Grateful Dead singer and lead guitarist Jerry Garcia passed away 25 years ago on August 9, 1995, leaving a hole in the hearts of legions of fans. He was 53 years old.
A quarter of a century later, both musicians and fans who follow the band around the world continue to gather to perform his music, CBS News correspondent Allison Keyes reports.
But on the day of Garcia’s death, fans could not know all the ways to get their Grateful Dead fix today – from archive recordings to podcasts.
“There were definitely signs that the live community was still there – the Grateful Dead community would be there period,” David Lemieux, the band’s archivist and legacy manager, told CBS News Radio. “But to the extent that it’s now where there are so many bands playing Grateful Dead music, whether it’s original members or not, [they] are just a great way to consume Dead. “
Listen to the CBS News Radio report on the 25th anniversary of Jerry Garcia’s death:
The remaining members of the group follow the band’s songbook, and several newcomers provide their own interpretations.
The band’s music is also widely available for streaming across multiple platforms, including the Internet Archive and Spotify.
SiriusXM satellite radio has a channel dedicated to the Dead.
The band releases several archival and remastered recordings each year, including the recent 50th anniversary edition of their studio album, “Workingman’s Dead.”
And the Dead have now entered the world of podcasts. Lemieux said that 25 years after the Grateful Dead ceased to be the Grateful Dead, her podcast – The Good Ol ‘Grateful Deadcast – is the number one music podcast in the country.
Lemieux said nothing was spread about the music of the Grateful Dead: “They went out every night, played honestly, and that meant some nights were not as good as others. And that meant some nights, where the magic really hit, you could see one of the greatest live performances you will ever see. And that happened pretty much with the Grateful Dead. “
The Grateful Dead performs “Sugar Magnolia,” “Scarlet Begonias” and “Fire on the Mountain” at Winterland Arena in San Francisco, 12-31-78:
Outside of his 30-year career with the Grateful Dead, Garcia has been involved in various projects, ranging from jazz to bluegrass to folk to rock. Captain Trips (as he was once known) played with such artists as Bob Dylan, Crosby, Stills & Nash, and Etta James.
But it stood for the Dead where Garcia deserved his enduring fame. And as he told Rolling Stone magazine in 1989, “Success has never been a part of our schedule, exactly. It was a happy surprise.”
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