this is a newly released box set that captures a compilation of shows that the band did over a span of five years at a music festival in northern california. the title comes from the name of the initial benefit concert, held at french’s camp on the eel river in piercy, california. the first show was from labor day weekend in 1987, and was in many ways a warm up for the string of broadway shows jerry and bill graham put together later that october. as such, it not only included the band doing two sets of electric material, but also an acoustic set before that. the latter is not included in the box set, but was available for a period of time on his website.

the band came back in 1989, and then a final time in 1991. culled from the original soundboard recordings by sound engineer john cutler, they have been remastered and sound great. my only small complaint is that jerry’s vocal and guitar on the 1989 show are not as far up in the mix as i would like, but it is a very minor issue. this is the final (and longest standing) lineup of the jerry garcia band, and so the members are the same on all three shows. maybe it was the laid back vibes of the festival, or maybe some other factors, but all of the material is exceptional and passionately played.

the set lists are very typical of this era, and highlight jerry’s love for good songwriters. following up on the heels of his diabetic coma in 1986 and his turbulent marital life, you could argue that the song selections might also be somewhat autobiographical. from dylan’s ‘i shall be released’ to allen toussaint’s ‘get out of my life woman’, there seems to be a theme to the choices. this is also a period of time where jerry was finding his band to be a relief from the stress of working with the grateful dead. ‘touch of grey’ came out in july of 1987, and brought with it the long overdue commercial success. but it also forced them to play in larger venues, losing the close connections to the audiences that gave them spiritual sustenance. jerry’s singing and guitar work sound particularly inspired here, all the way through. the two cuts below  – the only two officially offered – don’t really give justice to the overall production. it is my opinion that during this period jerry saved some of his best for this band, rather than the dead. this release is a good example of my thesis. listen to the ‘deal’ that closes out each first set, especially the 1991 show. i am not aware of a version of that song by the dead that is better. another fine release by the garcia family.

as i have mentioned many times before, my purpose here is to share with my friends musically related offerings that i think deserve a wider audience. i think can think of no better example than the artist i am about to introduce to you. most of the time, after burning a cd to my collection, i will hit play and then work in my den and listen to it in the background while i do other things. my real listening comes later when i am driving to and from work. last night, i put this in, got through about the first three songs while cleaning the kitchen, and then just stopped. although i knew nothing at the time about this young man, i could tell this was something special. i went downstairs, hooked up the real speakers in the man cave, fixed myself a cocktail, sat down in my big comfy chair, and then started the whole thing over again. and listened to it cover to cover. twice. i never do that. then i listened to it on the way to work and back today. this kid has some raw talent, beautifully captured here, and he has put together a very impressive first album.

j.s. ondara says he can trace his entire career back to a bad bet he made ten years ago in his hometown of nairobi, kenya. he and a friend were listening to ‘knockin’ on heaven’s door’, which he had never heard before. he thought it was by his favorite band, guns and roses. his friend won the bet by correctly noting that it was bob dylan. ondara immediately decided he needed to know everything about this ‘new’ artist, and became obsessed with bob. it partially inspired him to become a musician (he had already been writing stories and songs). when he won a green card lottery, he scraped up enough money to move overseas to minneapolis – partly because he had an aunt there, but mostly because it is the home state of the great bard himself. he taught himself how to play guitar, entered open mic nights, uploaded youtube videos of cover songs, and eventually was discovered by a dj on a minneapolis npr station.

produced by mike viola and recorded in los angeles, he gets some backing help from andrew bird and taylor and griffin goldsmith from dawes. the all acoustic selections are entirely written by ondara, and range from catchy pop stylings (‘getting good at saying goodbye’), to sparse spiritual arrangements. i was a third of the way into ‘turkish bandana’ when i realized that there were no instruments. his voice is his best instrument, usually a commanding but slightly androgynous tenor, which can occasionally slip up to a quivering falsetto. at times he almost sounds like an early tracy chapman, not only in the timbre but in his phrasings. he told his producers that he wanted the overall sound to be somewhere between ‘astral weeks’ and ‘the freewheelin bob dylan’, and i think he almost gets there, but in his own way. he is a wonderful songwriter – simple but sometimes profound lyrics that touch on current social topics without sounding preachy, much like his idol. readers of mine will know that i tend to get turned off by many of today’s songwriters’ attempts at political diatribes, but ondara has that unique capability of telling a story in a nuanced way that still gets his point across. there are also a few love songs, or more accurately, songs about relationships. his dialect sometimes makes the lyrics difficult to understand, so i would recommend getting the actual cd so you can read them in the liner notes. many of the songs deal with his experiences with immigration – certainly in the difficulty entailed in such endeavors – but just as importantly in the hope and promise and freedom that this country offers.

so listen below, and welcome this immigrant into your home. and remember, you heard him hear first.