English musicians and music geeks extraordinaire Steven Wilson and Tim Bowness have posted a new episode of their podcast The Album Years. They talk about 1968, discussing albums by The Incredible String Band, The Doors, The Byrds, The Grateful Dead, and a whole lot more. This is part #2 about this year.
Cactus Lee leader Kevin Dehan recorded three covers for Aquarium Drunkard's The Lagniappe Sessions: Christine McVie's Got A Hold On Me (MP3), Butthole Surfers's TV Star (MP3) and Grateful Dead's West LA Fadeaway (MP3). About the latter:
I can talk about Lee Baggett here because he jumps in on lead guitar on this version. He’s from Olympia, I think, or somewhere in the woods out there, but he’s a magical motherfucker. We played two shows together on tour and Lee came up to hit licks on this one, so it only seemed right to get him on the version. Big shout out to Lee and his crew, what a great honest genuine group. This song is long.
Piano player Holly Bowling has launched crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to cover the costs of recording their new album Seeking All That's Still Unsung, an instrumental piano record of Grateful Dead music.
I've released several other solo records with the direct support of fans and the music community in the past and I love the freedom that's given me to make the records I want to make as an independent artist. My favorite part of the crowdfunding process is the personal connection it's given me to every person who helped me make the records. Crowdfunding allows this to be a team effort, with you guys directly involved in the release of this album, while also allowing you guys access to some unique perks! I'm excited to do it again.
Piano player Holly Bowling has unveiled the tracklisting for her new album Better Left Unsung on which she reimagines the music of The Grateful Dead for solo piano. She has launched a crowdfunding campaign on PledgeMusic to cover the costs. It's the follow-up for her acclaimed Distillation of a Dream: The Music of Phish Reimagined For Solo Piano album.
Tracks:Better Left Unsung will be released as a 3LP set, 2CD and digitally.
Piano player Holly Bowling has launched a crowdfunding campaign on PledgeMusic for her album Better Left Unsung on which she reimagines the music of the Grateful Dead for solo piano. It's the follow-up for her acclaimed Distillation of a Dream: The Music of Phish Reimagined For Solo Piano.
I’m recording a solo piano album of the music of the Grateful Dead! It’s over two hours worth of music and has been a labor of love over the past year that I can’t wait to share with you all. It includes a solo piano “jam transcription” of one of my favorite versions of “Eyes Of The World”, from Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky, 6/18/74 as well as a a rendition of the entire Terrapin Station Suite.
Classically trained piano player Holly Bowling loves Phish takes her interpretations of Phish and the Grateful Dead on the road again.
Live dates:Live recordings, includng quite a few soundboards like this one from Jam Cruise, can be found on the Live Music Archive.
HCTF review of Distillation of a Dream: The Music of Phish Reimagined For Solo Piano.
Last hurray for the Grateful Dead? Three 50th Anniversary shows will happen in Chicago at Soldier Field:
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, and Bob Weir will reunite at Chicago’s Soldier Field, nearly 20 years to the day of the last-ever Grateful Dead concert, which took place at the same venue. “Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead” will take place over three nights – July 3rd, 4th, and 5th, 2015 – and mark the original members’ last-ever performance together. The band will be joined by Trey Anastasio (Guitar), Jeff Chimenti (Keyboards) and Bruce Hornsby (Piano), and will perform two sets of music each night.
Band practice should start ASAP.
Keller Williams has released a Grateful Dead covers album. Keys contains ten interpretations on piano, bearing his signature musical touch: lighthearted and laid-back. Best known as a guitarist the album showcases his much rarer outings on the piano. The bare bones approach that brings out the lyrics of the legendary American jam band could turned it into lounge rat bar piano fodder, but Williams carefully avoids of the pitfalls. He is a fan and treats the songs with respect.
Keys is released on Sci Fidelity Records. Buy it from iTunes. 100% of the proceeds will go to benefit the Rex Foundation, a grassroots charity fund founded by the Grateful Dead.
Tracks:The Grateful Dead was filmed for the long running Rockpalast series on German TV. Recorded live at the Grugahalle, Essen, Germany - 1981/03/28.
Set 1:* With Pete Townshend
# With The Flying Karamazov Brothers
» dead.net
Watch Yorkville, IL folkies The Giving Tree Band tackle Brown-Eyed Women, a Grateful Dead live show favorite.
The Decemberists are releasing an EP with b-sides and demos. Long Live The King is an addendum to their latest studio album The King Is Dead. The songs were recorded at Pendarvis Farm, near Portland, OR, in the Spring of 2010.
The tracks are a little rougher around the edges than the pastoral sounds of the full-length, especially during the bluesy Burying Davy and the demo I 4 U & U 4 Me. The EP is a behind-the-scenes collection of songs, with a cover of The Grateful Dead's Row Jimmy that may scare the hipster segment of their fan base. They sound like a great bar band, slightly uneven, not drunk yet, but getting there. The EP's closer Sonnet finds the band n a melancholy folk mood. Singer Colin Meloy is all by himself for about half the songs, playing his acoustic guitar, before the band kicks in, led a mournful brass section.
Long Live The King is released on Capitol Records. On CD, 10 inch vinyl and digital.
Tracks:Freeloading Grateful Dead hippies, rejoice once more. To celebrate the release of Europe '72 The Complete Recordings another freebie is up for grabs. Casey Jones recorded at the April 11, Newcastle show.
