Jerry Garcia Music Arts, the independent record label launched by the late guitarist’s ex-wife Manasha Garcia, surprised fans on Tuesday with the release of Front Street Outtakes. The three-song, 15-minute collection finds the Grateful Dead guitarist working alongside Indian American musician Sanjay Mishra at the Dead’s Front Street recording studio in 1995. The sessions which produced these outtakes would ultimately go on to form the duo’s 1995 album Blue Incantation.
Not to be confused with Garcia Family Provisions, which acts as the official store for the late guitarist’s estate, Jerry Garcia Music Arts LLC was launched in 2018 by Manasha and the couple’s daughter Keelin Garcia who was born in 1987. The label began two years ago with a free acoustic recording of Jerry playing “Ripple” during his famous one-man show at The Capitol Theatre in Passiac, NJ on April 10th, 1982, though has remained relatively quiet since then.
The recordings found on Front Street Outtakes are bare-bones and consist only of Garcia and Mishra’s guitar joined by percussion. Front Street Outtakes comes in its original, unedited form that Mishra describes as, “Unique and mysterious, these mixes consist of the recordings in pure form, with just the guitars and percussion, all unedited, including the tape reel running out on the first track.”
The release will also raise money for Paramahansa Yogananda’s Self-Realization Fellowship, with 25% of the proceeds going toward the “worldwide spiritual organization founded by Paramahansa Yogananda to serve as an instrument for the preservation and worldwide dissemination of his writings and teachings, including Kriya Yoga,” according to a press release.
Manasha, who married Garcia in 1990 and divorced him in 1993, added, “There’s an interesting circularity to this project, as my grandfather gave me his copy of ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ to read when I was a teenager. Later, when I began singing in the Self-Realization Fellowship choir, Jerry would listen to the choral practice tapes and play guitar to help me follow the sheet music for the holiday recitals.”
Stream Front Street Outtakes from Jerry Garcia and Sanjay Mishra below.
Jerry Garcia, Sanjay Mishra – Front Street Outtakes
[H/T Jambands.com]