All Grateful Dead Related Episodes

Grateful Deadication is a new project from saxophonist Dave McMurray. It’s a cerebral and interesting take on some of the Grateful Dead’s work. The album itself is due out next Friday on Blue Note records. Jazz renditions or even instrumental covers of Grateful Dead music isn’t specifically new, but like all of the band’s performances, the work on Grateful Deadication is fresh, exciting and very inspiring. That may be in part to the fact that before taking on the project legendary Detroit area s...

While many touring musicians found the pandemic a great time to chill out, spend time with family and re-charge, Reed Mathis was busy as we’ve already in part 1 of our interview with him. In part two we explore all the projects he worked on, including a solo album and a great experience in Hawaii with Billy & The Kids for Bill Kreutmann’s birthday. First Song: 00:14: Looking West Interview Begins: 06:28 Extro Song: 43:12: The Ladder See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I had the chance to catch up with Holly Bowling yesterday ahead of her Wilderness show in Colorado, to talk about amongst other things her forthcoming record “Seeking All That’s Still Unsung” full of exclusively Grateful Dead songs and her piano interpretations of those songs and lots more. First Song: 00:14: St. Stephen Interview Begins: 11:11 Extro Song: 38:40: Saint of Circumstance See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Everything old is new again. Back in the late 60s during the Haight/Ashbury scene of San Francisco, several bands emerged and caught fire. Bands like Big Brother and the Holding Company, Jefferson Airplane, and the Grateful Dead, all emerged from a scene of fantastic music, demonstrations, peace, love and happiness. Not all the bands of the day garnered as much success as the trio I mentioned, and several didn't even make out with an album deal at all. Amongst those bands that played the same st...

For the uninitiated, The Garcia Project is the brainchild of Mik Bondy. The band, who are celebrating their 10th anniversary is a tribute to the Jerry Garcia Band and perform live versions of the JGB show from 1976 through 1995. They recently put out Spirit a collection of inspirational and spiritual songs the Jerry Garcia Band performed. We caught up with Mik to talk about the project and our conversation started when I asked what inspired the record and it’s packaging. For more visit thegarciaproject.com

We’re big fans of Holly since her debut of Tahoe Tweezer piano composition. For the uninitiated, Holly takes songs by both Phish and The Grateful Dead, transcribes each members parts and then builds out a new composition where she plays everyone’s parts. It’s phenomenal stuff. Aside from her solo work, Holly plays keyboards in Ghost Light another band we love, and is always around for guest spots. To say she’s busy doesn’t do her calendar justice. So we're delighted that she made time to chat about Live at the Old Church and much more. Our conversation started when I asked Holly how she keeps up with everything she’s up to. You can learn more about Holly’s solo work at hollybowling.com and for Ghost Light info visit ghostlightband.com.

We go back to 1968 in today’s episode with a central figure in Grateful Dead mythology, a member of the groups road crew, Big Steve Parish. Of course, if you’re any sort of historian on the Grateful Dead you are very aware of Steve’s place and role within the band. As you’ll soon hear, he not only was on the crew, but served as Jerry Garcia’s road tech, bodyguard, and eventual manager of the Jerry Garcia Band. Steve has a regular show on SiriusXM’s Grateful Dead channel, “Big Steve Hour”, and he is taking that storytelling format on the road, for more fun and frivolity. This guy loves the road. For dates and more visit bigstevehour.com.

John Kadlecik has been on the show before and we always enjoy welcoming such a talented guy. We were absolutely blown away by his new solo record On The Road, not only because of the tunes but because the time and care John put into tracking the record. The whole record is tremendous, and I would encourage you to grab it at johnkmusic.net.

The emergence of Grateful Dead tribute bands, both locally and nationally, indeed internationally is at an all time high. Between members of the Dead playing the repertoire they made famous, to acts like DSO, JRAD, and others more locally like Mars Hotel and Barely Dead. The music lives on and has never stopped. Back a few months ago, we had Sam and Clay and Mapache on the show. A listener who heard the show, alerted us to the fact that this duo were part of yet another Dead tribute outfit Grateful Shred. Since then, we’ve heard several performances, and tracked their trajectory. We recently sat down with Dan Horne, who holds down the Phil Lesh role with the band, playing bass. You can check out Grateful Shred’s tour schedule at gratefulshredmusic.com or check out our Grateful Shred playlist on youtube at youtube.com/thesoundpodcast.

