Grateful Dead at the Pico Acid Test - 3/19/66

Pico Acid Test
Carthay Studios, Los Angeles CA
3/19/66

Track List:

1. Viola Lee Blues
2. One Kind Favor
3. I Know You Rider
4. You See A Broken Broken Heart
5. It's A Sin
6. PA Complaints
7. Beat It On Down The Line
8. PA, Etc. - Stage Banter
9. Heads Up (Instrumental)
10. PA, Etc. - Stage Banter
11. Next Time You See Me
12. Ice Cream Break
13. Stormy Monday Jam
14. //Death Don't Have No Mercy
15. In The Midnite Hour//
Total Time: 66:20

The next installment of the Merry Pranksters trip was the Pico Acid Test held at Carthay Studios in Los Angeles. Their house band, the Grateful Dead, were of course on hand for the event. The actual date of the recording is, like much of 1966, up to some speculation. The tracks circulate as both 3/12 and 3/19. For lack of an exact date and with the stage banter and PA problems, I felt as though the show is probably 3/19 at the Acid Test. Listen for yourself and let me know your opinion!

The Dead on this night were on. The "Viola Lee Blues" to begin the set is intense, and is a great introduction to live versions. If it is a harbinger intense jamming, I am quite excited to experience more of Viola Lee's! Jerry's roving guitar riffs during the song reminded me of Bear Stanley's initial reaction to hearing Jerry play. He said that he felt overwhelmed by the experience because of, "Garcia's guitar, which seemed to come out of the universe and try to eat me alive" (McNally 118). The quick, wild quality with which he plays brings to mind a bridge to another universe.

Another interesting note of the show is that it contains the only known performance of Pigpen's song "You See A Broken Heart," according to David Dodd (Dodd 12).

If you have any information about whether this show occurred on 3/12 or 3/19 of 1966, please feel free to leave them.

Take a listen to the Viola Lee's Blues and the rest:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd66-03-19.sbd.scotton.81951.sbeok.flac

Grateful Dead at the (possibly) Ivar Theater - 2/25/66

Poster from 2-25-66

The recording I have as 2-25-66 is the first actual live Dead show I've listened to. That is, it was put on without the Pranksters or an Acid Test. The playing here is excellent in its immaturity. The sound matches exactly what you'd expect out of '66 Dead, but there are glimpses of their (especially Jerry's) future sound. "On the Road Again" is a familiar tune, but unlike later versions I've heard, Jerry is the front-man on vocals instead of Bobby. Also, according to David Dodd in his Annotated Lyrics work, the "Cold Rain and Snow" from this recording is the first known live version of the song. You can hear the infancy of the tune when comparing it to later versions which, to me, seem to be more full.
The last half of the tracks available on archive.org are probably not from this date, but are instead from the summer of '66. Regardless, the Schoolgirl>Love Me>Schoolgirl is a great example of the killer segues I've come to love with the Dead. The songs absolutely mesh right into each other. It was a moment, while listening, in which I couldn't help but dance in the kitchen. High energy and great playing!
Take a look at the track list and give this one a go! Highlights include On the Road Ag, IKYR, CRS, and the Schoolgirl>love>schoolgirl. If you have any comments about the show, or care to weigh in about the music, please leave them!

Track List:
1. On The Road Again
2. Next Time You See Me
3. I Know You Rider
4. Hey Little One
5. Cold Rain & Snow
6. King Bee >
7. Caution
8. Stealin' //

Note: tracks 1-8 are reportedly from 2/25/66 Ivar Theater, Los Angeles.

9. Stealin'
10. Good Morning, Lil' School Girl >
11. You Don't Love Me >
12. Good Morning, Lil' School Girl

Note: Tracks 9-12 from mid-to-late 66

The exact date and location of the recording are certainly in question. Check out the comments on archive.org.

http://www.archive.org/details/gd66-02-25.sbd.unknown.1593.sbefail.shnf

Watts Acid Test - 2/12/66

In early February of 1966, the Dead followed the Merry Pranksters down to the Los Angeles area to continue and expand the Acid Tests. The Prankers themselves were on their way to rendezvous with Ken Kesey who was then hiding in Mexico. In addition to the Watts Acid Test of February 12 (featured here), the band stuck around LA for approximately two months. They were hoping to make headway into a recording contract of some sort. Of course, they didn't get very far in that respect.