» dead.net
Freeloading Grateful Dead hippies, rejoice once more. To celebrate the release of Europe '72 The Complete Recordings two more freebies are up for grabs. First off: He's Gone recorded at the April 17, Copenhagen show.
This is the first-ever live performance of He's Gone by the Grateful Dead, although you couldn't tell by the confidence of this version. You'll notice that the "Goin' where the wind don't blow so strange..." bridge is absent here, as it had not yet been incorporated into the song. It was added to the song later in the tour.
And here's Black-Throated Wind recorded at the April 16 Aarhus, Denmark show:
Europe '72 The Complete Recordings, a massive 72 CD's set, will ship in September.
» dead.net
Party like it's 1974? The Grateful Dead Movie comes to the big screen on 4/20. One night only:
Don’t miss your chance to see a flashback concert experience with the Grateful Dead on the big screen. Fathom and Rhino Entertainment present “The Grateful Dead Movie” in movie theaters nationwide for a one night event on Wednesday, April 20th at 7:30pm (local time). This special event will include an exclusive never-before-seen interview with Jerry Garcia conducted while he was directing this legendary production over 35 years ago. “The Grateful Dead Movie” has not been available in wide theatrical distribution since its initial release in 1977.
Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, March 18th.
A new archival Grateful Dead release. Road Trips Vol. 4 No. 2 (April Fools 1988) chronicles the two nights at Brendan Byrne Arena In East Rutherford, NJ on March 31/April 1, 1988. It's the complete April 1 show plus the second set from the previous night with a few extra highlights from that show thrown in.
More listening (quicktime | wma):
Road Trips Vol. 4 No. 2 (April Fools 1988) is available through dead.net.
Freeloading hippies of all ages rejoice. As of November 1 a never before released Grateful Dead recording (well, most them actually) can be downloaded for free from Dead.net. That's 30 free songs.
Starting on the Day of the Dead (November 1), dead.net, the official website of the Grateful Dead, will kick off 30 DAYS OF DEAD. Every day throughout the entire month of November, the Grateful Dead will post a different live track on dead.net that will be free to download for one day only. The band's archivist Dave Lemieux hand-picked each of the 30 career-spanning tracks from the Dead's extensive vault. Each free song download will be a high-quality (320 kps) mp3 and nearly all of the 30 tracks are previously unreleased soundboard recordings.
Contest are run on a daily basis, challenging listeners to name the relevant details about the song that is offered:
In addition to the free music, 30 DAYS OF DEAD will also include daily and weekly contests. When a new track is posted on dead.net each day at approximately Noon EST, the first person to correctly identify both the complete date (Month, Day, Year) and venue of the performance in the comments section will win their choice of any copy from the Dead's ongoing Road Trips series.
» Dead.net
Keller Williams is a singer and guitar player who listens to just any kind of music for inspiration. His live shows are fabled for his picks of cover songs. He teamed up with Larry and Jenny Keel to cut an album called Thief filled with bluegrass cover versions of songs by the likes of Amy Winehouse, The Grateful Dead, Cracker, and Kris Kristofferson (who has two songs, the opener and the closing track).
As regular on the live circuit the songs were recorded live, with only the vocals needing overdubs. The Raconteurs' Switch and the Spur is sped up, with the interludes slowed down to a leisurely vibe that begs to be stretched in concert. The infamous Pepper by the Butthole Surfers, a long time student dorm favorite sounds as sleazy as it going to get in an acoustic setting. Hardcore Amy Winehouse fans will won't like their treatment of Rehab, which is transformed into a late-night drinking song.
Thief is for the open-minded music lovers who don't have to look up artists like Danny Barnes or Marcy Playground. Highly recommended if you are familiar with the originals.
Keller & The Keels:
Keller Williams: acoustic 12 sting
Larry Keel: actosutic guitar
Jenny Keel: upright bass
Thief is released on SCI Fidelity. Release date: May 25. Pre-order it from his website. Buyers are entered in a contest for for a 90 minute private acoustic performance by Keller and The Keels in the winner's living room for them and up to 49 of their friends.
Tracks:The May 25 record release gig is on a Riverboat on the Rappahanock departing from Fredericksburg.
On German TV (WDR) August 18, 2007:
23.30h - 6:20h
Rockpalast: Jambands
» rockpalast.de (scroll down for details)
Teaching about the Dead? Do we have to be Grateful for that?
The Grateful Dead's appeal is still alive.
The University of Massachusetts will host a series of event to study the impact of the Grateful Dead on American culture in the fall.
» More
It's been 40 years since the Summer of Love. Jerry Garcia gets a big write-up in NY magazine The Fader. You can download the full magazine as a PDF and listen to a Grateful Dead podcast. All for free, man.
The Grateful Dead was an incredible musical force that defined its generation, with Garcia as its de facto leader, to the point that the band is almost synonymous with the '60s. Yet the Dead-and Jerry especially-remained an active force well into the '90s, and the band's power and influence has anything but diminished since their final show. In fact, Jerry and the Dead are as relevant now as they've ever been-a constant inspiration and obsession for the current generation of musicians that The FADER celebrates issue after issue.
The podcast:
» thefader.com
» Download The Fader #46 (PDF)
» Download the podcast
