Grateful Dead : NPR

Music Interviews

Jerry Garcia's Advice To Bill Kreutzmann: 'Don't Rush'

May 12, 2015 • "You can learn so much from [Jerry Garcia]. Doesn't matter what instrument you play," the Grateful Dead drummer says. He has a new memoir out called Deal.

Jerry Garcia's Advice To Bill Kreutzmann: 'Don't Rush'

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The Grateful Dead's Ultimate 'Dark Star' To Be Reissued

John Oswald's Grayfolded, an epic version of the Grateful Dead's song "Dark Star," is getting a reissue on three LPs. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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All Songs Considered

The Grateful Dead's Ultimate 'Dark Star' To Be Reissued

May 6, 2014 • Grayfolded, an epic version of over 100 layered versions of the Grateful Dead's signature jam, is being re-released as a triple LP.

Fight Sound With Sound: Grateful Dead's Arena Combat

Dave's Picks Volume 9 features a 1974 Grateful Dead concert played in Montana. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Review

Music Reviews

Fight Sound With Sound: Grateful Dead's Arena Combat

Fresh Air

March 31, 2014 • In 1974, sound engineer Owsley Stanley crafted a superior live experience with an enormous conglomeration of amps and speakers called the Wall of Sound. Dave's Picks Volume 9 captures this era.

Fight Sound With Sound: Grateful Dead's Arena Combat

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The Practical Side Of The Great American Jam Band

The Grateful Dead circa 1970. The band's members were quintessential rock hippies — but, a new exhibit reveals, savvy businessmen as well. Gems/Redferns hide caption

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Gems/Redferns

Music News

The Practical Side Of The Great American Jam Band

July 25, 2012 • Filled with press clippings, newsletters and receipts, the new Grateful Dead Archive at the University of California, Santa Cruz, reveals that rock 'n' roll's quintessential hippies were also savvy businessmen.

The Practical Side Of The Great American Jam Band

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13 Reasons To Visit Your Local Record Store Today

Toledo, Ohio's Culture Clash Records is one of the many stores opening their doors this Saturday with exclusive new vinyl. Courtesy of Roger Zender hide caption

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Courtesy of Roger Zender

All Songs Considered

13 Reasons To Visit Your Local Record Store Today

April 19, 2012 • Out of hundreds of exclusive Record Store Day releases, NPR Music's staff has selected a bakers dozen that bring out our rabid inner collectors.

Warren Haynes: A Rocker Gets Some 'Me' Time

Warren Haynes' new solo album is called Man in Motion. Steward O'Shields/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Music Interviews

Warren Haynes: A Rocker Gets Some 'Me' Time

May 6, 2011 • The celebrated guitarist and songwriter, known for his work with The Allman Brothers Band, The Dead and Gov't Mule, discusses his first solo album in 19 years.

Warren Haynes: A Rocker Gets Some 'Me' Time

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Music News

University Seeks Grateful Dead Archivist

November 11, 2009 • The University of California, Santa Cruz, is seeking an archivist for its collection of Grateful Dead materials. The job involves managing original documents, clippings, art, posters, recordings, publication and documentation of the band's famous network of fans, known as deadheads.

University Seeks Grateful Dead Archivist

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Music Interviews

Composer Introduces A 'Dead' Symphony

July 26, 2008 • The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performs work next week inspired by the music of the Grateful Dead. Composer Lee Johnson, who wrote Dead Symphony No. 6, discusses the piece's origins and talks about learning to become a "Deadhead."

Composer Introduces A 'Dead' Symphony

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Teaching Outside the Box

Blues Song Is a Decades-Long Music Lesson

December 29, 2006 • As part of our series about students and teachers, musicologist Bruce Nemerov describes the way that one song is recorded by several different musicians in different decades of the 20th century. The older musicians are teaching the younger musicians through the song "Sitting on Top of the World." We hear the song as recorded by Al Jolson, The Mississippi Sheiks, Howlin' Wolf, Eric Clapton, Bill Monroe and The Grateful Dead.

Blues Song Is a Decades-Long Music Lesson

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Music News

Beethoven Manuscript Sells for Nearly $2 Million

December 1, 2005 • A long-lost manuscript of composer Ludwig van Beethoven is auctioned by Sotheby's, bringing nearly $2 million. In a separate auction, a nonprofit group hopes to raise as much as $100,000 by offering home fixtures that once belonged to the Grateful Dead's late lead guitarist, Jerry Garcia.

Beethoven Manuscript Sells for Nearly $2 Million

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Studio Sessions

Bob Weir Reviews His Long, Strange Trip

August 14, 2004 • Bob Weir, a founding member of the Grateful Dead, has released a 2-CD career retrospective, Weir Here. The guitarist performs two songs and reflects on music and career with NPR's Scott Simon.

Bob Weir Reviews His Long, Strange Trip

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Music Interviews

'A Long Strange Trip'

January 11, 2003 • The Grateful Dead began their musical journey in 1965, and continued to perform before sell-out crowds until their breakup in 1995. NPR's Scott Simon talks with the band's historian Dennis McNally about his book, A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead.

'A Long Strange Trip'

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Music News

Persuading the Dead

October 20, 2000 • The a cappella group The Persuasions decided to do an album of Grateful Dead songs. As "The Dead" have been icons of sub-culture since the mid 60's, and have inspired more than one generation of devotees (Deadheads), they knew that covering the harmonies would not suffice. They would have to rediscover AND reinvent the music - both for themselves, and the audience.

Persuading the Dead

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