The acid test itself was conducted at the Youth Opportunities Center in Compton, CA. The setlist is unknown according to Setlist.net. A note at Dead.net also states, "Jerry apparently did not play." This is a possible reference to the fact that the Dead may have been too high to do any playing on this night. Apparently the Kool-Aid at this test was dosed by two individuals, concluding in some extremely high individuals.

One recording of Pigpen from this night does exist. It's a pretty decent Pigpen rap:

The Watts Acid Test
Youth Opportunities Center, Compton, CA
February 12, 1966

01. Who Cares Rap (Pigpen, Weir, etc.) [6:08}

Listen to it here:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1966-02-12.sbd.bershaw.9515.shnf

Can You Pass the Acid Test? 1/8/66

After a week, I'm finally able to update on my progress. I finished listening to a recording of 1/8/66. It's the first live show that I've encountered in this project. The recording was made during the Fillmore Acid Test. Here's the setlist:

The Fillmore Acid Test
Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA
January 8, 1966

Setlist:
1. Stage Chaos/More Power Rap
2. King Bee
3. I'm A Hog For You Baby
4. Caution: Do Not Step On Tracks >
5. Death Don't Have No Mercy
6. Star Spangled Banner / closing remarks

Obviously this recording has historic value as an early Dead show, especially because it is part of an Acid Test. The transition between "Caution" and "Death Don't" is interesting. The band has to slow their momentum way down to do it. They manage to accomplish it in an abrupt fashion, and let Jerry create the bridge between the two songs with the others falling into place behind him. This show is also my first exposure to "I'm a Hog for You," which sounds like a goofy song, perhaps from the jug-band days. The interesting part of this track is that in place of a cut in the SBD recording, the Prankster recording is spliced in. Behind the prankster calls, you can hear the band continuing the song. I thought that particularly neat, adding a bit of Acid Test authenticity to it.

The Star Spangled banner is a capella by Weir, Lesh, and others. They sang it as the San Francisco Police were trying to shut down the Test. Apparently, Bob climbed a Prankster tower, and refused to come down. Said McNally:

"It was the ending that everyone would recall. Around 2 A.M. the police came by to close the show, although in the absence of alcohol they lacked any legal authority to do so..... An officer came out onstage and motioned for the band to stop, and was duly ignored. The cops grew perplexed.... They began to pull power cords out of the wall, and M.G. followed them and plugged things back in. At length the band stopped playing and the police dutifully began shooing everyone out, although it was a slow process.
It occurred to Lesh and Weir that when a TV station goes off the air, it plays "The Star-Spangled Banner," so they began an a cappella duet. Spotting a twenty-foot ladder, and always part monkey, Weir swarmed up to continue his end of the duet from on high" (McNally 122).

Give this show a listen. It's interesting early Dead.
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1966-01-08.sbd.bershaw.5410.shnf

Viola Lee Rehearsals - Jan/Feb 1966

Next on my list is the Viola Lee rehearsals, conducted sometime in January or February of 1966. The exact date and location of the rehearsals are unknown, though the recording reveals a hint. Phil mentions, "as long as we get to LA in time to set up and do the thing. Saturday Night." This almost definitely points to the Watts Acid Test in LA where the Dead played on Saturday, February 12. The loose term "Saturday Night," leads me to believe that the recording was done within a week of the band leaving for Los Angeles.

Regardless of the actual location and date, this recording has both historic and musical value. It's amazing to hear the band working out the parts of what will become a heavily jammed staple. Throughout, the band is working on the opening, the singing, and the arrangement of the verses. You can hear Jerry telling his bandmates how he envisions the song. Pigpen even bails towards the end being too drunk to fully participate, which draws criticism from Lesh. "Pigpen is a conspiracy!" yells Weir.

