Jerry Garcia's other band: slower, groove-heavy, and steeped in R&B, gospel, and reggae rather than the Dead's cosmic sprawl.
MOODS · groove-based · bluesy · gospel-tinged · reggae-inflected · laid-back · intimate · spontaneous · warm · soulful · loose
BIOGRAPHY
The Jerry Garcia Band formed in 1975, growing out of club dates Garcia had played since 1970 with keyboardist Merl Saunders, bassist John Kahn, and a rotating cast of collaborators. Kahn stayed on as the band's one constant member, later joined by keyboardist Melvin Seals from 1980 onward, while a string of drummers, including Bill Kreutzmann, passed through the lineup over its twenty-year run.
The group released just one studio album, 1978's Cats Under the Stars, alongside a self-titled 1990 live record, and has been the subject of extensive archival live releases since Garcia's death in 1995. Its repertoire leaned heavily on covers alongside Garcia-Robert Hunter originals like "Mission in the Rain" and "Cats Under the Stars," some of which crossed over into Grateful Dead sets.
WHY THEY'RE COOL
Where the Grateful Dead chased avant-garde and world-music tangents, the Jerry Garcia Band pared things down into a groove-oriented, bar-band sound built on rhythm and blues, gospel, and reggae. Critics have noted that this setting let Garcia play to his strengths, sounding light-hearted and spontaneous, with a clarity that reflected an easier state of mind than some Dead-era performances. It's the more intimate, human-scaled counterpart to the sprawling arena psychedelia of his main band.
GEORGE'S PLAYS
George has played this artist 5 times.
PLAYED ON WOKE1
