Yesterday was Jerry Day, which celebrated the 76th birthday of Jerry Garcia. To commemorate the Grateful Dead guitarist and his legacy, Garcia family members Keelin Garcia and Manasha Garcia launched a new label named after the legendary musician. Dubbed the Jerry Garcia Music Arts LLC, the organization is “a mission-based company inspired by musician and artist, Jerry Garcia” and will release music and art, with a portion of the proceeds going to charity. As the website notes, Garcia considered himself “an artist, that played music.” And so he continues to live on through both his music and his art.
To celebrate the launch of the Jerry Garcia Music Arts LLC, the organization released a limited number of free downloads of Garcia’s solo acoustic “Ripple” from 1982’s Capitol Theater show in Passaic, New Jersey. As the official Jerry Garcia website points out, “Jerry only played one date (early & late shows) solo. Feeling uncomfortable alone on stage, he made sure that [bassist] John Kahn joined him for his next scheduled show. He never played alone on stage again.”
Remastered by audio engineer Joe Gastwirt, the one-and-only solo “Ripple” recording was limited to 2,500 free downloads, but will be made available on most digital music services soon for all to enjoy.
In addition to the music, the Jerry Garcia Music Arts LLC is offering a limited edition museum quality giclee of Garcia’s watercolor painting, titled “Ripple” as well–going on sale at Terrapin Stationers on August 3rd. According to the organization, a portion of the proceeds from the art piece will support ocean preservation.
Check out the watercolor painting, “Ripple” by Jerry Garcia, below. See more art from Jerry Garcia here.
For additional information on the Jerry Garcia Music Arts LLC, head to their official website.