BLUES N'AT

     Recently, Mrs. Black-N-Gold reached into her bag of tricks and pulled out some Grateful Dead to get her toes tapping. It got me to thinking about the Dead and blues music. "Now hold on a minute, Mrs. Black-N-Gold", I hear you saying, "The Grateful Dead and blues music? What have you been smoking?"  Although many associate the Dead with hippy-trippy, psychedelic kind of music, the relation with the Dead and the blues isn't all that off-the-wall. What many people fail to realize is that blues was part of the Grateful Dead vernacular from the very beginning.

     You see, way back in the sixties, Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh got together in the San Francisco area and started making music together. Eventually, they were joined by Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and original keyboardist, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (Mickey Hart would join further on up the road). The band started to take shape as they took on the name "Grateful Dead". They incorporated many different genres into their repertoire, country, bluegrass, psychedelic. But there was always the element of blues. Especially thanks to Pigpen. He was the one that sang many of the blues tunes in their early shows.

     Through the years, the Dead incorporated many blues classics into their sets, such as Willie Dixon's "Wang Dang Doodle" and "Little Red Rooster", Son House's "Walkin' Blues" and the Bobby "Blue" Bland hit, "Turn On Your Lovelight". By performing these and many other blues gems on their albums and in their live shows, the Dead introduced blues music to an audience that may not otherwise have been turned on to the blues.

     Even after Pigpen's departure from the band and this earth, the Grateful Dead continued to mine their blues roots. They would incorporate one of their patented jams into a blues song and paint their own masterpiece.

     When Jerry past on, going to play with Pigpen at the big jam in the sky, the other members of the Grateful Dead dispersed into various other incarnations. But the music never stops. Get some Grateful Dead, either studio or live recordings, and sure enough, they'll give you some blues that you can use. Until next time, boys and girls. Keep It Bluesy!