“That’s when they started becoming the Grateful Dead that could play everywhere,” McNally says. The number of Dead fans began to skyrocket, making it possible for the group to route nationwide tours. “They could not tour widely because their records weren’t played anywhere and then, as now, if nobody has ever heard of you, you’re not going to get any offers from promoters.”Īll of that changed once FM radio stations began spinning “Workingman’s Dead” - in particular, the tracks “Uncle John’s Band” and “Casey Jones” - and introducing the Grateful Dead to fresh ears across the country. “They could make money in San Francisco and they could make money at the Fillmore East, which had opened in ’68 in New York. “In ’69, they could make money in exactly two places in the entire United States,” McNally says.
“’Workingman’s Dead comes out Jand has this immediate impact because it starts getting played on the radio,” McNally says. Smith wasn’t the only one thrilled with the result.
in Burbank screaming, ‘Oh, my God, the Grateful Dead have made a record album!’” “He puts the cassette on thinking, ‘Oh, God, yet another cosmic masterpiece.’ And then he hears ‘Uncle John’s Band’ and he literally ran the length of the corridor of Warner Bros. “They send the tape to Joe Smith,” McNally says. It would also make one particular record exec very happy. The result, McNally says, was sort of plain and simple, but it also contained “some of the best songs ever.” What they were after - sound-wise, approach-wise - was Buck Owens and the Bakersfield sound.” “But more importantly, really, that’s not what the music called for. “They simply couldn’t afford to get elaborate,” McNally says. While the psychedelic freak fests of “Anthem of the Sun” and “Aoxomoxoa” would each take several months to record, the Dead knocked out the more straight-ahead “Workingman’s Dead” in about three weeks. executive) Joe Smith was going to get a gun and come to San Francisco and shoot them if they tried to do another triple experimental album.” They owed about a quarter of million dollars in recording costs, which in 1970 was a lot of money. “Because they had now made three (studio) records - none of which had sold particularly widely. that allowed them unlimited recordings - which was insane on Warner Bros.’ part,” McNally says. “They had signed a contract with Warner Bros. The result of those efforts would propel the Grateful Dead into the old Pacific High Recording studios on Brady Street in San Francisco in February 1970, hoping to finally create a spare and direct studio album that would ease some of the band’s financial burden. “They went back to their old roots, which was the folk/bluegrass scene of the early ‘60s that they both were part of in Palo Alto,” McNally says.
Having already collaborated on several tunes together - including every track that would make it onto the Dead’s then-most recent studio outing, 1969’s “Aoxomoxoa” - the Hunter/Garcia songwriting team were looking to hone their craft even further, McNally says.īut they’d do so in a way that was quite different for the Grateful Dead at the time, abandoning the type of free-form, experimental anthems the band was known for in the late ‘60s, and instead pursuing a more lyric-focused, acoustic-driven country sound that was influenced by the Byrds and The Band, as well as Hunter and Garcia’s own shared background. The story of the Dead’s magical 1970 starts in the spring of 1969, when lyricist Robert Hunter begins sharing a house in Larkspur with longtime pal Jerry Garcia, Grateful Dead singer and lead guitarist. Our tour guide for the occasion is McNally, who wrote what is, by far, the best book ever written on the band - “A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead” (2002). In honor of the milestone anniversary, we’re taking readers on a trip back to 1970 to retrace the steps of the Dead as they create these albums. See for details.) Both albums can be streamed on such sites as Spotify and Amazon as well. (“Workingman’s Dead” comes first, on July 10, with “American Beauty” to follow likely in the fall. Rolling Stone magazine included both on its famed list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, right up there with such revered offerings as R.E.M.’s “Automatic for the People,” Roxy Music’s “Avalon,” Aretha Franklin’s “Lady Soul” and Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon.”Īnd they are big attractions to this day, as evidenced by the fact that the Rhino records label is releasing special 50th deluxe editions of both albums.
Half a century later, these twin titans from 1970 are regarded as outright classics - the band’s greatest achievements in the studio. Grateful Dead holiday gift guide: 7 cool presents for Deadheads
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