Grateful Dead  Playing in the Band
The roots of the Grateful Dead can be traced back to the early sixties.  Jerry Garcia, a bluegrass banjo and guitar player who had been playing in clubs with various bands, formed Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions in 1964 with guitarist Bob Weir and keyboard player Ron "Pigpen" McKernan.   The group changed their name in 1965 to the Warlocks and added bass player Phil Lesh and drummer Bill Kreutzmann to the lineup.  By the end of that year they were renamed the Grateful Dead and the long, strange trip was officially under way.

   The band were local heroes in the San Francisco area with their free spirited lifestyle and free concerts.  Their headquarters, which became well known to fans and members of other bands,  was in the Haight/Ashbury section of the city. 

   In 1967 their album
The Grateful Dead was released by Warner Bros.  It featured several classic blues tunes with only one song, "Cream Puff War", composed by Garcia.  In addition to the original five members, Tom Constanten (keyboards) and Micky Hart (drums) were added to the lineup.  That same year they performed in the now famous Monterrey Pop Festival with other great performers like Jimi Hendrix, the Who, Janis Joplin, and Otis Redding.

   The next albums were
Anthem to the Sun (1968), Aoxomoxoa (1969), and Live/Dead (1969).  The live album helped to capture what Dead music was in the concert atmosphere, which was what the band and their fans, known as Deadheads, really enjoyed.

   The Dead released two classic albums in 1970. 
American Beauty featured such classic tunes as "Ripple", "Box of Rain", "Sugar Magnolia", "Friend of the Devil", and "Truckin".  Workingman's Dead
also had several timeless songs like "Uncle John's Band". "Dire Wolf", "Cumberland Blues", and "Casey Jones".

  
Grateful Dead  which is better known by other nicknames including "Skull and Roses", was a 1971 live album with songs like "Bertha", "Wharf Rat",  "Playing in the Band", "Me and My Uncle", and "Not Fade Away/Going Down the Road Feeling Bad".

  
Europe '72 (1972) was another live album.  In addition to some previously released material it had "Tennessee Jed", "Jack Straw",
"I Know You Rider", and "Mr. Charlie".   This was the first album featuring the husband-wife team of Keith (keyboards) and Donna (vocals) Godchauxand the last with Pigpen, who died of liver disease.  It was also the final album with Warner Bros.
"Pigpen"
Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir
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