The album Jerry Garcia and David Crosby called “being like God on a good day”
You may wish to argue that there’s no need to release quite as much material as the Grateful Dead did throughout their run as a band, but at the same time, it’s hard to deny that they were one of the most hard-working acts to have ever existed.
Yes, you can make the argument that they only released only 13 studio albums, which doesn’t seem like much for a 30-year existence, but when you start to consider the live releases and box sets that were put out consisting of unheard material, they’ve got over 200 albums under their belt, which is frankly an amount that few other acts can claim to have come close to. Using the word ‘lazy’ in the same sentence as the Grateful Dead is certainly misguided, and would be wholly unfair to the hard graft they put in over three decades.
There’s probably countless Grateful Dead records out there that still haven’t seen the light of day, and that’s why they’re seen as being so industrious. The trouble is, it also becomes near impossible to keep track of everything they’ve ever put out. How can one person keep up with every project that they’ve ever released, not to mention all of the different side-projects they’ve amassed over the years?
That’s right – side-projects. By 1970, the Grateful Dead already had five albums under their belt in as many years, but that didn’t stop some of the members from working on extra-curricular activities where they released solo material and worked alongside other artists to help them get new projects off the ground. Given the heavy workload that was involved in being part of the band, it’s remarkable that they were able to afford any time to work on anything else, let alone of a high enough quality to sit alongside the main band.
Around this time, Jerry Garcia was also heavily involved in the formation of New Riders of the Purple Sage alongside songwriter John ‘Marmaduke’ Dawson, and with assistance from some of his Dead associates, such as drummer Mickey Hart, bassist Dave Torbert, and with Phil Lesh providing executive production on their eponymous debut record – New Riders of the Purple Sage. However, many people were wondering exactly how it was going to sound, or whether it would be just a self-indulgent side hustle for Garcia.
The guitarist revealed how things had been going in recording sessions during an interview with Flash Magazine in late 1970, with fans already aware of the existence of the New Riders at this point. Garcia seemed overwhelmingly positive about the progress that was being made and claimed that they’d already established a huge fan in David Crosby, which is no mean feat.
“It’s about 50% underway,” Garcia revealed. “It’ll be all Marmaduke’s material, he’s the one who writes all the New Riders’ songs, and there’s more comin’ out. Crosby describes it as being like God on a good day, and that’s just what it’s like. It’s fuckin’ incredible.”
The album would end up being received positively, although it was Marmaduke who took home most of the plaudits for having written all of the material. While Garcia wouldn’t last as a member of the group for much longer after the release of the record, it’s still another fantastic contribution to an album from a man who simply wouldn’t ever cease to play until the day he died, and thankfully for fans of his, that’s exactly how he chose to live his life.