On August 9th, 1995 the world learned that Jerry Garcia, the once jovial, uber talented leader of the Grateful Dead had passed. Following that was a performance of the Walkin’ Blues, the second song of the set that night. What unfolded for the 20 or so years following that night, has long been the stuff of gossip, rumour and innuendo. To suggest that anyone was completely aware of what went on behind the vaulted doors of the Grateful Dead and its various business tentacles would be folly, since for the most part collecting all the various stories, and connecting all of the dots would be a fairly time consuming but mostly a contentious endeavour. Publishing those findings, and providing a narrative for what could only be described as a complete and utter melt down of what was once a mighty musical industry powerhouse seems on the surface to be a completely impossible task. So while the rumours, gossip, and tall tales persisted, noted music journalist and San Francisco Chronicle reporte…

The Garcia Project performs full set lists of classic Jerry Garcia Band shows and is fronted by Mik Bondy, a “Jerry Head” to say the very least. The tone and spirit of the Jerry Garcia Band is what the Garcia Project pride itself on. We caught up with Mik on the road, as he usually is, to talk about the Garcia Project, and just exactly what they are up to. The conversation started when I ask Mik about his first encounters with Garcia… For more on tour dates, to hear some more music from GarciaProject or to watch some videos check out thegarciaproject.com.

With well over 350 Grateful Dead, and Dead related shows under his belt, Grateful Dean as he’s known online brings a fresh, genuine and often hilarious take to the official home of unofficial Grateful Dead and Music News. In our candid conversation Dean gives us a bit of his background, and explains why he does what he does, not matter what the haters say. We dig this cat, and you will too.

Dark Star Orchestra’s 7th annual Jubilee goes this weekend in Thornville, Ohio. Luckily for us ,we caught up with Rob Barraco just before the Buffalo show, the last show before the Jubilee. We asked Rob about his tenure with DSO, the Phil Lesh quintet and mastering the parts of four iconic keyboard players of the Grateful Dead. We’re looking forward to more great music from DSO and his latest project, California Kind. For more info on DSO, visit darkstarorchestra.net.

If you aren’t familiar with Roots of Creation they are a reggae rock outfit in the vein of Sublime or Dirty Heads, so indeed a Grateful Dead tribute, while a reggae one is a touch far fetched for the genre, this one sounds really terrific. I recently caught up with Brett Wilson frontman of Roots of Creation to talk about the project and it’s inspiration. I mean you can’t ask for a more genuine discussion around the motivation to pay homage to the Grateful Dead than that. It’s clear that this project was born organically and carried out with with a ton of love, a love and authenticity that continues as Roots of Creation take the package on the road. For tour dates and more visit rootsofcreation.com.

Many of us know Jerry Garcia, as the frontman of the Grateful Dead and the spiritual leader of the Deadheads. But his story doesn’t nearly begin with the Mother McRee’s Uptown Jug Champions, the acid tests or even the goings on at 710 Ashbury Street. His passion for music and his ability to play at a high standard, his penchant for story telling began much earlier. We’ll unpack that history with Dennis McNally the Grateful Dead’s biographer and publicist for the majority of their existence. We recently down with him to discuss the forthcoming release of a rich compendium of early Garcia works aptly titled, “Jerry Garcia before the Dead”.

You’ve been listening to parts of Touch of Grey, Truckin’, and Ripple taken from the musical Red Roses, Green Gold which features the music and lyrics of Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter. The musical has been getting rave reviews from both Deadheads and typical theatre goers alike, and so we thought, we’d sit down with Rachel Klein, the musical’s director to get her take on the Michael Norman Mann book adaptation, the show, and how things are going down in New York. The conversation started when I asked Rachel if she was familiar with the Garcia/Hunter canon before she started working on Red Roses Green Gold…   For more information on Red Roses, Green Gold visit redrosesgreengold.com    Show Notes:   First Song:  00:14 - Montage - Touch of Grey \> Truckin \> Ripple (from Red Roses, Green Gold)    Interview Begins: 01:02   Extro Song:  Cumberland Blues - 24:23 (Grateful Dead May 2, 1970 Harpur College, Binghampton, New York)  You can listen to this episode below, or by connecting and sub…

