End of “The Days Between”, 2021….
Jerome John Garcia was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for being a principal songwriter, the lead guitarist and a vocalist with the rock band the Grateful Dead, of which he was a founding member and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 1960s.
August 1, 1942, - August 9, 1995,
I was never a “Dead Head”*, although I did like the musical style and most of his musical contributions. Many Grateful Dead music lovers have their favorite songs, and even concerts. One such songs, my favorite of theirs which I featured last week was from a live concert in Cairo Egypt, performed in 1978 is that classic Grateful Dead tune “Fire On The Mountain”. Earlier, in 1973, Jerry Garcia took a turn from playing his guitar, and joined forces with the likes of some very famous and talented Bluegrass musical greats:
During the winter of 1973, Jerry Garcia plunged into a new side-project—a bluegrass group called Old and in the Way, featuring Garcia on banjo and vocals, John Kahn on string bass, David Grisman on mandolin and vocals, and guitarist/singer Peter Rowan. Fiddler Richard Greene joined in April of 1973, but juggling his own band in LA, dropped out after a couple of months and was replaced first by John Hartford, and eventually by Vassar Clements—widely regarded as one of the best fiddlers anywhere. Having not played the banjo as frequently as he had previously, Garcia’s skills were admittedly not what they used to be, but, as he said, “they were smoothing out near the end.” The band broke up due to fighting between Rowan and Grisman, but there were plans for a comeback before Jerry’s death in 1995. jerrygarcia.com/...
In the late 60’s and early 70’s my musical tastes had moved to what is known as “Bluegrass”, both the traditional and contemporary style, and that is when I discovered Jerry Garcia’s talent extended well beyond the psychedelic concert style of his format that had been his trademark for years in concerts with the “Grateful Dead”, and later in other group member compositions of the band such as “Jerry Garcia And Friends”, etc.. Jerry Garcia had a talent for the banjo (and Mandolin), while not being a great technical banjo player such as the great virtuoso players of our time such as Tony Trischka, or even Béla Fleck, his talent was there, and was up to the task of being regarded as a very good banjo player, good enough to play with the likes of such Bluegrass greats to eventually record the record album “Old And In The Way”, and take it on tour.
So, where am I going with this? I stated that I enjoy the music of Jerry Garcia and his bands over the years, but it was my love of Bluegrass that I can truthfully say that his best piece of music and performance didn’t involve his guitar, but rather his banjo performance with the band composition “Old And In The Way”: My favorite all time Jerry Garcia performance is with his Bluegrass performances, and from that band with the song title “Midnight Moonlight” (1973). Here now is that song that I consider to be my favorite Jerry Garcia performance, and musical composition for me, off a record album I still own that I consider to be one of my most favorite vinyl records in my collection of records I have amassed over the years:
BONUS CUTS:
“Pig In A Pen”:
The original song form that album, “”Old And In The Way”:
*A Deadhead or Dead Head is a fan of the American rock band the Grateful Dead. In the 1970s, a number of fans began traveling to see the band in as many shows or festival venues as they could. With large numbers of people thus attending strings of shows, a community developed. Wikipedia
Be safe out there…