Jerry Garcia’s 10 favourite albums: “If it’s good…”
It’s fair to say that the Grateful Dead’s leader, singer, and guitarist, Jerry Garcia, was a true music enthusiast. You could maybe even say he was high on it.
Garcia was a dedicated listener, with a deep love for all the weird and wonderful music the universe has to offer. His ability to channel emotions into his art was something he held dear, not only in his own work with the band but also in the music he consumed. For Garcia, artistry was always at the forefront of everything he did and loved.
As he put it, “We need music, I don’t know why. It’s probably one of those Joe Campbell questions: why we need ritual. We need magic, and bliss, and power, myth, and celebration, and religion in our lives, and music is a good way to encapsulate a lot of it.” In fact, that whole quote almost sounds like the Grateful Dead’s mantra… provided you added ‘community’ and Kool Aid to the mix.
The musician made his career by continually evolving and mutating his sound on record and stage, changing creative course seemingly at the drop of a hat or a missed note. The sonic structures Garcia created alongside his band aren’t only inspiring but captivating, able to entice an entire audience. In the 21st century, fans are still finding the Dead and being enraptured by their sound, as they have been doing for almost six decades.
Famed for his incredibly vast record collection – literally thousands of discs waiting to be dusted off and played at any moment – Garcia made it a habit to continuously broaden his musical horizons. He consistently pushed himself to listen to both old and new records, always seeking to extract lessons that could later influence his own work. From this extensive list, we’ve managed to narrow it down to ten of his favourite albums of all time, offering a perfect playlist of the records that shaped the legendary guitarist.
Before we dive in, it’s important to acknowledge that providing a definitive list of Garcia’s favourite albums is nearly impossible. Like any true music fan, his preferences likely shifted from day to day, if not hour to hour or minute to minute. Music’s ever-changing nature is part of its allure, and Garcia, ever the muso, embraced that fluidity. When once asked what kind of music he listened to, the Grateful Dead guitarist replied with a knowing smile: “Everything. Anything. If it’s good, I’ll listen to it, or if it’s around, I’ll listen to it. I listen to anything that turns me on. Or that somebody turns me on to.”
For Garcia, it was far more about how the music was played rather than sticking to any genre or wheelhouse where he or any audience felt comfortable: “If it’s well-played music – I mean if you’re a musician, you know when somebody’s really playing and when they’re not really playing,” he commented. “If it’s well-played music, I like it.” It was a sentiment that would shape his career.
Notably, Garcia’s three main influences growing up – bluegrass, jazz, and folk music – are heavily reflected in the musicians who inspired him. While many of those influences shine through in the Light Into Ashes report, as we narrow down specific albums that Garcia has mentioned as his favourites, some key artists inevitably miss the cut. However, this doesn’t make the resulting list any less remarkable, as each record chosen still represents an incredible piece of music that shaped the maestro guitarist.
One genre that defined Garcia was folk music. As the 1960s began to bubble away, the gravity of folk music caught the attention of the young and the restless. For Garcia, it was Joan Baez and her first record Folksingers ‘Round Harvard Square that really grabbed him: “When the whole folk-music thing started happening, I got caught up into that…when Joan Baez’s first record came out I heard it, and I heard her finger-picking the guitar,” he once said. “I’d never heard anything like it before, so I got into that.” Baez might seem like a comparatively safe choice for Garcia, but her defiantly revolutionary sound is the lifeblood of his favourite work.
Another folkie wordsmith around at that time, Bob Dylan, was also of natural interest to Garcia. However, it wasn’t until he plugged in that the musician paid attention: “I never used to like Bob Dylan until he came out with electric music,” he once explained about the freewheelin’ troubadour. “And I’m not sure why I like that more. I sure liked it a lot more. Boy, when Bringing It All Back Home came out.”
“Yeah, lovely. Very fine guitar player [he said in reference to Bruce Langhorne, the guitarist Dylan wrote ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ about]. It just all of a sudden had something going for it, “ The guitarist continued, “Beautiful mad stuff. And that turned us all on, we couldn’t believe it.” Folk was renewed, and Garcia certainly wasn’t a naysayer.
Garcia had affection for a similar artist, The Band. Though professing to like a lot of their work it was 1971’s Cahoots that really grabbed him: “I love ‘Life is a Carnival’ – that’s beautiful,” he added. “Shit, that’s great. All the stuff in there, all those great parts. The Dylan song is great, too. I love that song. I’ll probably sing that with the barroom band. I like to do those kinda tunes.”
In the 1970s, Garcia continued to connect with his contemporaries. As well as once proclaiming The Beach Boys divisive record Smiley Smile his favourite ever, he also had a lot of love for John Lennon, far more than The Beatles, whom he found somewhat intolerable in comparison.
“I like Lennon’s new album, the solo album. [Plastic Ono Band],” said Garcia in 1971. “But you see, I’ve never met any of these guys, I don’t know them. I can only talk about their music, and I think Lennon’s music is really beautiful. I really like listening to it in spite of its hard thing,” he said. “There’s a lot of beauty – incredible, delicate music.”
Another 1970s stalwart Garcia had affection for was Fleetwood Mac, and their self-titled record sent Garcia wild and prompted him and the rest of the Dead to hire Keith Olsen for their record Terrapin Station. The album is noted as one of the pivotal LPs of the decade, and while it would be dwarfed by the sales of Rumours, it was their unique ability to channel the blues that Garcia loved.
As the years went by and Garcia’s status began to rise from mercurial musical madman to the elder statesman of music, his passion for new records began to dwindle. He stopped listening to new music and was more akin to revisiting his jazz records, though, in 1981, he did mention his love for Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Aside from that, Garcia had, seemingly, had his fill.
Below, we’ve put together ten of Jerry Garcia’s favourite albums into one playlist and a reminder of the guitarist’s wide-ranging influences and the wide-ranging talent he drew from them.
Jerry Garcia’s 10 favourite albums:
- Folksingers ‘Round Harvard Square – Joan Baez
- Smiley Smile – The Beach Boys
- Anthology of Folk Music – Harry Smith
- Between the Buttons – The Rolling Stones
- Hoodoo Man Blues – Junior Wells
- Bringing It All Back Home – Bob Dylan
- Cahoots – The Band
- John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band – John Lennon
- Fleetwood Mac – Fleetwood Mac
- The Wall – Pink Floyd
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