Always late for the bus, that’s us. But hey, we made it to the season’s lucky 13th episode! The Dead sure were lucky to snag Brent Mydland after Keith peaced out of the band then this realm of existence. Casey, Eduardo, and Kevin all agree that Brent’s gifts are many, but we’re not so sure we wouldn’t return his two (!!!) compositions on Go to Heaven for store credit. But all conflict, internal or external, melts away in the rainbow light of the Dead. Or maybe it’s just the gummies talking....

Ever tried to scrape cocaine out of a shag carpet? We haven’t personally, but if we ever found ourselves making the attempt, there’s a decent chance Shakedown Street would be on the Hi-Fi. In this episode, the gang examines one of the least beloved long-players in the Grateful Dead’s catalog. How an album partially produced by the legendary Lowell George of Little Feat ended up one of the Dead's least-beloved studio releases is an enduring enigma. We don't attempt to solve it so much as...

Was the Dead’s hiatus shorter than ours? What even is time anymore? We figure a global pandemic is almost as good an excuse as trying to finish The Grateful Dead Movie. Thanks for your patience as we hit pause and hunkered down—it’s great to be back! Spring seems like the perfect time to appreciate the progressive confection known as Terrapin Station as we collectively unclench. Up front, Casey offers his mea culpas to the Great Lost Year of 2020, then the gang talks turtles with Rusty...

Freshly back from hiatus, the Grateful Dead delivered the potent yet polarizing Blues for Allah in September 1975. Containing soon-to-be set staples like “Help on the Way,” Slipknot,” Frankin’s Tower,” “Crazy Fingers,” and “The Music Never Stopped,” Blues for Allah has all the hallmarks of a classic Dead record. Still, it’s hard to make the case that these versions are definitive, especially with so many incredible live takes yet to come. In some ways, Blues for Allah is like software in...

In this episode, the Dead to Me crew check into the Mars Hotel, where rooms are cheap and the vibe is high. In March 1974, the Grateful Dead unleashed their fabled Wall of Sound live audio system at the Cow Palace in San Francisco—a few weeks later they holed up in CBS Studios on Folsom Street to lay down tracks for their second album on their very own Grateful Dead Records. From the Mars Hotel showcases a well-oiled band with a handsome assortment of tunes that run the gamut from...

It’s hard to believe, but we’re finally back from set break. For our first number, we’ll talk to Dan Horne of Circles Around the Sun and Grateful Shred. Mark your calendar to catch both bands at the Skull and Roses festival, which takes place in Ventura County, California on April 2-5. Dan tells us how he stays chill and musically on-point, and what it means to move on with the Circles project after Neal Casal’s passing. Later in the show, Casey, Eduardo, and Kevin tackle Wake of the...

If we spell out what the Grateful Dead actually wanted to call their 1971 live album, we’d end up in Facebook jail, so let’s just refer to it as Skull & Roses. A funky little nugget by any name, it’s a snapshot of a band with evolving aspirations and an expanding songbook. We also dig out our passports for Europe ‘72—a release that deserves every ounce of hyperbole it gets (and there’s plenty of it to go around in this episode). In addition to highlighting some of our favorite songs from...

For this special set break episode, Jonathan Hart of Brokedown Podcast pops by to talk about three Dead-adjacent albums that helped shape the band’s creative evolution. Originally conceived as solo efforts, Jerry Garcia’s Garcia, Bob Weir’s Ace, and Mickey Hart’s Rolling Thunder each brought something special to the Deadiverse, including songs that would become staples of live sets for years to come. Jerry’s album gave us “Deal,” “Bird Song,” “Sugaree,” “Loser,” “To Lay Me Down,” and “The...

This episode is dedicated to Neal Casal. We honor the dead by living. Sometimes that’s not an easy thing to do. That’s why we’re grateful to have friends and music to get us through—it reaffirms our connection to what’s essential. American Beauty was written and recorded at a time when members of the Dead were bidding fare thee well to loved ones, and they channeled their grief on exquisitely sparse songs of heartbreak, hope, and resilience. From the high and lonesome to the rockin’ and...

The Grateful Dead had a topsy-turvy 1969, the year the countercultural underground became a global youth phenomenon. There was the bum set at Woodstock. There was the nightmare of Altamont. And there was major financial stress, with large sums owed to Warner Brothers. Making matters worse, Mickey Hart’s father, Lenny—who the Dead brought on to manage their money—made off with all their cash, ultimately leading to Mickey’s self-imposed exile from the band. After two experimental albums and...

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” Juliet said to her Romeo. Although there may be sweeter slices of psychedelic pop than Aoxomoxoa out there, none of them are by the Grateful Dead. And that’s what makes this record special—it captures the sound of a young band coming into their own as songwriters while furthering their freak agenda. In this episode, Casey, Eduardo, and Kevin delve into the Dead’s final album of the original acid era. Aoxomoxoa captures the band at a creative...

