grateful dead, ‘swing auditorium, san bernardino, february 26th, 1977’

the 29th installment of the dave’s picks series brings us a cleaned up version of a show i have had for many years, but hadn’t listened to in quite some time. i had forgotten what a magnificent evening it was. one of the things to keep in mind is that this is their first show in nearly two months, and was the first of their legendary spring tour of 1977, one of the strongest periods in the repertoire, in my opinion. since their last show on new year’s eve at the cow palace, they had been spending much of that time rehearsing and recording songs for what would eventually become ‘terrapin station’. indeed, two of those songs make their debut here in the first set, ‘estimated prophet’ and ‘terrapin station’. the fact that they ambitiously opened the first set with the latter gives us an idea as to the confidence they had in themselves and the material.

i am sure my first copy was from when the original ‘betty boards’ starting circulating in the late eighties as bootlegs. and so what we have here is the polished production of the original tape reels that were returned to the vault in the last couple of years. as such, the sound quality is fantastic. although there are a few spots when it feels like they are going through the motions, there are some exceptional highlights here. there is a great ‘help/slip/franklin’s’ in the middle of the second set, and a nearly perfect ‘eyes of the world’ shortly after that.

as bonus material, they added what they had of the following evening’s show at santa barbara, just the fifth reel. the other four reels have never been found. luckily, the fifth reel contains an excellent ‘morning dew’, one that rivals any i have heard from the 1977 period.

on an interesting side note, the venue was only in existence for another 4 years, as it was irreparably harmed when a twin engine cessna crashed into it (on september 11th, no less).

all in all a very worthy addition to the series. with any luck i will get to talk more about it with david directly. he is hosting the release of dogfish brewery’s ‘american beauty’ ipa this friday, and i will be there early to chat with him. i am sure i will be listening to this on my road trip there.

blackberry smoke, ‘the southern ground sessions’

following the band’s april 2018 release of ‘find a light’, they decided to go back into the studio and film themselves performing a couple of the tunes acoustically, mostly just to release on their website for the enjoyment of their fans. it went so well they decided to invite a few friends and add some more tracks. instead of just posting them online, they decided to release it as an ep. that project seems to have inspired them to take it on the road. although they are currently still touring in support of ‘find the light’ in their

electrified southern rock style, they will transition starting in about a month or so to the ‘break it down’ tour, where they will do their entire show in an acoustic fashion.

i have both of these albums, i can tell you that i prefer the shorter acoustic set. the songs translate well from their previous arrangements, and they added a bonus track with amanda shires joining them on tom petty’s ‘you got lucky’. amanda is joining them for some of the road dates as well, and i hope she is at the one i am attending on st. patrick’s day at the kent stage.

greensky bluegrass, ‘all for money’

this is greensky’s seventh studio album, and by most accounts it might be their best. known more for their free form live performances, this release captures the band’s string band ensemble abilities with the crisp acoustic lines you would expect from a quality studio session. for those not familiar with the band, they play all acoustic traditional bluegrass instruments, and are known for pushing the boundaries of the bluegrass genre. much like their musical brethren trampled by turtles, they are the first to admit they are more likely to play rock and roll songs with a bluegrass delivery system.

i can see all of these songs being great launching pads for further exploration in a live setting. if all of this piques your interest, then this is a good album to introduce themselves to you, and then go catch them live out there, as they are currently touring to promote the material. for my local followers, they are playing at the house of blues on february 5th. i hope to see you there.

roger daltrey, ‘thanks a lot, mr. kibblewhite’

when roger was a young lad of 15, he had apparently crossed the line one too many times at acton county grammar school, and so he was kicked out by a mr. kibblewhite, who’s departing words were ‘you’ll never make anything of your life, mr. daltrey’. flash forward nearly sixty years, and roger writes his first memoir to show just how wrong the old schoolmaster would be.

it is a well written and a frank telling of his story. it can be quite humorous at times and moves along quickly. it is also the story of the who, the band he fronted off and on for over fifty years. it starts just like the beginning of their rock opera ‘tommy’, in the middle class neighborhoods of post world war two england. his father had fought in the war, and he returned a shell shocked man. roger’s childhood was marked by poverty, rebelliousness, and street gangs. after getting kicked out of school, he worked in a factory where he was able to make a crude guitar out of plywood. he eventually started a band with small success. after losing the bass player, he recruited a local kid named john entwhistle, and then they found a lead guitarist to add to the mix, a tall boy from the area with an ‘impressive sneezer’, pete townshend. during a show at the oldfield hotel, someone in the audience said that his mate could play better than their drummer, and so keith moon sat in for the second set. and the rest, as they say, is history.

it was really interesting to hear roger’s account of their long relationships and fights. i was familiar with much of it but he added another layer to my knowledge. other than his appreciation for keith’s drumming prowess, he doesn’t have much good to say about him. being a huge fan of keith myself, but also knowing his destructive tendencies, i can’t say i really blame him.

he does spend a fair amount of time on the tense relationship between pete and himself. not only doing their prime, but also on the various interactions during their solo careers, and their non stop ‘reunion tours’. the writer of ‘won’t get fooled again’ and the singer of the same song have different political philosophies these days. but they still get along like brothers most of the time, and are going out on tour again this summer (with orchestra!).

‘hope i die before i get old’? seems like the surviving members may have changed their minds. and i am ok with that.

balsam range, ‘aeonic’

‘aeonic’ is a greek term for something that endures, a reference to something that has longevity and staying power. whether they chose that title because of the band’s stable lineup and career, or the realm of bluegrass music, or the great balsam mountain range that provides the backbone to their native western north carolina, it doesn’t really matter. this is a great album from a band that i was not previously familiar with. five bluegrass veterans got together in 2007, and this is their ninth album. all of them are ace musicians, and their material runs the gamut from old school bluegrass, to blues tinged ballads, to amped up contemporary newgrass. these guys can play, and their vocals are award winning. they took home top honors from the 2018 international bluegrass music association awards for entertainer of the year, male vocalist, and bass player.

of note on this issue is a double time cover of george harrison’s ‘if i needed someone’, ray lamontagne’s ‘hobo blues’ done in an allman brothers unplugged style, and a paul thorn written ‘angel too soon’, a song about a child that leaves her parents too soon.

keeping an eye on these guys moving forward.

lots of new material coming out in the next few weeks, including new releases from greensky bluegrass, jorma kaokonen and jack casady, tedeschi trucks, hayes carll, and mandolin orange, just to name a few. stay tuned.