#david rawlings

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings - Fox Theater, Oakland, California, April 18, 2026

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings took their Dead set on the road over the past several weeks — and by my reckoning, it was amazing. Even better than I expected, and my expectations were high! These shows were a perfect synthesis of the Welch / Rawlings sound and the Dead repertoire, performances that felt joyous and celebratory without just being total nostalgia trips. Gillian and David (with bassist Paul Kowert in tow) also managed to deliver what I imagine is the only Dead tribute that Jerry Garcia himself might've enjoyed. No mean feat!

Of course, I'm just going by the various tapes that have emerged so far. Tapers, I thank you — especially Joel, who flew out to the Bay Area to record the Oakland show. The whole thing sparkles, capturing the communal spirit of the evening in high quality.

In keeping with the Dead approach, these are long, two-set affairs; and also in keeping with the Dead, it all just seems to get more and more spellbinding as the night progresses. Gil and Dave certainly lean heavily towards the Garcia/Hunter side of things, but one of my favorite moments comes in the "Cassidy > Uncle John's Band > Cassidy" encore section, which embraces some jammier, free-form elements. You can almost see the twinkle in Bob Weir's eyes from here.

Song Review: Gillian Welch & David Rawlings - “Cold Rain and Snow” (Live)

It’s got to be some kind of record.

While performing “Cold Rain and Snow” in a trio-acoustic setting with Gillian Welch and an unbilled Paul Kowert on double bass, David Rawlings solos throughout the six-minute runtime.

Welch sings the verses, Rawlings solos.

Rawlings sings the chorus in harmony with Welch and he keeps on soloing.

He solos during the solo breaks. And Rawlings solos so fluidly, Kowert often latches on to provide down-low counterpart while Welch keeps the rhythm intact.

Recorded in April during Welch and Rawlings’ Grateful Dead Acoustic Reckoning tour, it finds Welch leaving the Dead lyrics in place but using her own phrasing and adding a little yodel to the chorus for stunning effect.

Rawlings never runs out of ideas. Welch never reins him in. And Kowert gives the music exactly what it needs, resulting in a Grateful Dead cover that is not only agreeable but necessary.

Grade card: Gillian Welch & David Rawlings - “Cold Rain and Snow” (Live) - A

(New West)

BY JORDAN MAINZER

A breakup. The death of her father. A decaying Earth. Uprooting and moving to her childhood city. On Anarchist Gospel, Sunny War looks change in the face--some unexpected, some sudden, some gradual--and transforms chaos into her best album yet. The singer-songwriter and blues guitar fingerpicker has long channeled struggles, from personal bouts with substance abuse and addiction, to the overall fight against institutional racism and police brutality, into genre-averse songs of pain and triumph. The all-encompassing Anarchist Gospel expounds on this ethos, along with a cast of collaborators including producer Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Hurray For The Riff Raff), Americana wunderkind Allison Russell, Gillian Welch creative partner David Rawlings, and My Morning Jacket's Jim James. Still, Sunny shines above all.

Take opener "Love's Death Bed", featuring backing vocals from Russell and Chris Pierce's shimmering harmonica, atop clacking drums and banjo. Sunny, who leads a chorus in a call and response, centers the song's dead-eyed stare into the soul of an ex. "Your mouth is a gun / Got bodies dropping every time you speak," she sings, making our jaws drop from the get-go. On "No Reason", a song built around Sunny's incredible desert blues riff and Jack Lawrence's steady bass, she clarifies that even though her ex might not mean to hurt her, it doesn't matter: "Good intentions that you keep / Don't change the fact that you're a beast." Sunny explores intentionality of destruction throughout the album, both in interpersonal relationships and via the environment, asking us to empathize and reflect on the space we take up. On "Shelter And Storm", she sings from the point of view of Earth itself, albeit one that has managed to survive apocalypse, repeatedly and jubilantly declaring, "The humans are away!" Yet, on "Earth", her tone is mournful and more realistic. A stunning combination of blues and jazz, bolstered by the vocal support of James, Maureen Murphy, Nickie Conley, and Kyshona Armstrong, as well as past collaborator Micah Nelson's slinky 12-string, the song reminds us that the end of the world is closer than we think, tangible if you bother to look around.

At the same time, Sunny battles self-destruction throughout Anarchist Gospel; in the lead-up to its release, she spoke about her music representing a battle between that side of herself and the one trying to make things better. On "New Day", she uses the language of addiction to wax on love, hurt, and obsession: "Believing in magic can be tragic / I'm love's junkie, I'm love's addict." One of the record's true standouts is "I Got No Fight", where pained guitars and screaming organs exemplify Sunny's desire for the days to end, depression that buzzes like a fly in her ear. On the gorgeous country tune "His Love", she sings of an unhealthy relationship, "His love fades, my love grows," and the timbres of her voice and the instruments similarly diverge, her lurking deep vocal register contrasting the spryness of the backing vocals, guitars, and pattering drums.

If Anarchist Gospel is anything, it's honest, an album that both bares its teeth and cowers, that sometimes turns inward in the face of trouble but eventually overcomes with boisterous community. On the Crass-quoting, blues stomp clap jaunt of a closer "Whole", Sunny War sings, "Today could be the last, you know / Happy's how you ought to go." Fully knowing it's easier said than done, and for some folks, impossible, Sunny nonetheless dares to dream to everyone.