What is the sound of thick air? This question is the koan at the chewy center of Anthem of the Sun, a sprawling psychedelic clusterfuck originally released in July of 1968. According to legend, a young Bob Weir asked producer David Hassinger for this mysterious sound, which led to him quitting the project. Four studios and a mountain of spliced live reels later, and the Grateful Dead had their album. Well, a version of it, anyway. The band would go back and remix the record in 1972, in an...

For Season Two of Dead To Me, we’re taking a deep dive into the Grateful Dead’s studio albums. Or more specifically, we’re considering the original published sources of classic Dead repertoire. This distinction is important because not all of those tunes saw their initial appearance on official Dead records. Some, in fact, arrived on individual band members’ solo releases (which tended to feature contributions from many—if not all—core personnel). In addition to staples like American Beauty,...

Some people have photographic memories. The rest of us have photographs. Well, that and music. Put the two together, and you don’t even need a souped-up DeLorean to travel time. Our final episode of Season One considers the photographic history of the Grateful Dead, but of course we talk about a lot more. Our special guest, Rosie McGee, was part of the Dead family going back to the first Acid Tests. Her photographic memoir, Dancing with the Dead, is a powerful recounting of an era that...

Thus, I have heard: the same 1960s scene that birthed the psychedelic movement and the Grateful Dead is also responsible for the flowering of Eastern spirituality in America. Open to new possibilities and weary of war and civic strife, a generation of seekers tuned in, turned on, and dropped out. A similar situation occurred in India some 2500 years ago in the time of Gautama Siddhartha Buddha, where a combination of economic boom and social instability established the conditions for the...

Conventional wisdom has it that the Grateful Dead couldn’t get arrested on radio (they saved that for real life)—at least not until their late-career single “Touch of Grey” improbably saturated the airwaves in 1987. But as is often the case with the Dead, this is hardly the whole story. Actually, the Boys have a long history with radio, going back to when Jerry Garcia played folk music live on KPFA in the fall of 1962. And once the Dead formed, area stations like KSAN, KMPX, and KPFA...

This is the goofiest idea for an episode ever. But the vibrations are real good. Casey had this crazy thought to compare the Grateful Dead and the Beach Boys—two acts that can legitimately claim the title “America’s Band.” On the surface, that doesn’t make a lot of sense, but think about it: besides having amazing beards, both bands represent aspects of mythological California. They also were innovators and experimenters with obsessive fans and no small amount of exuberance and pathos....

Understanding the Grateful Dead isn’t just being able to rattle off setlists and songs, or knowing what kind of guitar picks Jerry Garcia preferred (Dunlop Adamas Graphite 2mm). It also requires familiarity with the situations and events that shaped the personalities behind the music. Show posters, letters, press clippings, and mountains of editorial content are available to any ‘Head who wants to take their Dead education to the next level. The Grateful Dead Archive at the University of...

Would you let a hippie run your business? How about a couple dozen of them, including road crew? Considering the Grateful Dead’s success, it might not be a such a bad idea. This episode looks at how a ragtag group of rockers who were intensely skeptical of the corporate world became true innovators in business. Our special guest is Dr. Barry Barnes, Professor Emeritus of Management at Nova Southeastern University, who literally wrote the book on this topic, Everything I Know About Business I...

Welcome to set break. This “unofficial” episode of Dead to Me is a bit different than our usual presentation. Casey, Eduardo, and Kevin sit down together to riff on the Dead’s less-than-obvious influences on other acts across the decades. Mapping the Grateful Genome takes a deeper dive into some of the music we’ve already discussed, while introducing other tracks for your consideration. To sweeten the deal, we’ve launched the official Dead to Me playlist, which you can find at our...

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. And also the darkest… literally. The solstice is a time of reflection, when we acknowledge past struggles and victories, joys and sorrows. The holiday edition of Dead to Me explores how the Grateful Dead’s music helps us heal. Dead To Me Executive Producer Kevin Hill joins us to talk about how the band’s music helped him recover from a near-death experience. Later, Maria Spinella, executive producer of CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, reflects on the...

We’ve already established that are so many roads to Dead fandom. But with decades’ worth of music and lore to sift through, cultivating a deeper appreciation can be a challenge. This episode looks at the tools we use to dig the Dead, and how context is key to finding your seat on the bus. Ed and Casey examine the band’s online presence from the days of dial-up to our current era of 24/7 access, along with the digital platforms that make it easier to get your Dead on. Here’s a heavy trip: at...

At first blush, the Grateful Dead have nothing to do with punk and metal. Or do they? Ed and Casey look at the surprising ways the Dead connect to other musical movements on the underground and elsewhere. Have the walls separating punk, hardcore, metal and jam finally come down? We brought in two special guests to help us investigate. Jay Coyle is the founder of Music Geek Services and an instructor at Berklee Online. He talks about the Dead’s trailblazing direct-to-fan efforts and how DIY...

We don’t blame you if you’re burned out on politics. The lead up to the 2018 midterm elections has been relentless. This episode is a great way to decompress while staying plugged in. Special guest Robert Costa—national political reporter for the Washington Post and moderator of Washington Week on PBS—talks about music, culture and political movements along with his love of all things Dead. Casey and Ed examine the Dead’s influence on politicians and pundits across the political spectrum and...