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.