While we have the memories and the music, the fact that so many great moments in our scene’s history have been captured on film in photos is another added bonus. More to the point, those that continue to document the ebbs and flows of the scene in photographs are doing incredible work. Thats the case for Bob Minkin who has spent decades following and photographing all of our beloved musicians and their fans. For him, it was a dream to move out to Marin County in northern California, to live amongst the community in its fiery core. And while he didn’t make out west from Brooklyn until 1990, he had been dreaming of that very thing from an early age, and as he recounts, it all started back in ‘77. What’s notable about Bob Minkin is that he continues to document the Marin County music scene and for that we should all be grateful. If you have a chance, check out themusicneverstoppedbook.com and for more on Bob and his work visit minkinphotography.com.  You can listen to this episode below,…

Something a little different today as we sit down with rock n’ roll photographer Jay Blakesberg. If you’re a fan of The Grateful Dead, The Jam Band scene or frankly rock music since the 80s, you have no doubt scene Jay’s work in Relix and Rolling Stone Magazine, never mind the dozens of album covers and books he has done. He is an absolute treasure and a man full of many incredible stories. With a book, Eyes of the World: a compendium of Grateful Dead photographs from 65 - 95 on its way, and several other ambitious projects coming soon, we decided to sit down with Jay to uncover his story and a whole lot more.  You can listen to this episode below, or by connecting and subscribing to one of the podcast platforms here or search your favorite podcast platform for “The Sound Podcast”; Itunes: http://bit.ly/sndpodi TuneIn: http://bit.ly/sndti Stitcher: http://bit.ly/sndsti GooglePlay: http://bit.ly/sndplay Get The Sound Podcast App: http://bit.ly/TSPAPPS

When I sat down with John Kadlecik, I wasn’t entirely sure how the conversation would go, and certainly wasn’t sure how he’d respond to some of the questions I had. There is no doubt he is an extremely talented guitar player and vocalist, but stepping into the shoes or at least performing the work of Jerry Garcia on a regular basis is no easy feat. Couple that with the ferocious tour schedule and constant playing, I suspected John was going to be a touch ornery. Turns out, he was awesome, and had lots to share. For the uninitiated, John founded Dark Star Orchestra along with several other bands, and was the lead guitar player for Further with Bob Weir and Phil Lesh.  You can learn more about John and his tour schedule on his website here!  You can listen to this episode below, or by connecting and subscribing to one of the podcast platforms here or search your favorite podcast platform for “The Sound Podcast”; Itunes: http://bit.ly/sndpodi TuneIn: http://bit.ly/sndti Stitcher: http://…

On the heels of a great trip to Boston to see Dead and Company I had the fortunate opportunity to sit down with Dennis McNally long time publicist for the Grateful Dead. With Amir Bar-Lev’s Long Strange Trip still fresh on my mind, I began the conversation with Dennis asking if four hours could possibly capture the depth of the Grateful Dead history…… If you want to check out Susana Millman’s book “Alive with the Dead” you can head to her website here.

What a LONG STRANGE TRIP is the title of the new Amir Bar-Lev authorized documentary of the Grateful Dead that I caught at the HOT DOC’s screening here in Toronto just a few nights ago. To say it’s a trip doesn’t do this four hour long look at our beloved band justice. The film takes you from the very earliest days of the Mother McCree Uptown Jug Band to the unfortunate end with Jerry Garcia’s passing and everthing in between. I had the opportunity to sit down with both Director Amir Bar-Lev and friend of the show Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux to get some insight into the making of the film and the Grateful Dead story. 

The Dark Star Orchestra in it’s 20 year existence has become the premier Grateful Dead tribute band. Playing a show from the band’s history each night, has rekindled a fan base’s love for the music and it’s community. Jeff Mattson has played the role of Jerry Garcia for 7 of those years. We sat down and talked to Jeff about his role and a whole lot more. 

We started The Sound Podcast to give rise to music and musicians inspired by the Grateful Dead and the Jamband community. In my little Deadhead community, Mars Hotel is doing just that. Friends? Sure. Musicians? Positively. A great vibe? Absolutely. We sat down with Mars Hotel last week after a rehearsal and got the scoop on what makes them tick. 

David Gans is a radio host, a writer, a musician, a lecturer and a historian. Few people have lived a professional life inspired by the Grateful Dead and their fans. You probably recognize his name as the host of the syndicated radio show the Grateful Dead Hour or his Sirius XM Show with Gary Lambert. David though, is a serious musician in his own right and his written extensively about the band as well.