Ultimately, only thing matters: he’s the guitarist Jerry wanted playing by his side all those years. But he is a very interesting and different guitar player he composed a lot of their most intricate and interesting songs, such as “The Other One,” as well as their catchiest tune – “Sugar Magnolia” and he is a very good hang. And then I also hung out with him in an NYC hotel room as he did a guitar lesson with Andy Aledort that ran with this piece and it was really fascinating to watch/listen to him demonstrate many of his songs and the proper way to play them.įor as long as the Grateful Dead has existed, people have loved to rag on Bobby for a lot of different reasons – some of which are easy to understand, others of which I think are really unfair. Anyhow, we chilled in his dressing room then. Wish I could remember what it was or to whom. They were at Roseland that year, and I actually presented an award. Just before this – I think even the night before - we also hung out at the Jammies for a good while. We did most of the interview in his hotel room, but also hung out quite a bit at the show. He was gracious, relaxed and easy to be with. Check it out!Ī couple of notes: I spent a lot of time with Bobby down in Philly on this afternoon and really enjoyed talking with him. This interview appears in my Ebook, Reckoning: Conversations With the Grateful Dead, along with similarly extensive interview with Phil, Phil and Trey, Robert Hunter, Bill Kreutzmann, Warren Haynes, Mark Karan and Steve Kimock. You can purchase a print here.A lengthy 2001 interview with Bobby, when Ratdog was kicking hard. In this last respect, 1973 got trampled by 1974 I started with a dozen versions from each year.Īnyhow, here are 13 really fine China > Rider jams.Ĭover art by Mary Poliquin. Others were really good, but lacked any great distinction when compared to many other versions. Some versions got cut for bad sound or out of tune instruments. Of course, my picks are entirely unrelated to how well or badly the band played and sang the two songs on either side of the jam. There was no rhyme or reason to the 28 I started with, except that I tried not to miss long versions. I went with too many.įor review purposes, I isolated 28 of the period’s jams (mostly 1973-1974), and then I winnowed them down to 13 for this compilation. I was stuck between two options for this mix: Choose five or six versions, or include too many for any sane person to listen to at one time.

This variable is especially cool for the Weir solo section, where his guitar part syncopates more strongly with with different musicians on different recordings. Pried loose from the two songs, the China > Rider jam stands up on its own as part of the bubbling “thematic jam” arc that runs through Alligator, Dark Star, Good Lovin’, Tighten Up, and “stuff that happened after Truckin’ in 1974.” ( You'll find more mixes focused on such themes here.)ĭifferent sound board mixes also contribute to the experience of variety. Drop the needle into the same sections of many versions in a row, and you’ll be surprised. Within the standard frame, variations abound in the individual playing and the collective mesh.

The Feelin’ Groovy theme was added to the China > Rider jam in March 1973. Approach to I Know You Rider's first verse (10-30 seconds).Garcia solo > Feelin’ Groovy jam (variable, the length of the whole jam minus ~2.5 minutes).As one would expect of 1974, the passage got longer and more hair-raising.Īll the performances followed the same pattern: Most selections are from 1974, the bounciest, grooviest year of the band’s history, and consequently the peak year for this jam. This mix presents thirteen 1972-1974 performances of the transition jam between “China Cat Sunflower” and “I Know You Rider.”

China cat sunflower guitar