If you're not into the frequent stops, breaks, and banter of the band, the final track is your reason to listen. The 15 minute jam before the tape stops is pretty cool. If one pays attention you can hear a clear "Truckin'" jam - a full four years before the song was written!! I played it loud, and asked my fiance what song she thought it was. Her immediate response was, "Truckin'?" Just listen!

Finally, before I provide the track list and a link to the recording, I wanted to include two quotes that I found particularly interesting to the recording. First, you can hear Jerry on track #16 saying about the song, "We'll just see what happens. We'll let it do what it wants to do." I find that interesting because he expresses, in those two sentences, the sentiments of the Grateful Dead's whole philosophy on live music.

Phil Lesh also provides his thoughts on "Viola Lee Blues" in Searching for the Sound.

"... the longer the solo, the less interesting it became to play the same material as background, so those of us who weren't soloing began to vary and differentiate our background material, almost as if we were also soloists, in a manner similar to jazz musicians. A good example of this technique is our version of the old Noah Lewis jug band tune "Viola Lee Blues," a traditional prison song. We electrified the song with a boogaloo beat and an intro lick borrowed from R & B artist Lee Dorsey's "Get Out of My Life Woman," and after each of the three verses, we tried to take the music out further - first expanding on the groove, then on the tonality, and then both, finally pulling out all the stops in a giant accelerando, culminating in a whirlwind of dissonance that, out of nowhere, would slam back into the original groove for a repetition of the final verse. It was after a run-through of this song that I turned to Jerry and remarked ingenuously, "Man - this could be art! (Lesh, 59)"

So without further ado, here it is.

Track List:
01. talk & tunings "It's just Weir and his ass-holed guitar" (2:31)
02. Viola Lee Blues #1 verse 1 - aborted (0:52)
03. Viola Lee Blues #2 verses 1 & 2 - aborted - "watch it pig! b, man, b" (1:33)
04. talk & tunings (1:09)
05. Viola Lee Blues #3 with harmonica - aborted (0:14)
06. discussions (1:26)
07. Viola Lee Blues #4 with organ verse 1 & harmonica - aborted (1:28)
08. tape playback? more talk (1:44)
09. Viola Lee Blues #5 verse 1 - "same verse again" - verse 1 - aborted (1:48)
10. Phil comments (0:34)
11. Viola Lee Blues #6 verses 1 & 2 - aborted (1:29)
12. more discussions (0:25)
13. Viola Lee Blues #7 verses 1 & 2 & 3 - then stopped (2:44)
14. talk & tunings - "that's tasty" - "let's just play" (2:06)
15. Viola Lee Blues #8 verse 1 - aborted (0:16)
16. talk & wild comments & confusion (2:53)
17. Viola Lee Blues #9 verses 2 & 3 - aborted (0:27)
18. more talk - "I think you're against us" - "Pigpen's a conspiracy" (3:57)
19. "You may know by ..." passage repeated (3:39)
20. Viola Lee Blues #10 verses 1 & 2 & 3 ; jam ; tape cuts (15:37)


Listen to this recording here:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd66-01-xx.sbd.hanno-uli.18846.sbeok.shnf

Pigpen's Apartment Tapes, '65-'66

Before today Pigpen has only been featured on two of the tracks I've listened to. One of the many reasons I started this project of listening to every Grateful Dead recording is to get to know this founding member a bit better. Ron "Pigpen" McKernan was the first major draw of the band, adding a unique perspective to their late-60's psychedelic sound. He ate, drank, and breathed the Blues. Songs of which are littered throughout Dead set lists.

This recording was apparently made by Pigpen himself, taped in his apartment. It was probably made in '65 and '66, although I couldn't find very much information beyond that. Does anybody else have any more information about the Pig tapes? Please leave a comment!

I found the following excerpt in Dennis McNally's "Long Strange Trip" to be interesting and relevant about Pigpen's early experience with music:

"His father, Phil, played boogie-woogie piano until Ron was born in 1945, and then was a rhythm and blues disc jockey at KRE under the name "Cool Breeze" until the mid-fifties... Ron followed his father's tastes into [Elvis] Presley's black roots, and the early exposure to African American music became central to his life. He was a serious student of blues lore, well up on the musicians and labels long before there were any reference books available. But his interest went far deeper than a taste for music. By the time he showed up at the Boar's Head at the age of sixteen, he had left white middle-class life entirely behind" (McNally 35).

