“Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in.” My musical roots are in what is now referred to as jamband and at the top of that pyramid were the Grateful Dead. There were however extended periods…
Blog Archives
The Final Frontier . . . . : The Grateful Dead’s Dark Star
Tagged with: Dark Star, Dave Franks, Grateful Dead, John Oswald, Plunderphonics
Posted in Grateful Dead, Jam Band, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Grateful Dead, Jam Band, Music Appreciation and Analysis
“I’m Not Dead Yet” . . . : Neal Casals and Circles Around The Sun
I recently played in a session for a potential new jam band project where a good part of the time was spent jamming on vamps and progressions taken from the Grateful Dead. Being an old Deadhead and having played in…
Tagged with: Circles Around The Sun, Fare Thee Well, Grateful Dead, Neal Casals
Posted in Grateful Dead, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Grateful Dead, Music Appreciation and Analysis
“There were days. . .”: The lost final Grateful Dead studio album
This is sort of a continuation of my previous post. There I talked about the “missing” studio record that Grateful Dead never made as a follow-up to their classic 1970 albums Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty. The songs that would…
Tagged with: Bob Weir, Days Between, Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Robert Hunter
Posted in Grateful Dead, Jam Band, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Grateful Dead, Jam Band, Music Appreciation and Analysis
“Jack Straw From Wichita”. .: The Missing Third Album of the Grateful Dead’s American Beauty Trilogy
As the “core four” of the remaining members of the Grateful Dead play their final shows this weekend, I want to talk about something that I’ve been curious about for some time now. It all starts in 1970 when the Dead…
Tagged with: American Beauty, Bob Weir, Europe 72, Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia, Skull & Roses, Workingman's Dead
Posted in Grateful Dead, Jam Band, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Grateful Dead, Jam Band, Music Appreciation and Analysis
“Beauty Is A Rare Thing. . .”: Ornette Coleman 1930 – 2015
It’s a depressing sign of one’s own mortality when you hear that yet another of your musical heroes has passed. Last week, Ornette Coleman, the alto saxophonist, composer and musical revolutionary passed away at the age of 85. As I…
Tagged with: Grateful Dead, Improvisation, Jazz, Ornette Coleman
Posted in Grateful Dead, Improvisation, Jam Band, Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Grateful Dead, Improvisation, Jam Band, Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Happy Mother’s Day: Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried”
Happy Mother’s Day to all. The first thing I remember knowin’ Was a lonesome whistle blownin’ And a young’uns dream of growin’ up to ride On a freight train leavin’ town Not knowin’ where I’m bound And no one could…
Tagged with: Grateful Dead, Mama Tried, Merle Haggard, Mother's Day
Posted in Grateful Dead, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Grateful Dead, Music Appreciation and Analysis
“Summertime Done, Come And Gone, My, Oh, My. . .”: Happy Labor Day
Wishing everyone a happy Labor Day weekend. Here in the United States, Labor Day is the psychological, if not actual, end of summer. This leads me to the clip below. A video of the Grateful Dead playing U.S. Blues as…
Tagged with: Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia, U.S. Blues
Posted in Classic Rock, Grateful Dead, Jam Band, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Classic Rock, Grateful Dead, Jam Band, Music Appreciation and Analysis
