And one day he came up and said, “Man, would you be interested in playing in another band?” He did some work, played with Maria when I was working with Maria, and he was just paying attention to me. And so, you know, I was very close to the church and what we were doing there.Īnd I got with the Jerry Garcia Band through John Kahn. I had a gospel label producing a lot of gospel music, it was just in me. And so the interesting thing, I was very involved with the church. Her boyfriend was John Kahn, bass player of Jerry Garcia Band. And when I worked with Elvin Bishop, I did some work with Maria Muldaur. When I got with Jerry, I was just recently out of working with Elvin Bishop. On The JamBase Podcast, Seals told the story of being recruited for the band, recalling: Other than Kahn, the longest tenured member of the Jerry Garcia Band (not named Jerry Garcia) was keyboardist Melvin Seals who came into the fold in 1981. The song was often played by the Jerry Garcia Band and despite a reggae-styled studio outtake from the fall 1976 Terrapin Station recording sessions, “Catfish John” was never performed live by the Grateful Dead. McDill went on to write several hit songs for the likes of Pam Tillis, Don Williams, Juice Newton, Alan Jackson and other country musicians. Written by Bob McDill and Allen Reynolds, “Catfish John” was originally released on McDill’s 1972 album, Short Stories. That “Catfish John” recording appeared on the 1996 Old & In The Way album, That High Lonesome Sound. Garcia recorded “Catfish John” in October 1973 with his bluegrass band Old & In The Way whose membership included Kahn on bass, guitarist Peter Rowan, mandolinist David Grisman, fiddler Vassar Clements and Jerry on banjo. Check out that footage above and find more information on “Catfish John” from JamBase’s “Days Between Deep Dive” into Reflections: Here they are back at the Cap for a performance of “Catfish John” on March 1, 1980.
#JERRY GARCIA BAND CONCERTS FREE#
One short-lived incarnation saw Garcia and Kahn joined by keyboardist Ozzie Ahlers (who previously worked with Van Morrison and Peter Rowan’s band Free Mexican Airforce) and drummer Johnny d’Fonseca. Several songs from this concert have made their way to a live compilation, suggesting that the food that night met the band’s needs - or, at least, that it came close enough for rock ‘n’ roll.The Jerry Garcia Band went through a few changes in personnel following the departure of the Godchauxs from both JGB and the Dead. In the same section, it also stresses that “good cheeseburgers” be available - and, really, the presence of “good” before several of the items suggests a band haunted by having received terrible food before a show too many times in the past. “FRESH FOODS PLEASE!! NOT PROCESSED,” the rider states. The rider specifies that the coffee be “Sumatra, Celebes, Jamaica High Mountain, Mocha-Java, or Colombian beans” - and stresses that it “must be made via the drip method, not electric percolator.” The rider also requests that the concert promoters provide a meal for band and crew, and it’s here that the presence of all caps suggests an ongoing point of contention for the group. JGB contract rider from the band’s 11/12/76 show at UC Davis as featured on GarciaLive Vol.