I await hearing Pigpen's blues influence in the band with eagerness. Here's the track list for the Pigpen tapes.


Pigpen Demo Tapes
Pigpen's Apartment
1965 or 1966

Track list:

1. Two Women
2. Michael
3. Katie Mae
4. New Orleans - That Train
5. Instrumental
6. Bring Me My Shotgun
7. C.C. Rider
8. Katie Mae
9. Hitchhiking Woman
10. Two Women
11. When I Was a Boy
12. Bring Me My Shotgun
13. I Believe
14. She's Mine
15. No Time
16. Sweet Georgia Brown

If you do not have the audio file, and wish to listen, please use the youtube link below. It has, I believe, the entire tape.

The Emergency Crew Demos, 11/3/65

At the end of 1965 there was excitement in the budding San Francisco music scene. The Jefferson Airplane signed a record deal in November, Bill Graham was getting ready to put on shows at a dance hall called the Fillmore West, and the Merry Pranksters were cooking up some kind of special test for the freaks of the area.

The Warlocks, however, were not going to be part of this party. At the end of October, Phil Lesh found a Columbia record by a band of the same name. Although a record by such a band has never been found, a new name for the San Francisco based Warlocks was a must. Easier said than done. When the group arrived at Golden Gate studios on November 3rd to produce a demo tape, they were still without a name. On the fly they called themselves the "Emergency Crew," and cut a tape under that moniker. It's the first studio recording of the Grateful Dead.

Track List:
1. Early Morning Rain
2. I Know You Rider
3. Mindbender
4. The Only Time Is Now
5. Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks)
6. Can't Come Down

I'll let Blair Jackson describe the Dead's first attempt at recording. It was through his lens that I listened to this tape.

"The Emergency Crew cut six songs that afternoon, four originals and two cover tunes. Garcia sang lead on only one song, "Can't Come Down," a Dylan inspired number... in which Jerry sings/raps verses such as the following: "They say I've begun to lose my grip / My hold on reality is startin' to slip ..." It ain't Dylan, or Robert Hunter for that matter, but at least it's an attempt to put into words some of the feelings and attitudes of the early psychedelic age. And the music isn't bad, either. Pigpen blows harp with zest and power all through the tune, Billy drives the track with his sure, steady beat and Garcia gets in a nice speedy gutiar run as the song fades at the three-minute mark.

"Mindbender' (also known as "Confusion's Prince") is dominated by a guitar riff that sounds as if it were lifted off Johnny Rivers' "Secret Agent Man," and the group's vocal weaknesses are clearly brought to the fore - Phil and Bob's tandem lead vocal is anemic and slightly off-pitch, and the harmonies are ragged, to put it charitably. Instrumentally, Pigpen's piercing Vox Continental organ predominates, though Garcia also gets in a fine solo. The next track, "The Only Time Is Now," with Phil's vocal again highest in the mix, has an unmistakable Byrds quality to it, complete with heavy vibrato on Garcia's guitar and stacked harmonies that the Emergency Crew couldn't pull off if their lives depended on it...." (Jackson 84).

Phil Lesh adds this about the songs (though not the recording):

"We had also started to collaborate on some original material, since the general consensus was that we'd never evolve very far if we just kept covering other people's stuff. We had learned a lot from listening to the Rolling Stones, going so far as to cover some of their covers, and Bob Dylan's songs were a major source of inspiration, as well as material for our sets. Songs like "Mindbender," "The Only Time Is Now," and "I Can't Come Down" were our first essays in collective originality. Alas, all of them were embarrassingly amateurish, so they didn't last long in the repertoire" (Lesh 58).

