How Jerry Garcia’s favourite albums define his radical ways: “Anything that turns me on”
You think that you have a hard job? The Grateful Dead had a publicist. Imagine being the poor sod who had to try to define that band.
Dennis McNally was the band’s publicist for an extended period, and he admitted that it was very hard trying to sell the band to people because it was incredibly hard to put into words what made the band special. “It was always a challenge,” he admitted, “Because there’s just so much distraction about them.”
He’s not wrong, but it’s that distraction that people seemed so drawn to. The band took a lot of acid, made a lot of music, and refused to stay confined to the parameters of recorded music whenever they performed. This led to the creation of one of the world’s most notorious live bands, whose shows seemed to transcend mere sound and instead celebrated the moment they found themselves in.
As we confess that the band remain impossible to define, it’s worth noting that the best way to attempt to come to a better appreciation of the band and the musicians that make them up is by getting an appreciation for the music that inspires them. The frontman for the Grateful Dead was Jerry Garcia, a man with a radical approach to life that revolved around LSD, music and touring. When you dissect the records he listed as his favourites, this approach to life begins to make a lot more sense.
“Everything. Anything,” he said when asked what kind of music he likes to listen to, “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.”
While there are plenty of sounds that Garcia is influenced by, one of the first musical movements that really touched him was folk. You can hear that influence in a lot of Grateful Dead music, and it’s reflected in the fact that he toured with Bob Dylan for an extended period. One of his favourite folk albums came from Joan Baez, as Garcia listed Folksingers ‘Round Harvard Square as one of his favourite records.
“When the whole folk-music thing started happening, I got caught up in that…when Joan Baez’s first record came out, I heard it, and I heard her finger-picking the guitar,” he said. “I’d never heard anything like it before, so I got into that.”
His love of folk transpired into a love of Bob Dylan and eventually The Band. This is the kind of music that he kept close to his heart throughout his career; however, Bob Dylan and The Band’s willingness to bend the confines of what people considered folk would inspire Garcia to do similarly with his music. He never tried to fit into a box, and instead was happy to be the frontrunner for a style of music that never quite fit into one specific category.
His spontaneity in his musical style is also reflected in how he reacted to Fleetwood Mac’s debut album. He listed that as one of his favourites of all time, and as is quite on brand for Garcia, the minute he heard it, he decided to hire Keith Olsen and ask him to help out on their record, Terrapin Station.
Garcia’s approach to music was free-flowing and radical. He was excited by the prospect of pushing sound to its absolute limits, and he also liked to be spontaneous in what he created. This is clearly reflected in his favourite albums and the way in which he reacted to them.
