The Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia and Me…

To be alive in America is to hear all kinds of music constantly – radio, records, churches, cats on the street, everywhere music, man. And with records, the whole history of music is open to everyone who wants to hear it. Maybe Chuck Berry was the first rock musician because he was one of the first blues cats to listen to records, so he wasn’t locked into the blues idiom. Nobody has to fool around with musty old scores, weird notation and scholarship bullshit. You can just go into a record store and pick a century, pick a country, pick anything, and dig it, make it a part of you, add it to the stuff you carry around and see that it’s all music.
Jerry Garcia, Rolling Stone 1969

***Old & In The Way.(1974) signed by Jerry, Dave Grisman, Vassar Clements, Peter Rowan***

There was a time in my life when I was one of those guys who toted around a tape recorder. I used to follow bluegrass bands around and record them. I was of the analytical bent. I was a comparer – this show was better than that, and blah blah blah.
Jerry Garcia

A friend asked me recently, "If you could only keep one signed album, which would it be?" An impossible quandary, but after much deliberation, I proffered Old & In The Way (1975) as a response. Recorded by Owsley (aka Bear, Dead sound man extraordinaire and erstwhile LSD chemist) with stunning artwork by Greg Irons (Fillmore poster artist and Yellow Submarine movie collaborator), Old & In The Way is a heartfelt tribute to the roots of the Grateful Dead, and an homage to the hillbilly and bluegrass passions of Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, Peter Rowan, Vassar Clements, and John Kahn.

Old & In The Way is a bluegrass super group that played only a short while but left an indelible mark on the music landscape, and introduced thousands of Deadheads and others to the wonders of traditional Appalachian music. The music of A.P. Carter and Mother Maybelle, Bill Monroe, the Stanley Brothers and The Louvins. That high lonesome sound which courses through Appalachia from the Scottish Highlands drenched in plaintive melodies buried deep in my melancholy Celtic soul. It is extraordinary music played by extraordinary musicians: Jerry Garcia on banjo, Peter Rowan on guitar and lead vocals, David Grisman on mandolin, John Kahn on acoustic bass, and Vassar Clements on fiddle. When I met Vassar Clements at a concert in 1993, he said, "Boy, I wish we'd get together and make another." No wonder, Old & In The Way is one of the biggest selling bluegrass albums, only recently surpassed by the multi-platinum O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack in 2000.

***John Kahn on bass, Jerry Garcia on banjo, David Grisman on mandolin. Peter Rowan on guitar***

I met Jerry Garcia and most members of the Grateful Dead on March 15, 1993. My brother-in-law, Matt, was friendly with Dennis McNally, their longtime publicist, who invited Matt (plus one) to a cocktail reception at the Library Of Congress in Washington DC. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) and Librarian of Congress James Billington were the hosts, and they were celebrating Grateful Dead drummer and ardent musicologist Mickey Hart's CD release "The Spirit Cries: Music from the Rainforests of South America & the Caribbean" (1993) culled from archival recordings. Matt plus one became Matt plus eight, as Matt never thought those rules applied to him. He wanted to share his good fortune with his friends. And he did. Always.

After a brief conversation with security, Matt and his party of eight were ushered into the Great Hall for the reception, an impressive two story, beaux arts room built in the 1890s. It was an incongruous mix, grungy Deadheads, Senators, Congressmen, Capitol Hill staffers, Library of Congress officials, members of the media including Tim Russert, and the Grateful Dead, all mingling as canapes and carafes were passed by white gloved waitstaff amidst this glorious setting. It wasn't long, but it was a strange trip indeed.

***Workingman’s Dead (1970) signed by Jerry, Bob Weir, Billy Kreutzman, Mickey Hart, Robert Hunter, Phil Lesh***

Prior to the reception, I narrowed my choices from my extensive Dead vinyl discography to three albums:Old & In The Way (1975), Workingman's Dead (1970), and Skull And Roses (1971). Now it was time to get signatures. I was excited to meet the band and they were roaming the room, so I went around and around. Jerry Garcia, fresh off a stint in rehab, had a glass, actually a very large chalice, of red, red wine. Jerry's cup was runneth over. Evidently his idea of recovery wasn't the same as mine, but he was in good spirits, especially when he saw the Old & In The Way album cover. "Man, that's my favorite album," he said in his distinctive, high-pitched voice. Jerry was warm, charismatic and imbued intelligence and generosity, and there was always a crowd around him.