This tape sounds little like the Dead the world would grow to know, though there are snippets of what is to come. Listening to "I Know You Rider," I felt as though Jerry was about to rip right into a Rider jam. Pigpen's harmonica play on the "Caution" track gives a bit of insight into the improvisation the band was perfecting. This isn't even vintage-Dead. It's pre-Vintage Dead, like the earth's primordial ooze that evolved into multicellular organisms. It's a snippet of the band just beginning its evolution.

The tracks to this recording can be heard on the album "Birth of the Dead."

Here are a couple tracks via Youtube.

The Only Time is Now


Garcia's first vocal, Can't Come Down

The Warlocks, Live at Various 11/1/65

Now I've finally reached the electrified version of my favorite band, the Grateful Dead. Well, not quite. If the date of this recording is to be believed (and what can we believe), then the band performing behind the Pranksters is not the Grateful Dead, but rather the Warlocks. Interestingly, it would be the last time they performed as the Warlocks.

Here is what we've got for this date. Again, Archive lists this as "Live at various on 1965-11-01

1. Speed Limit (behind Prankster noises)
2. Neal Cassady rap (with Dead in background)

I found this recording to be impossibly historic. First, you have the Dead performing behind the Merry Pranksters, who were doing whatever they did. A lot of sound effects going on, you know. The actual playing of "Speed Limit" was a lot of the same riff over and over. A couple times the band breaks out into a small, but awesome, jam. To me, it sounds like prototypical 60's rock. Something that you would hear in mainstream sound in '68 or '69. But the Dead doing it in '65? The thought that popped into my head was that the band found a great sound before everyone else, abandoning it for loftier, headier pastures. They clearly could have played rock like every other band, but somewhere, somehow, chose to do what they wanted to do.

The Cassady rap is cool because, hey, it's Cassady! He was a man revered in all beat and freak circles of the San Francisco scene in the 60's. Jack Kerouac used him as the basis for Dean Moriarty in "On The Road." I didn't understand much of what he was saying, but it was entertaining nonetheless. As for the Dead, I have a hard time believing that this track is from 1965. In the background, you can clearly hear the start of "Turn On Your Lovelight," which wasn't played until the summer of 1967. So this rap is absolutely mislabeled. Still, it is pretty interesting.

Please listen to these two tracks here. It's worth it just for the history!

http://www.archive.org/details/gd1965-11-01.sbd.bershaw.5417.sbeok.shnf

A Hard Day's Night & The Birth of the Dead

My next stop has been the Beatles' 1964 film "It's Been a Hard Day's Night." I chose to give it a screening, because it had a pretty big influence on the members of Mother McCree's forming an electric band. Through the end of 1964, Pigpen began bothering Garcia to form an electric band, which would consequently be able to feature more of his blues numbers. Said Garcia, "He'd been pestering me for a while; he wanted me to start an electic blues band" (Jackson 67). The Beatles' film helped push Garcia in that direction.

"[The Beatles] were real important to everybody," Garcia said. "They were a little model, especially the movies - the movies were a big turn-on. Just because it was a little model of good times.... It was like [they] were saying, 'You can be young, you can be far-out, and you can still make it.' They were making people happy. The happy thing - that's the stuff that counts - was something we could all see right away" (Jackson 67).

Weir adds,

"The Beatles were why we turned from a jug band into a rock 'n' roll band.... What we saw them doing was impossibly attractive. I couldn't think of anything else more worth doing" (Jackson 67).

So with an example set by the Beatles in '64, The characters of Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions formed an electric band called The Warlocks. They began playing in May or June of '65 at Magoo's Pizza Parlor. It's too bad that no tapes of those shows are known to exist. People who were there suggest that the shows had a new kind of energy that wasn't present in any of the other area music. One of those fans who were listening was Phil Lesh.

If you wish, here is the full movie, It's Been a Hard Day's Night.

Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions 7/XX/64

The latest show in my listening shmorgishborg is a Mother McCree's show from sometime in July of 1964 at the Top of the Tangent in Palo Alto. Although the exact date is unknown, the poster above is very possibly for the show I listened to.

Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions really were the first incantation of the Grateful Dead. It featured Jerry Garcia, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, and Bob Weir, among other varying players. The set up was a twist off bluegrass, and was meant mostly to have a good time. Listening to the show, you can tell that it is a little zany or flaky. The music, at times, sounds almost goofy. But the thing is, it's good! I love it. Are there any more tapes of the jug band floating around? I've only found this one.

