• https://www.dead.net/features/gd-radio-hour/grateful-dead-hour-no-158
    Grateful Dead Hour no. 158

    Week of September 30, 1991

    Grateful Dead 12/19/69 New Old Fillmore, San Francisco
    MONKEY AND THE ENGINEER
    LITTLE SADIE
    LONG BLACK LIMOUSINE
    I'VE BEEN ALL AROUND THIS WORLD

    Country Joe McDonald, Superstitious Blues
    STARSHIP RIDE
    Good Old Boys, Pistol Packin' Mama
    DEEP ELEM BLUES

    Grateful Dead 12/19/69 New Old Fillmore, San Francisco
    THAT'S IT FOR THE OTHER ONE->
    UNCLE JOHN'S BAND

    Some acoustic and electric excerpts from 12/19/69 in San Francisco.

     "Long Black Limousine" is pretty rare in GD history - written by Bobby George and Vern Stovall, recorded by Elvis Presley, Merle Haggard, Glen Campbell, Bobby Bare, and others. When it turned up in early 2008 on a double-CD set titled Gram Parsons with The Flying Burrito Bros Live At The Avalon Ballroom 1969 - from a pair of shows in which the Burritos opened for the Dead at the Avalon - I emailed Bob Weir to ask if that's where he learned the song.

    "Both sets include 'Long Black Limousine,' which you sang in acoustic sets with the GD a few times after that," I wrote. "And 'You Win Again' was in there, too, which Jerry adopted. Was this encounter an influence on your foray into honky tonk music?"

    Bobby's reply:

    Not really; we'd been into that stuff since the beginning (Buck Owens, George Jones...) and it was just gonna come out sooner or later. Jerry and I had a bunch of country and gospel tunes we had worked up on days off on the road for fun, and when the Burritos came out, I think we were already doing these tunes in an an acoustic set here or there. That was why it seemed to us that they would be a good pairing with us.

    Jerry Garcia plays acoustic guitar on "Starship Ride" and several other songs on Country Joe McDonald's 1990 CD Superstitious Blues.

    Pistol Packin' Mama was a bluegrass labor of love for longtime Hunter & Garcia pal and New Riders of the Purple Sage founder David Nelson. Nelson and bassist Pat Campbell supported three genuine legends: Frank Wakefield (mandolin, vocals), Don Reno (banjo, vocals), and Chubby Wise (fiddle). Garcia produced; Dan Healy engineered; they recorded at Mickey's and mixed at Weir's. The album came out on the Dead's Round Records in 1976, and was later released on CD. Great stuff. Here's what Nelson wrote in the Round Records newsletter (preserved on deaddisc.com):

    In two days we had 25 songs down on tape, and upon listening back, some of the tastiest, most fun, and liveliest bluegrass ever recorded! I felt like a kid with dreams of the big leagues who was approached by Mantle, DiMaggio, and Ruth and told "well sure we'll play with you, and all your friends too!"

    These three guys wrote the book on banjo, mandolin and fiddle. Chubby Wise is the dearly loved daddy of the country fiddle. He played on the sessions which are today regarded as the definitive bluegrass music. Don Reno is a phenomenal all round musician as well as one singer, guitar picker, and innovator in the highest degree.

    What can I say about Frank Wakefield? He's Brer Rabbit jumping through the briar patch, in the flesh. I'd have to quote Oxford's Dictionary and say, "luxuriously prolific, virtuosity abounding, technical ability overflowing with spirit."

    Every Wednesday, we post a program from the Grateful Dead Hour archives for your enjoyment and enlightenment. You can browse or search the playlists at gdhour.com or on the GD Hour Search page, and let me know what program(s) you'd like to hear by emailing me at gdhour@dead.net.

    Thanks for listening!
    David Gans

    Listen Now

    14104
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    jtall99
    15 years ago
    Who cares
    I just love to hear Jerry stretch out his bluegrass roots and just pick.....
  • Default Avatar
    Jaime
    15 years 1 month ago
    there are ..
    .. so many things on earth now that can bring us down And this music definitely puts a long , wide smile on I - and many others' - faces Grcs Dave from the southern hemisphere Jaime G
  • Default Avatar
    dgans
    15 years 1 month ago
    Nobody was late
    I think your theory has a lot of merit! Gans/GD Hour blog
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Week of September 30, 1991

Grateful Dead 12/19/69 New Old Fillmore, San Francisco
MONKEY AND THE ENGINEER
LITTLE SADIE
LONG BLACK LIMOUSINE
I'VE BEEN ALL AROUND THIS WORLD

Country Joe McDonald, Superstitious Blues
STARSHIP RIDE
Good Old Boys, Pistol Packin' Mama
DEEP ELEM BLUES

Grateful Dead 12/19/69 New Old Fillmore, San Francisco
THAT'S IT FOR THE OTHER ONE->
UNCLE JOHN'S BAND

Some acoustic and electric excerpts from 12/19/69 in San Francisco.

