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The Prehistory Of The Grateful Dead
[ - and related music - ]
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Tapes In Circulation, 1959-1965
version 1.0 - 8 February 1996
04/05/59 San Mateo College Jazz Band - Phil Lesh, arranger and trumpet
San Mateo College, San Mateo, CA. Approximately 25 minutes.
Audience recording. Differences from song-to-song in recording
quality and tone leads one to believe that this material spans
more than one date.I'll Remember April, Whale Trail, Finnegan's
Awake (composed by Lesh),unknown, unknown
07/??/61 Jerry Garcia playing banjo in an unknown bluegrass band.
Boar's Head Coffee House, San Carlos, CA. Approximately 25
minutes. Audience recording (or from mics placed on stage)
<banjo instrumental solo>, Poor Ellen Smith, Brown's Ferry Blues,
JesseJames, No One To Stand By Me, All The Good Times Are Past
And Gone, Darlin'Corey, Bolshevik In Hell (this last song is
sung acapella by Robert Hunter[?] and may not be from the same
date.)
01/??/62 Jerry Garcia playing banjo in an unknown bluegrass band
<venue unknown> Burlingame, CA. Approximately 25 minutes. Audience recording (or from mics placed on stage)Rose Connally, Long Lomnesome Road, Railroad Bill, Wagoners West, Fiddle LaDi Oh Day, Pay Me My Money Down, Greenback Dollar, Wealthy Old Maid06/11/62 Sleepy Hollow Log Stompers (Garcia, banjo; other personnel unknown.) Jewish Community Center, San Carlos, CA. Approximately 90 minutes. Audience recording (or from mics placed on stage)Catch A Little, Hillbilly Crimes, Cannonball Blues, Devilish Mary, BuckDancer's Choice, Little Birdie Jam, Hold The Woodpile Down, Grow BlackChickens, Hop Up Pretty Girls, Shady Grove, Uncle Joe, Sweet Sunny South,All Hash House, Man Of Constant Sorrow, Yonder He Goes, Three Men WentA-Hunting, In The Aves, Chicago Blues, Blue Goose11/10/62 Jerry Garcia, solo banjo San Mateo Folk Festival, San Mateo, CA. Approximately 10 minutes.
Audience recording (or from mics placed on stage)Little Birdie,
Walkin' Boss
11/10/62 Hart Valley Drifters (Garcia, banjo; other personnel unknown.)
San Mateo Folk Festival, San Mateo, CA. Approximately 30 minutes.
Audience recording (or from mics placed on stage)Handsome Molly,
Pig In A Pen, Banks Of The Ohio, Gamlin' Man, So LongBuddy, Salty
Dog
11/10/62 Jerry Garcia and David Nelson San Mateo Folk Festival,
San Mateo, CA. Approximately 30 minutes. Audience recording
(or from mics placed on stage) Miller's Song, Deep Elem Blues,
Will The Circle Be Unbroken, I Truly Understand, "Uncle Elmer",
Solid Gone, Cuckoo, Man Of Constant Sorrow(Garcia acapella)
02/23/63 The Wildwood Boys (Garcia, banjo; Robert Hunter, guitar;
David Nelson, mandolin; Norman ?, bass).
Top Of The Tangent, Palo Alto, CA. Approximately 30 minutes.
Rollin' In My Sweet Baby's Arms, Jerry's Breakdown, Standing In
The Need OfPrayer, Muleskinner's Blues, Norm's Solo, Pike County
Breakdown, Come All Ye Fair And Tender Maidens, We Shall Not Be
Moved
05/??/63 Jerry and Sarah Garcia (Garcia's first wife)
(various instruments) Top Of The Tangent, Palo Alto, CA.
Approximately 25 minutes. Audience recording (or from mics placed
on stage)Deep Elem Blues, Your Heart Shall No Longer Be Mine,
All The Good Times Are Past And Gone, The Man Who Wrote Home
Sweet Home Never Was A Married Man, Keno, Foggy Mountain Top
NOTE: The above two tapes often circulate as one show with the
erroneous label, "Jerry and Sarah and the Wildwood Boys, May 1963.