Setlist:

1. Beat It On Down The Line
2. I'm Satisfied With My Gal (with unsatisfied banter by Jerry)
3. Borneo
4. He's In the Jailhouse Now
5. Monkey and the Engineer
6. Big Bad Woman
7. Memphis Blues

This show was great! Again, kind of goofy, but a good time! BIODTL was the only boring song. Very, very different than the way it's played by the Dead. Borneo was probably my favorite out of the group. Weir (probably) takes some vocals in Big Bad Woman. The order of these songs may be a bit out of place. Sometime at the end of track 6, somebody mentions that the next tune is about Jerry. "It's called in the jailhouse now." The tape then cuts, and goes on to either Big Bad Woman or Memphis blues. I'm guessing that Jailhouse Now should go in there.

Here are a couple of the songs! Please let me know if there is any other Mother McCree's out there from '64.

Weir on vocals




Jerry on vocals

My Rosalie McFall

I'm almost ready to finally be jumping in to the newly formed Grateful Dead of late 1965. The last two shows I listened to were the final two I have of Jerry's bluegrass days. The first was a short bit from a Black Mountain Boys show at the Boar's Head sometime in 1964. The other was named as a Wildwood Boys show, again from an unknown date in 1964.

Black Mountain Boys
Boar's Head, Palo Alto CA
Date Unknown, 1964

Setlist:

1. Two Little Boys
2. Banter
3. Salty Dog Blues
4. Banter
5. Rosalie McFall

This show is short and nothing from the first two tunes stood out tremendously. Rosalie McFall, to end the tape, was awesome. Jerry took the lead vocal, and it was very, very nice. Jerry's voice really was made for singing bluegrass, the style of which were the models for Workingman's and American Beauty. I took particular notice of this song because Jerry would continue singing it for the rest of his career.

The Wildwood Boys
Unknown Venue
Uknown Date, 1964

Setlist:

1. Introductions
2. Jerry's Breakdown
3. Banter
4. Standing In The Need of a Prayer
5. Tuning
6. Muleskinner Blues
7. Unenjoyment Banter
8. Satisfied With My Gal
9. Introduction of Pigpen
10. The Rub (Pigpen vocals)

When I saw this setlist, I was psyched to see that Pigpen was featured. This is the first time listening that we've come across another founding member of the Dead.

This tape, however, was absolutely mislabeled. The first six tracks, through "Muleskinner Blues", is not from this show, but rather is part of the February Wildwood Boys show. Also, the "Satisfied With My Gal" tune sounded as though it was a tune from Mother McCree's, not the Wildwood Boys. The playing of a kazoo, an instrument of jug bands, seems to me to be a telltale sign. The Pigpen tune, however, could be from a Wildwood Boys show of 64. I just really believe that it was not played with the other tunes included on this tape.

But all the same, we have Pigpen!!!

Up Next: Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions from July of '64!!!

Music Lessons at Dana Morgan's - 1964

For Jerry Garcia, playing in a series of Bluegrass bands like the Hogstompers, Wildwood Boys, and Black Mountain Boys was not particularly viable from a financial standpoint. Although never feeling the need to accumulate wealth (a true beat), he still had to find some work to support himself and his wife and young daughter. (Remember, he had married Sara Ruppenthal in 1963.) He was able to land a gig giving guitar and banjo lessons at Dana Morgan's Music Store of Palo Alto.

Dana Morgan's played a key role in the Dead's history in a number of ways. Dana Morgan Jr, the owner's son, was the first bass player of the Warlocks before being replaced by Phil Lesh in the summer of '65. It was also Dana Morgan's that allowed the new band a space to practice, as well as instruments and amps to use.
Before all this however, it was at Dana Morgan's that two precipitous events would occur. Jerry Garcia became acquainted with a drum playing clerk named Bill Kreutzmann. Bill the Drummer would eventually be Garcia's first choice when forming an electrified band.
On New Year's Eve, 1963, Jerry was hanging around the back rooms of Dana Morgan's, waiting for a pupil to show for their lessons. Seemingly fitting of his personality, he had forgotten that it was a holiday, and that the student wasn't going to show. As it turned out, however, 16-year-old Bobby Weir was stumbling through the back alley in search of a party when he heard a banjo playing. Finding Garcia just picking, the two began a night-long jam session, which would spawn into a lifelong musical journey.