 "Long Black Limousine" is pretty rare in GD history - written by Bobby George and Vern Stovall, recorded by Elvis Presley, Merle Haggard, Glen Campbell, Bobby Bare, and others. When it turned up in early 2008 on a double-CD set titled Gram Parsons with The Flying Burrito Bros Live At The Avalon Ballroom 1969 - from a pair of shows in which the Burritos opened for the Dead at the Avalon - I emailed Bob Weir to ask if that's where he learned the song.

"Both sets include 'Long Black Limousine,' which you sang in acoustic sets with the GD a few times after that," I wrote. "And 'You Win Again' was in there, too, which Jerry adopted. Was this encounter an influence on your foray into honky tonk music?"

Bobby's reply:

Not really; we'd been into that stuff since the beginning (Buck Owens, George Jones...) and it was just gonna come out sooner or later. Jerry and I had a bunch of country and gospel tunes we had worked up on days off on the road for fun, and when the Burritos came out, I think we were already doing these tunes in an an acoustic set here or there. That was why it seemed to us that they would be a good pairing with us.

Jerry Garcia plays acoustic guitar on "Starship Ride" and several other songs on Country Joe McDonald's 1990 CD Superstitious Blues.

Pistol Packin' Mama was a bluegrass labor of love for longtime Hunter & Garcia pal and New Riders of the Purple Sage founder David Nelson. Nelson and bassist Pat Campbell supported three genuine legends: Frank Wakefield (mandolin, vocals), Don Reno (banjo, vocals), and Chubby Wise (fiddle). Garcia produced; Dan Healy engineered; they recorded at Mickey's and mixed at Weir's. The album came out on the Dead's Round Records in 1976, and was later released on CD. Great stuff. Here's what Nelson wrote in the Round Records newsletter (preserved on deaddisc.com):

In two days we had 25 songs down on tape, and upon listening back, some of the tastiest, most fun, and liveliest bluegrass ever recorded! I felt like a kid with dreams of the big leagues who was approached by Mantle, DiMaggio, and Ruth and told "well sure we'll play with you, and all your friends too!"

These three guys wrote the book on banjo, mandolin and fiddle. Chubby Wise is the dearly loved daddy of the country fiddle. He played on the sessions which are today regarded as the definitive bluegrass music. Don Reno is a phenomenal all round musician as well as one singer, guitar picker, and innovator in the highest degree.

What can I say about Frank Wakefield? He's Brer Rabbit jumping through the briar patch, in the flesh. I'd have to quote Oxford's Dictionary and say, "luxuriously prolific, virtuosity abounding, technical ability overflowing with spirit."

Every Wednesday, we post a program from the Grateful Dead Hour archives for your enjoyment and enlightenment. You can browse or search the playlists at gdhour.com or on the GD Hour Search page, and let me know what program(s) you'd like to hear by emailing me at gdhour@dead.net.

Thanks for listening!
David Gans

Listen Now

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Another example of just how good a GDH can be. I'm puzzled by Weir's response. The point is well-taken: they were already into that stuff and didn't require a couple of sets by the Burrito's to become interested in it. Nevertheless, it seems the premise of DG's question involves the fact those two songs had not been played by the Daed prior to that point. So why Weir would say they had already busted them out in performance prior to this time is odd.....
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Thanks for the explanation David. Another thing: I got a theory about these December acousitc sets. We hear on this tape Jerry and Bob telling the audience Phil is late so they're gonna do some acoustic stuff and then when Phil gets there they'll start playing the loud stuff. Exactly a week later, 12/26/69 (GDH 630), they tell the crowd in Texas the same tale but this time, as the story goes, it's Billy who's tardy. As playing these acoustic sets was new, I'll bet anyone dollars to donuts this was their way of breaking the news to the audience that, yes, the "machine-eating" electric rock band they came to see WOULD be coming out in awhile, but in the meantime, because of circumstances beyond their control, (yeah, right!), this is what they're gonna do. The alternative was to sit there and try to play some relatively quiet music and (it's fair to predict) have to listen to a bunch of people wonderng what was going on, yelling for Pigpen, Dark Star, etc., etc. Nobody was late.
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Agreed Golden West, they knew what they were doing...but gosh darn it, I love two guitars and singers sittin around the campfire just singing! Awesome stuff David, thanks!____________________________________________________ Will you come with me? Once in awhile you can get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right!
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.. so many things on earth now that can bring us down And this music definitely puts a long , wide smile on I - and many others' - faces Grcs Dave from the southern hemisphere Jaime G
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I just love to hear Jerry stretch out his bluegrass roots and just pick.....