How did Grateful Dead member Ron ‘Pigpen’ McKernan get his nickname?
Among Deadheads of a particular vintage, Grateful Dead member Ron ‘Pigpen’ McKernan is the heart and soul of the band. Its provisional lead singer in the early days after Jerry Garcia invited him onstage for some jam sessions due to his knowledge of and feel for the blues, he was initially regarded as the real talent in the group.
This led to the nickname ‘Blue Ron’, which fit the bill when McKernan was just a humble harmonica player and occasional vocalist, and the Dead were just a small-time band in the Frisco Bay area. He soon needed something that would stick around right the way through the band’s rise to the top of North America’s psychedelic touring scene.
And so came ‘Pigpen’, as inexplicable as it seems fitting. Pigpen might have had the chops and blues know-how to start with, and he filled out the Dead’s sound with a variety of instruments both live on stage and in the studio, but he wasn’t one to work at his craft. His slovenly approach to practising, penchant for good whisky, and tendency to make a mess lent themselves to a nickname describing a bit of a slob all things considered.
With the Dead on the road for up to six months a year during their prime years, the other band members had to live with Pigpen and endure his habits. Having said that, Pigpen had to endure theirs, too. Not least singer and guitarist Jerry Garcia’s proclivity for an acid trip, something which McKernan was completely against partaking in himself.
So, who named him ‘Pigpen’?
During a May 1970 interview at the Hollywood Festival in England, someone is heard asking McKernon how he got his name. “Ask Jerome,” he immediately responds, referring to Garcia, before someone else off-camera interjects to suggest the involvement of an alligator in the story. “Nah, Bobby’s gotta tell that one,” Pigpen adds, in reference to bandmate Bob Weir.
It does seem that Garcia was the original source for the name by which Pigpen is now universally known and loved. As well as his habit of turning anywhere the Dead stayed into a pig sty, though, the name also comes from the character Pig-Pen in the children’s comic book and TV series Peanuts.
Pig-Pen is renowned as a bit of a scruff, too, with dirt typically covering his face, a mess of matted hair, shabby clothes and the unerring ability to bring a cloud of mud and mysterious odours with him wherever he goes. On the other hand, he’s a talented multi-instrumentalist, a constant source of humour and annoyance in equal measure to Charlie Brown and his friends, and a great friend.
More than any of the others, these latter qualities sound a lot like Ron McKernan in his years touring with the Grateful Dead. Jerome was onto something after all.