***Skull & Roses (1971) signed by Jerry, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Robert Hunter, Bill Kreutzman***

Bob Weir, not so much. When I asked him to sign Workingman's Dead, Bob said, " No." Forcefully I said, ‘I got everyone else to sign it, now sign it.’ He complied. There was no hesitation. I have never done that with any artist before or since, but Bob had a faraway look in his eyes and I felt I had to compel him. Later, there was a huge scrum around Jerry, and Bob was alone. I sauntered up to him with Skull And Roses, and politely asked him to sign it. As the crowd swelled around Jerry, Bob needed me. "Sure" he said brightly as he reached for the album cover. I told him that I had read about a touchscreen music database that he was working on for an upcoming jazz project/musical. Tell me about it, I offered. "It's about Jazz" he said vacantly. ‘Really, what kind of jazz?’ “Old jazz." Now, I am getting pissed, jazz is in my wheelhouse. ‘What kind of jazz? Are we talking bebop with Charlie Parker and Dizzy? Cool jazz with Miles and Chet? Or are we going back to Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, and Buddy Bolden?’ The faraway look returned. "Really, really old jazz" came the cryptic reply. It was time to move on. So long Bobby Ace...

Bill Kreutzmann, aka Bill the Drummer, was much more engaging. A talented drummer and jazz enthusiast, Bill told me his heroes were Max Roach and Buddy Rich. I asked him if he ever heard Rich Versus Roach (1959), a duet album with some ferocious drumming between these two jazz giants. He said he hadn't and he'd love to have a copy. So I dropped off some tapes a couple of days later at the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown to fulfill his request.

***Rich Versus Roach (1963) signed by Max, Stanley Turrentine, Phil Woods***

Unfortunately, Phil Lesh did not attend the Library of Congress reception, but I did catch up with him at a show a year later and he signed Workingman's Dead and Skull And Roses. Matt, an ever attentive host, spotted keyboardist Vince Welnick at the reception and suggested I have him sign one of the albums. I declined. The only Grateful Dead keyboard player I was ever interested in meeting was Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, a co-founder and the original keyboardist, and he died in 1973. I don't mind waiting a long time before I visit with Pigpen....

A piece of the Grateful Dead died in 1973 with Pigpen. Pigpen was instrumental in the transition from Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions to The Warlocks to the Grateful Dead. According to Jerry, "He'd been pestering me for a while, he wanted me to start up an electric blues band. That was his trip . . . because in the jugband scene we used to do blues numbers, like Jimmy Reed....Pigpen was the only guy in the band who had any talent when we were starting out. He was genuinely talented. He also had no discipline, but he had reams of talent." Pigpen's father was a 1950s DJ (his handle was "Cool Breeze") and he was wholly immersed in blues and soul: the music of Elmore James, Lightnin' Hopkins, Jimmy Reed, and Otis Redding. Certainly, Pigpen was the best singer and front man in the early days, and his versions of "Turn On Your Love Light", "Hard To Handle", "Smokestack Lightnin' " and "In The Midnight Hour" were often the highlights of those early shows.

If Pigpen was the soul of the Grateful Dead, then Jerry Garcia was the heart. Reared as a folkie and avid bluegrass fan, Jerry and his Old & In The Way cohort, Dave Grisman met at a Bill Monroe show in 1964, and taped their heroes like latter day Deadheads. Jerry once said, "I used to be a bluegrass music freak, and I spent a lot of time taping bands. I loved being able to do it, and I loved having the tapes afterwards and being able to trade them around. I think that's healthy stuff." No coincidence this became the template for the laissez faire attitude for the tapers section near the soundboard at all Dead shows in the ensuing decades.

I was lucky to see the Grateful Dead fifty or so times between 1977-1995, more shows than some, fewer than many. Their music was an intoxicating blend of blues, country, improvisatory jazz, soul, and rock and roll. I saw them for the last time at RFK Stadium in Washington DC on June 25, 1995. A friend insisted I come along, "The circus is in town" he reminded me. So we went. Bob Dylan opened and Jerry came out for the encore and played guitar with Bob on "It Takes A Lot To Laugh, A Train To Cry", the last time they would play together. The Dead performed and there was nothing revelatory about the show, at times, the music was as plodding and thick as the sultry, suffocating DC air. The encore was "Brokedown Palace", a fitting sign off and the last time I ever heard Jerry sing "Fare thee well." A couple of weeks later, the Grateful Dead played their last show ever at Soldier Field in Chicago.

For me, the Grateful Dead died when Jerry Garcia died August 9, 1995. But the music never stops and it still resonates. They left behind some great recordings and memories. And lots and lots of tapes.

Choice Grateful Dead Cuts (per BKs request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKQmOEpPYUE

“Viola Lee Blues” live in Golden Gate Park 8.28.67

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reAZ8yq-H2A

“Dancin’ In The Streets” Fillmore West 6.08.69

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82ADE0DUeM4

“Bertha” live at Fillmore East, NYC 4.26.71

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhL03mLfu2I

“Dark Star” Live Dead 1969

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3oaodK8zdtI&list=RD3oaodK8zdtI&start_radio=1

“Sugar Magnolia” Grateful Dead with Duane Allman Fillmore East 4.26.71

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPTNN6nw_70