Don't Let Go captures Garcia at his musical peak
By TIM BODONY
Scene Music Critic
The Grateful Dead traveled down so many roads, yet even during his vacations, lead singer Jerry Garcia had to keep on truckin'. As much a musicologist as a performer, Garcia used his various side projects to explore the American roots music traditions that initially influenced rock 'n' roll.
During a Dead hiatus in 1972, Jerry hid out as a banjo player in the all-star bluegrass band Old and In the Way, taking a backseat to champion fiddler Vassar Clements and mandolin great David Grisman. But when he plugged in with the Jerry Garcia Band, there was no doubt who was behind the wheel.
Garcia's dominant musical presence is on display throughout Don't Let Go, a two disc live recording of the Jerry Garcia Band's performance at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco on May 21, 1976. Though Garcia frequently leads the band to moments of brilliance, the lack of other dominant personalities keeps the JGB one notch below the Dead. Nevertheless, the music presented on Don't Let Go is still viable and compelling in its own right.
Don't Let Go is strikingly similar to a Grateful Dead performance, and yet so different. At the time of the concert, Garcia was approaching the peak of his career, with his voice and guitar textures in top form — before narcotics took their toll.
Also on stage that night were keyboardist Keith Godchaux and his sweet-singing wife Donna, both stalwarts of the Dead for most of the 1970s. The enchanting vocal interplay between Jerry and Donna elevates most songs here, most notably the title track. But in the thick of a jam, the creative and intricate rhythm guitar of Bob Weir and the bass explorations of Phil Lesh are sorely missed. The more reserved rhythm section of bassist John Kahn and drummer Ron Tutt rarely ventures into the foreground, giving the band an overall thinner sound than the Dead. Far from being a curse, this minimalism allows the subtleties of Garcia's guitar work to shrine through in all its steely brilliance.
Dominated by covers, the album offers only three songs native to the Jerry Garcia Band. "Sugaree" and "They Love Each Other," two originals that became staples of the Dead repertoire, immediately prompt the inevitable comparisons to the Dead.
Garcia masterfully wins back the listeners' attention with his bluesy, swaggering solo at the start of "That's What Love Will Make You Do." The version of "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" is slower than a turtle on codeine, while "After Midnight" shares plenty of similarities with the disco that dominated the airwaves at the time. This song typifies the second disc, which consists mainly of Motown and R & B hits done in a playful, yet sometimes cheesy, manner.
Back on the more earthy first disc, the cover of Jimmy Cliff's "Sitting in Limbo" propels the show to its high point, combining a tender lyrical religiosity with a musical narrative that always leads back home. The San Francisco-themed "Mission in the Rain" initially diminishes the intensity, only to dramatically reconstruct it piece by beautiful piece, with Garcia nimbly leading the song to a soaring finale.
Such moments of brilliance underscore the value of a recording like this to the legions of Deadheads who will not let Jerry slip silently into the bowels of rock history. The band manages to pay homage to American music traditions with a live-in-the-moment exuberance, but overall this album is more about the person of Jerry Garcia than the songs he sang that night in 1976. These two discs represent a frozen moment in time, showcasing an American icon at the pinnacle of his career.
All Scene Stories for Tuesday, January 30, 2001