I provide all this background information because a tape has survived of one of Jerry's lessons. Although the date and location remain unknown, it is quite possible that the tape was made in one of Dana Morgan's back lesson rooms (though certainly not the night of the Weir encounter). The lesson itself is comprised mostly of Garcia picking like crazy, with the student asking a few questions in between. There are no "songs" in an organized sense, and certainly no lyrics. It's just a banjo picking jam to the extreme. Its musical value to a non-banjo player is probably limited, but to me, the sliver of history it represents within Garcia's life is amazing.

Here is a snippet of the session, provided by Youtube. As always, please leave a comment, a clarification, and any information you feel relevant. E-mail me for a copy.



Next Up: Black Mountain Boys and Wildwood Boys shows

Two Black Mountain Boys for the Price of One!

This morning I was able to listen to a couple of Black Mountain Boys shows from March of 1964. The tapes are from back to back days, March 6 and 7. I thought it appropriate to listen to both in one sitting. I know I've been starting out this project on a torrid pace, with a show pretty much every day. I attribute that to the fact that I'm psyched that I'm finally listening to all the Dead I have in such a cool fashion, as well as the fact that the shows I've been listening to so far have been quite short. As we get into '67 and '68, I expect that the rate at which I post will decrease. But heck, there's a ton more music to listen to!

Anyways, to the shows.

The Black Mountain Boys
Top of the Tangent, Palo Alto CA
3/6/64

Jerry Garcia (banjo), Eric Thompson (guitar), David Nelson (mandolin), Jim Beemis (bass)


Setlist:
1. Instrumental
2. Katie Mine
3. Introductions
4. Homestead On The Farm
5. Banter
6. Bare Foot Nellie
7. Banter
8. She's More to be Pitied than Scolded
9. Tuning
10. They Can Lock Up Me for Loving
11. The Hand of the Lord
12. Banter
13. Who'll Sing for Me
14. Darling Aller Lee

I'm really digging the tapes of these shows. The band is similar to the Wildwood Boys in sound. Thompson, however, adds something great on guitar. My first thought when listening was "god damn, Jerry is fast." But listening to Thompson on guitar, he just keeps up the pace. Just as fast, and it sounds awesome. I wish I could find a couple of the tunes hosted online. If anyone knows of a way to stream MP3s on this site, please let me know, and I'll put up a couple tunes. I'll add that listening to the banjo is a great way to relax. Just sit and listen. The sound is an enjoyable one. I'm real glad I'm getting to listen to this, and am excited about 1973 when Old in the Way comes along! Now the second show...

The Black Mountain Boys
Top of the Tangent, Palo Alto CA
3/7/64

Setlist: (partial)
01 Happy Birthday
02 ??
03 Darling Aller Lee
04 Tuning
05 Ocean of Diamonds

I wasn't able to get into this show as much as the previous one. It is much shorter as it is only a 4 song partial.

Like always, if you'd like a copy of either show, or certain songs, please e-mail me!
Also let me know if I am missing something!!!

Coming up: A private banjo lesson by Jerry Garcia, possibly at Dana Morgan's music store

Oops! Wrong Show!!

I just wanted to make note, that the show 5/4/63 is the correct date for the Jerry Garcia and Sara Ruppenthal Garcia show. In my records, I had it listed as 2/2. After much research, however, 5/4 seems to be the consensus for the correct day. So please jump down a couple posts to see my thoughts on the 5/4 show.

Here is a familiar tune. Nice version, and awesome to hear Jerry singing it so early on.

Deep Elem Blues, 5/4/63




The next show, which I am off to listen to right now, is a Wildwood Boys show from an unknown date in '64.