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Week of May 7, 2012

Part 1 22:05
Levon Helm, Electric Dirt
TENNESSEE JED
The Band, Moondog Matinee
PROMISED LAND
The Band
THE NIGHT THEY DROVE OLD DIXIE DOWN
Grateful Dead 5/6/90 Dominguez Hills CA
THE WEIGHT

Part 2 34:05
Grateful Dead 12/13/90 McNichols Arena, Denver CO
ME AND MY UNCLE->
BIG RIVER
RAMBLE ON ROSE
STUCK INSIDE OF MOBILE WITH THE MEMPHIS BLUES AGAIN
THE VALLEY ROAD

We lost one of the great voices and one of the great musical personalities of our generation when Levon Helm passed away at the age of 71. Levon was the drummer, occasional mandolinist, and one of three monumental singing voices of The Band, whose 1968 album Music from Big Pink was a genuine game-changer in American popular music. That album and Bob Dylan’s John Wesley Harding seem to have helped the Grateful Dead with their decision to pull back from the precipice of psychedelic excess and return to their Americana roots, which led to Workingman’s Dead, American Beauty, Ace, Garcia, and many of the greatest songs we ever heard. Levon Helm returned the favor some years later, opening his last studio album, Electric Dirt, with the Hunter-Garcia classic “Tennessee Jed.”

Support for the Grateful Dead Hour comes this week from:

The All Good Music Festival July 19–22 in Central Ohio at Legend Valley (formerly known as Buckeye Lake, where the Grateful Dead did shows in the ’80s and ’90s). Featuring The Allman Brothers Band, Phil Lesh and Friends, Bob Weir and Bruce Hornsby with Branford Marsalis, Mickey Hart Band, Dark Star Orchestra, Railroad Earth, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Yonder Mountain, Lotus, Tea Leaf Green, The Flaming Lips, and nearly 40 more acts with no overlapping sets. Complete details are available at www.allgoodfestival.com

The Werks, presenting their self-titled studio album, nine tracks in a wide variety of genres from upbeat jamtronica to rootsy guitar-driven jams. The Werks perform nationwide this summer and end the season with their own Werk Out Festival at Legend Valley in Central Ohio September 20-23. More festival and band information along with sample tracks from The Werks’ new album are available at www.thewerksmusic.com.

And special thanks to Rockmitzvah

Week of April 30, 2012

Part 1 34:53
Grateful Dead 12/13/90 McNichols Arena, Denver CO
JACK STRAW->
SUGAREE
WANG DANG DOODLE
FRIEND OF THE DEVIL

Part 2 19:39
Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real w/ Bob Weir 3/14/12 TRI Studios, San Rafael CA
MAGGIE’S FARM
LITTLE RED ROOSTER

Support for the Grateful Dead Hour comes this week from Bonhams Auctioneers, presenting Visions of Garcia, their third auction devoted to the Grateful Dead. The May 8th auction will offer guitars, equipment, photographs and memorabilia related to the band, as well as original art works and clothing and accessory designs by Jerry Garcia. The sale goes on the block in San Francisco on May 8th, the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Grateful Dead’s infamous concert at Barton Hall at Cornell in Ithaca, NY. More information and the complete online catalog for the auction are available at Bonhams.com.

Special thanks to Rock Mitzvah.