"??/??/63 Pigpen (with The Second Story Men [personnel unknown])
<venue unknown> San Mateo, CA. Approximately 10 minutes. Audience recording (or from mics placed on stage)Katie Mae, Rocky Mountain Blues. This tape also circulates labeled "Pigpen1970 studio" but the presence of audience applause leaves the "studio"claim in doubt.03/06/64 Black Mountain Boys (Garcia, banjo; David Nelson, mandolin; Eric Thompson, guitar; unknown bass player) unknown venue. Approximately 30 minutes.I Wonder How The Old Folks Are Tonight, Barefoot Nellie, She's More To BePitied Than Scolded, <instrumental>, It Must Be The Hand Of The Lord,Who'll Sing For Me?, Darlin' Aller-Lee, John Hardy03/07/64 Black Mountain Boys (Garcia, banjo; David Nelson, mandolin; Eric Thompson, guitar; unknown bass player) unknown venue. Approximately 35 minutes.If I Lose, Homestead On The Farm, Pig In A Pen, Once More, Stone Creek, TwoLittle Boys, Salty Dog Blues, Rosalee McFall, Teardrops In My Eyes, NewRiver Train, Please Come Home, Make Me Down A Pallet On Your Floor,05/21/64 Tom Constanten, solo piano. location unknown, San Francisco, CA. Approximately 10 minutes."Piano Piece #3"05/??/64 Phil Lesh and Tom Constanten, various intruments. location unknown, San Francisco, CA. Approximately 10 minutes."6-7/8 for Bernardo Marino" composed by Lesh, performed for San FranciscoNew Music Survey??/??/64 Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions (Garcia, Weir, Pigpen) The Tangent, Palo Alto, CA. Approximately 10 minutes. Audience recording (or from mics placed on stage).I'm Satisfied, The Rub. Circulating tapes of these two songs are from an FMbroadcast of an audio documentary on the Grateful Dead produced by MichaelWanger and Vance Frost for Golden State Recorders sometime in late 1968 orearly 1969. This 120-minute program also includes some early Grateful Deadlive recordings, but as far as I can tell, no live Warlocks material.??/??/64 Jorma Kaukonen, solo acoustic guitar Cabala Coffee House, Berkeley, CA. Approximately 45 minutes. Soundboard recording?Great Change, Drinking Gourd, Uncle Sam, Candyman, Dancin', Pawnshop Blues,Down And Out, Let Us Get Together, Never Happen No More, Trouble In Mind??/??/64 Jorma Kaukonen, solo acoustic guitar The Tangent, Palo Alto, CA. Approximately 10 minutes. Audience recording (or from mics placed on stage).Sweet Georgia Brown, Diamond Ring Blues (the latter with Pigpen playingharmonica). This tape also makes the rounds labeled "Jorma teaches Pigpento play guitar."??/??/65 Jorma Kaukonen and Janis Joplin unknown location, San Francisco, CA. Approximately 20 minutes."The Typewriter Tapes"11/03/65 The Warlocks (Garcia, Lesh, Pigpen, Kreutzmann, Weir). Golden Gate Studios, San Francisco. Approximately 35 minutes. Studio recording session for Autumn Records' "The Emergency Crew."Can't Come Down, Mindbender (also known as Confusion Prince), The Only TimeIs Now, Caution, I Know You Rider, Early Morning RainOther Warlocks Material: none that I can determine are legitimate. Tapeslabeled "Muir Beach Acid Test 12/18/65" (techincally a Grateful Deadappearance) have turned out to be the material we call 5/5/67. The "MorePower Rap" tape that is generally dated 10/?/66 has also been given various1965 misdates. Same for the soundtrack to the Kesey Acid Test Videosoundtrack (though -some- of that might just be from 1965). There is a tapeof "Can't Come Down" from a mid-sixties KSAN-FM broadcast called "The BillGraham Weekend" which to my ears sounds like version from the 11/3/65studio session with "crowd noise" mixed in.