Review: The Music Never Stopped - Roots Of The Grateful Dead

Though I must acknowledge that their music can be something of an acquired taste, there can be no doubt that The Grateful Dead left a musical legacy unrivaled by any other American band. As I stated in a previous article about The Dead, they were set up like a Rock ensemble, but performed with a Jazz mentality; developing peerless improvisational skills over the years. Their personal musical backgrounds were deeply rooted in Blues, Folk, Country and Bluegrass. Their song lyrics were steeped in American history, particularly the Old West. The group even began life as a Jug band! Their songs incorporated elements of all these uniquely American genres, sometimes simultaneously. Musically, it gets no more American than that. That said, when they were having a good night, they could be spectacular, but The Dead's live shows were better known for spontaneity, not consistency.

From their earliest explorations together, The Grateful Dead incorporated cover tunes into their repertoire. When they began in 1965, the peak of the Folk era was not far behind, and The Dead were not about to leave it in the past. Instead, like many of their peers, they brought it forward into the present, with some arrangement changes to fit the rapidly evolving musical climate, just as the folkies had done.

During the Folk era, it was common for musicians to dig into the past to find songs that were not only part of the American fabric, but were also preferably, for publishing purposes, in the public domain. The go-to resource for many was the 4 volume "Anthology Of American Folk Music", compiled by Harry Smith and released in 1952 at the then-exorbitant price of $25. There's a fine article that discusses the importance of this album series at The Vinyl Factory website.

But The Grateful Dead were self-sufficient with resourcing material to fill out their setlists, and fairly fearless about it as well. They chose Blues and Country songs with equal ease, and dug into Folk and R&B with less regard about whether it had been a hit or not, but more on whether they liked the tune and could play it well. The first time I heard Merle Haggard's classic hit "Mama Tried" was the version on The Grateful Dead's epic live set, "Europe '72", so I'm sure it's possible that some other young kid may have heard Chuck Berry or Buddy Holly for the first time through The Grateful Dead. All popular music comes from something else that went before. Chuck Berry told me so himself, face to face, when I met him at a gig in 1981. In our very brief conversation, Chuck told me that his music was inspired by Louis Jordan, and he wasn't joking. So that proved to me that it's all just links in the chain.

There have been several compilations on the CD market that chronicle the original recordings of songs that were done by more famous performers, such as The Beatles, Elvis, David Bowie, The Ramones, etc. One of the earliest of these compilations was released in 1995 on the small Shanachie label, in cooperation with The Grateful Dead. "The Music Never Stopped" features 17 often-rare original recordings of songs that were covered by The Grateful Dead over the span of their nearly 30 year run. Several of the tracks on this album can be found on no other compact disc, including "Rain and Snow" as performed by Obray Ramsey, and "Big Railroad Blues" by Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers.

The diverse and eclectic nature of The Grateful Dead is highlighted on this album with the inclusion of Folk songs ("Morning Dew", "Goin' Down This Road Feelin' Bad"), Blues ("The Red Rooster", "Turn On Your Love Light"), Country ("Mama Tried", "El Paso"), Gospel ("Samson & Delilah"), and straight out Rock 'n Roll ("The Promised Land", "Not Fade Away"). The album also features Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue". It's inclusion is notable as it is one of the extremely rare occasions that Dylan authorized the licensing of one of his recordings for a compilation. But a friendly connection existed already, as Dylan had toured with The Dead in the late 80's. The live album that came of this collaboration was marginal at best, and leaves the listener wishing they had gotten together at least a decade earlier.

Robert Crumb

Adding to the collectibility of this album is the striking cover art by famed comic artist, Robert Crumb, who is a fan of old-timey music and an avid collector of obscure 78rpm records. The art reflects the work that Crumb had done for a series of trading cards that featured realistic portraits of early Blues and Country performers. Crumb, being a fan of their catalog, created many original works for the Shanachie label, and this album cover was right up his creative alley. How many of the onstage performers can you identify? Hint: all of their names are on there.

So now, let's have a listen to a couple of these rarely heard original recordings. First up is a song that is one of the earliest cover tunes that The Dead performed, dating back to their jug band days. "Don't Ease Me In" was first recorded in the late 1920's by Henry Thomas. Although The Dead's version is fairly similar, there's a subtle lyric difference of historical relevance. Whereas Jerry Garcia sings "I've been all night long comin' home, don't ease me in", Thomas clearly sings "It's a long night, Cunningham, don't ease me in". It's possible Garcia simply heard it wrong, but the Cunningham in the song was a well-known Texas businessman of the 20's who would grease the palms of local prison officials in order to lease convicts from the state prison to work in his sugar cane fields along the Brazos river. As a result, "Don't Ease Me In" was often sung by convicts in the prison farms.

Rev. Gary Davis

Next, we have a tune that Bob Weir learned right from the source. "Samson And Delilah", originally recorded by the Rev. Gary Davis, appeared on The Grateful Dead's 1977 album, "Terrapin Station", a record that kicked off an artistic and commercial peak period for the band. Their arrangement takes full advantage of their two drummers, and it became one of the most often-played songs in their late 70's repertoire. In a 1985 interview, Weir talked about meeting with Davis, saying "I went and visited him a couple of times in New York in this basement apartment he had. I learned 'Samson And Delilah' the way he used to play it, which is not the way we play it onstage now. You can't play that style of guitar in a band, really. I learned a few other tunes from him too."

"The Music Never Stopped" is available at Amazon, or through your local independent emporium of musical delightment that has a decent selection of Grateful Dead albums, and/or some well-curated bins of assorted Folk and Blues music on small labels. The voluminous catalog of The Grateful Dead can be had through their official online store, most decent record stores, iTunes, and of course, The Big A. Several of their best albums have been reissued on 180 gram vinyl, and they sound terrific, particularly their 1970 classic, "American Beauty", which has long been my recommended point of entry for those who are new to the music of The Grateful Dead. Try "Workingman's Dead" and "Europe '72" after that.

Don't forget to stop by the official 30 Days Of Dead website to get your free downloads of previously unreleased, live Grateful Dead music, mixed straight from the master reels! A new track is posted every day during November, but they'll only be available for a very limited time, then taken down, so grab all 30 while you can. It's the equivalent of a 6 CD boxed set for free. Authorized, high quality, live, Dead. Get it while you can.