a lot more fun. Take her to the Sandler Center For Performing Arts in Virginia Beach to see Riders In the Sky. Oh, and bring the kiddies, since these are the guys who have been part of “Toy Story 2” and “Woody’s Roundup.”

They are sometimes referred to as a children’s band, but best referred to as the saviors of cowboy music, mixing that music with lots of laughs.

They have been in and out of South Hampton Roads and northeastern North Carolina, so I have met them several times, once giving them an old photograph of a 1940s cowboy for a book they were writing. I’ve yet to see a copy.

Seeing this foursome in action is upbeat, purely joyful and joyfully pure. They’ve been that way for more than 6,200 performances.

Their stock in trade is cowboy music, replicating those breaks in the old “shoot-’em-ups” when the gunplay and fistfights slow down. There waren’t no kissin’ in those oaters, less’n you count the cowboy gently smooching his horse. Sometimes, he serenaded his horse.

So, who are these clean livin’ fun guys?

Ranger Doug, the foreman, is leader, singer and guitarist. He doesn’t like things being done in a dishonest or lazy manner, admonishing, “You fellers know that that would be the easy way. But, it wouldn’t be the COWBOY WAY.”

Woody Paul sings and fiddles around. He modestly refers to himself as the king of the cowboy fiddlers. Too Slim sings and plays the big bass. His other moniker is The Man Of A Thousand Hats. Accordionist, Joey, the Cowpolka King, was originally a regular guest, later becoming a bona fide Rider.

When they’re not joking around they get serious about their western cowboy music, mixing old chestnuts, such as “Cool Water,” with some cool originals.

They’ve been around for a long time, but compared to Sons of the Pioneers, the Riders are relative newcomers to the genre. Those cowboy singers have been around since the 1930s. Their line-up has constantly changed and more than 50 performers have been Pioneer Sons.

Who started it? One of the world’s most famous cowpokes, an Ohio-an named Leonard Slye. That sounds like the name of a villain, so he wisely changed to the alliterative Roy Rogers. He was the cowboy hero who later married Dale Evans.

Before he made the big bucks a-ridin’ on Trigger, he was a fruit picker for Del Monte.

On Aug. 8, 1934, they released their first recording for Decca Records.

Like Riders, the Pioneers mixed standards with old favorites. Now, their originals have become standards.

As any Saturday matinee moviegoer knows, Rogers went on his own, becoming the major cowboy star, after replacing Gene Autry who changed his cowboy uniform for one of Uncle Sam’s uniforms.

Riders in the Sky are providing the best of the G-rated genre today.

For tickets and information about the 8 p.m. show Saturday, call 385-2787.