#jerry garcia

Song Review: Old & in the Way - “Wild Horses” (Live, Nov. 4, 1973)

The recording is a little dim, but Old & in the Way’s Nov. 4. 1973, cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses” is a fine preview of Live at Sonoma State: 11/4/73, a Record Store Day release set to meet a wider audience Aug. 21.

This is trad bluegrass on a stage as a back porch and a flashback to an alt universe where Jerry Garcia was a banjo picker in a band with guitarist Peter Rowan, who sings this one; mandolinist David Grisman; bassist John Kahn, who would eventually become the anchor of the Jerry Garcia Band; and fiddler Vassar Clements.

The vocal harmonies are as loose as the music, but they also are just tight enough. And when Garcia’s voice lingers on the last word as the music fades and is replaced with applause, listeners can imagine a world in which this was his main gig.

Which would be fine, except for … Grateful Dead.

Grade card: Old & in the Way - “Wild Horses” (Live - 11/4/73) - B-

Song Review: Grateful Dead - “Sugar Magnolia” (Live, June 30, 1985)

From just before the three-minute mark to just past the five-minute mark and the beginning of the “Sugar Magnolia” coda known as “Sunshine Daydream,” the Grateful Dead have their pistons pumping.

And though the runout is not as amped as what preceded it, the June 30, 1985, “Sugar Magnolia” is eight-plus minutes of lively Grateful Dead music captured on a pristine recording that renders all six instruments identifiable individually and as a collective.

The track announces the Sept. 18 release of Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD 6/30/85, a full-show standalone release to be culled from the Summer Magic 1985 boxset that arrives the same day.

Dead Heads who attended shows in this era will be able to picture a well-caffeinated Bob Weir running about the stage while his stoic frontline bandmates get on with the business of being the good ol’ Grateful Dead. It’s a lovely memory, one thankfully etched in the sound waves of this powerful performance.

Grade card: Grateful Dead - “Sugar Magnolia” (Live - 6/30/85) - A-