Week of June 1, 2015
Part 1 29:50
Interview: David Browne
Grateful Dead 5/3/77 Palladium, New York City
THE MUSIC NEVER STOPPED
Interview: David Browne
Jim Kweskin and the Jug Band, See Reverse Side for Title
VIOLA LEE
Matt Rae, Twangin’ the Dead
TRUCKIN’
Part 2 26:00
Grateful Dead 3/1/70 Family Dog on the Great Highway, San Francisco CA
BIG BOY PETE
MORNING DEW
HARD TO HANDLE
ME AND MY UNCLE
The Jim Kweskin Jug Band was an important early influence on the guys who became the Grateful Dead. Here’s an excerpt from my book This Is All a Dream We Dreamed: An Oral History of the Grateful Dead, which will be published on November 10:
BOB MATTHEWS: Bob Weir and I were really into the jug bands. We liked Gus Cannon [of Cannon’s Jug Stompers, a black, Memphis-based jug band in the late twenties] and Jim Kweskin. The Jim Kweskin Jug Band was playing at the Cabale [in Berkeley]. You had to be at least eighteen, if not twenty-one, to get in. We snuck in, and we were up in the front row. Geoff Muldaur had an incredible voice, and we were really digging on the band. And then this cute, Daisy Mae–looking creature, whose name was Maria D’Amato, came out and sang “I’m a Woman.” Most of the males in the building were drooling. She was a gorgeous girl. She became Maria Muldaur, of course. The next day, Bob and I cut class and hitchhiked into Palo Alto to Dana Morgan Music, where Jerry was teaching banjo. As we walked into his little cement cubicle, he was playing banjo—noodling, as he always did. I think I said, “We went to see the Kweskin Jug Band last night, and we’re starting a jug band.” Jerry looked up, didn’t drop a beat, and said, “Good. I’m in it. I know a great harp player, this guy named Pigpen.”
Support for the Grateful Dead Hour comes this week from:
Netflix, presenting The Other One: The Long, Strange Trip of Bob Weir, a revelatory look at Bob Weir and the Grateful Dead, chronicling Weir’s own wild ride from founding member of the band to rock icon status, and his friendship with Jerry Garcia. Including rare archival concert and behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with fellow band members, relatives and Weir himself, “The Other One: The Long, Strange Trip of Bob Weir” is now streaming on Netflix.
Garcia’s at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York. Grateful Dead tribute Stella Blues Band will honor Wetlands Wednesday night traditions by recreating the Grateful Dead’s spirit each Wednesdays in June. Events, information, and ticketing at thecapitoltheatre.com.
Matt Rae, announcing his new album Twangin’ the Dead, a guitar-focused instrumental tribute to Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead. Twanging’ the Dead is available on iTunes and from mattrae.com