Grateful Dead Hour no. 1211

Week of December 5, 2011

Part 1 26:55
Let It Rock: Jerry Garcia Band, Keystone Berkeley ’75
SITTING IN LIMBO
Interview: Julian Dawson
Julian Dawson, Travel On
YOU’RE LISTENING NOW
Interview: Julian Dawson
Cyril Davies All-Stars
COUNTRY LINE SPECIAL
Interview: Julian Dawson

Part 2 29:32
The Beatles
REVOLUTION
Interview: Julian Dawson
Rolling Stones, Their Satanic Majesties Request
SHE’S A RAINBOW
Interview: Julian Dawson
Something Else By the Kinks
DEATH OF A CLOWN
Interview: Julian Dawson
Rolling Stones, Exile on Main Street
LET IT LOOSE
Steve Miller, Your Saving Grace
BABY’S HOUSE (excerpt)

Nicky Hopkins is regarded by many as the greatest rock session musician of all time. He came up in the early ’60s, pre-Beatles, and played with just about everybody in his native England. That amazing piano solo in the original single of “Revolution”? That’s Nicky. The Rolling Stones’ oeuvre is jam-packed with Hopkins, who toured with them for many years and played on many of their greatest recordings. He also worked with The Kinks, Jeff Beck, The Who, Donovan, and countless others. Then he moved to the States and settled in the Bay Area, where he recorded and played live with Quicksilver Messenger Service, the Steve Miller Band, Jefferson Airplane, and – for several brilliant but troubled months in 1975 – the first edition of the Jerry Garcia Band. Let It Rock, recorded in November 1975 and released in 2009, documents the best live performances of this brief collaboration. Hopkins also played on half of Jerry Garcia’s 1976 solo album Reflections: “Mission in the Rain,” “Tore Up Over You,” “I’ll Take a Melody,” and “Catfish John.”

(I wrote the liner notes for Let It Rock, and I think it is one of the best live records in the entire Garcia/GD canon. The interactions between Garcia and Hopkins are a joy to behold, and Nicky’s instrumentals – “Pig’s Boogie,” “Edward (The Mad Shirt Grinder),” and the beautiful solo piece “Lady Sleeps” – are delightful.)

British singer-songwriter Julian Dawson collaborated with Hopkins in Nashville in the early ’90s and was greatly impressed with the man and his musical legend. Hopkins died shortly thereafter, at the age of 50, and Dawson took it upon himself to write the biography that Nicky deserves. And on Piano… Nicky Hopkins is a thoroughly researched and lovingly written account of an insanely colorful musical life.

There’s an excellent online interview with Dawson in the Inkwell, a book forum hosted by the WELL, my online home. (We have a Grateful Dead community that began in 1986; contact me if you’d like to check out the WELL.)

This week’s Grateful Dead Hour is the first of a two-part interview with Dawson, accompanied by a handful of highlights from the cornucopia of great music populates Nicky Hopkins’ resume.

Support for the Grateful Dead Hour comes this week from LiquidBlue.com, offering Grateful Dead gear for all ages including shirts, hoodies, hats, games, and their exclusive Weekend Edition shirts. Also dozens of classic artists like Pink Floyd, Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, Allman Brothers, Phish, and more. Special holiday gift ideas for your favorite music fan are online at LiquidBlue.com

And special thanks to Rockmitzvah