Tributes continue to pour in for Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay, the ’70s Grateful Dead vocalist who passed away on Sunday at age 78 following a lengthy battle with cancer. Among the trove of tributes, Bill Kreutzmann‘s manager and Deal co-author Benjy Eisen shared a behind-the-scenes clip of Bob Weir, Donna Jean, and the late Neal Casal rehearsing “Loser” in 2012.
The fly-on-the-wall clip was taken at Weir’s TRI Studios in San Rafael, CA, where the Grateful Dead guitarist staged various livestreams and recording sessions in the pre-Dead & Company days. Bobby, Donna, and Neal were rehearsing for the Jerry Garcia 70th birthday celebration, Move Me Brightly. The live, in-studio performance from TRI featured appearances from Phish’s Mike Gordon, Jeff Chimenti, Joe Russo (then of Furthur fame), Vampire Weekend’s Chris Tomson, and others, hosted by actor Luke Wilson. Singer-songwriter and Garcia compatriot David Crosby penned a new poem, “‘Cause I’m Missing Jerry Tonight“, for the occasion.
Related: Surviving Grateful Dead Members Pay Tribute To Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay
The trio’s performance of the Garcia/Robert Hunter classic is already beautiful enough, but the archival clip gives viewers a rare look into the song’s mechanics. Between run-throughs, Donna workshops how to arrange the song’s layered vocal harmonies, her and Bobby working together side-by-side just as they did during one of the most celebrated periods in the Dead’s history. If this behind-the-scenes clip is any indication of how things were back then, Donna confidently asserted her voice as an artist, and her ideas were given the same weight as anyone else, man or woman, instrumentalist or vocalist.
Watch Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay, Bob Weir, and Neal Casal rehearse the Grateful Dead’s “Loser” at TRI Studios in 2012. Rest in peace, Donna. Check out Bobby, Bill, and Mickey Hart‘s tributes to their late bandmate here.
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