As Jerry Garcia’s birthday was August 1st, and he unfortunately passed away on August 9th, the days between are affectionately referred to as “Jerry Week”. Paying tribute to the life and times of the legendary Grateful Dead guitarist, we’ll be running featured articles about Garcia all week long.

Celebrate Jerry Garcia’s Birthday With Three Grateful Dead Shows Played On This Date

Jerry Week: 15 Interviews That Capture The Life Of Jerry Garcia

When working through Garcia’s vast catalog of Jerry Garcia, one is invariably bound to find his multitude of side projects throughout the years, many of them of the bluegrass and acoustic persuasion. Before forming the Grateful Dead in 1965, Garcia had already lived the life of a country and bluegrass musician, playing banjo and sometimes guitar in a number of different groups – Thunder Mountain Tub Thumpers, Sleepy Hollow Hog Stompers, Wildwood Boys, and Black Mountain Boys to name a gew.

Although the Dead seldom called upon acoustic instrumentation in a live setting, due to amplification shortcomings, Garcia still made time for stripped down, unplugged string music. It always spoke to him. And he spoke back, fluently.

If there’s any downside to Garcia’s side projects (Jerry Garcia Band excluded), it’s that they never found much traction, in so far as they never got the chance to fully mature in front of live audiences. They were usually reserved for the recording studio and infrequently revisited. Nevertheless, there is a treasure trove of material that has been left behind with some of Jerry’s most brilliant work with some of his oldest friends.

In honor of Jerry’s sensibilities for string music, here’s a smattering of sights and sounds spotlighting several of Garcia’s most significant acoustic and bluegrass influenced projects – Old & In The Way, JG & John Kahn, The Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band, JG & David Grisman – as well as a few Dead-centric acoustic sets.

Unplugged Dead (Late 1969 – Early 1970; Fall 1980 – Spring 1981)

As previously alluded to, the Dead were not always comfortable, from a technological standpoint, playing acoustic music because of the quality of the amplification. However, as new developments in music equipment became more sophisticated, Garcia and the Dead were willing to revisit acoustic music, even going so far as to release Reckoning, a compilation of unplugged recordings from their shows in September and October of 1980. Check out a recording from the Dead’s 1970 performance at Harpur College in Binghamton, NY (Dicks Picks, Vol. 8) and a show from Radio City Music Hall, recorded October 27, 1980.

Old & In The Way (1973; 47 known performances)

Made up of Peter Rowan (guitar), David Grisman (mandolin), John Kahn (acoustic bass), Vassar Clements (fiddle), and Garcia on banjo, Old & In The Way were one of the most progressive bluegrass groups of their time, playing a part in the early development of “newgrass,” although their shelf life was notably short. Playing shows solely in 1973, this is one project many Deadheads wish Garcia would have returned to more often if for no other reason than to play songs like “Panama Red,” “The Hobo Song,” and “Midnight Moonlight.” Here now are several recordings, including Old & In The Way’s seminal, self-entitled album, a show from the infamous San Francisco Boarding House as well as The Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ.

Jerry Garcia & John Kahn (1982-1989; 63 known performances)

Sometimes characterized as an extension of the Jerry Garcia Band in the form of duo, it’s no secret how much Garcia enjoyed playing with bassist John Kahn, as is evident in the number of different formats that found them together throughout their careers. Raw, stripped down, and intimate, Garcia and Kahn shows focused on the JGB cannon as well as some Dead tunes; another great outlet for Garcia to recharge his batteries and dabble with the acoustic guitar. Take a look and listen to the duo’s second set from the Capital Theater in 1986 as well as a performance from the Oregon State Penitentiary in 1982 that includes a handful of Grateful Dead classics – “Friend Of The Devil,” “Jack-A-Roe,” “Ripple,” “Dire Wolf” and “Reuben & Cherise.”

The Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band (1987-1988; 31 known performances)

Teaming up with old buddies David Nelson (guitar), Sandy Rothman (mandolin/dobro/banjo), Kahn, and bringing in David Kemper (drums) and Kenny Kosek (fiddle) to round out the brigade, Garcia turned back the clock a bit with JGAB, focusing more on traditional string music than the progressive bluegrass that characterized Old & In The Way. It’s said that promoter Bill Graham liked the group so much, when Garcia half-jokingly suggested they play Broadway, Graham made it happen. The Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band would open the show for JGB during their 15-night residency at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater in New York City in the Fall of 1987. Take a listen below to the Acoustic Band playing “Blue Yodel #9” during their residency, as well as some video from the band’s December 4, 1987 show at The Wiltern in Los Angeles.

Jerry Garcia & David Grisman (1990-1994; 17 known performances)

Garcia’s relationship with mandolin guru David Grisman is one of the most prolific relationships he ever had outside of the Grateful Dead. Beginning their friendship even before their time together in Old & In The Way, the two would forge a long lasting and fruitful working relationship that spanned several decades. Perhaps most well-documented in the 2000 documentary Grateful Dawg, Garcia and Grisman’s work focused primarily on thematic projects: old time bluegrass, children’s music, jazz standards, etc. Here now is a 1991 performance from the Goldcoast Concert Bowl in Squaw Valley, CA as well as video of a partial performance from San Francisco’s beloved Warfield Theatre.

Happy Jerry Week!