Jerry Garcia and his accomplishments are worth celebrating. Founding and leading (despite never wanting credit as leader) the mother of all jam bands in The Grateful Dead, bringing bluegrass to the hippies via Old and in the Way, leading the Jerry Garcia Band or partnering with David Grisman for loads of swinging roots music are only part of the list of Garcia’s musical doings. Throughout that run he, along with songwriting partner Robert Hunter, wrote tons of tunes that range from rock ’n’ roll to psychedelia to soul and roots rock.
If you go
WHAT: Andy Falco and Travis Book of The Infamous Stringdusters play the music of Jerry Garcia.
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
WHERE: Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College, 1000 Rim Drive.
TICKETS: $22.50-$40.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.durangoconcerts.com.
While his naysayers knock him for reasons they can’t detail, his fans remain unapologetically dedicated, and for good reason: He was great.
That greatness includes leaving behind a body of work that will be noted well into the future, with a part of that eternal acknowledgment happening Saturday when Travis Book and Andy Falco, both of Grammy winning newgrass outfit Infamous Stringdusters, pull into town to offer up a night of Garcia’s music.
Falco and Book have always loved Garcia, and when Falco was booked to lead a guitar workshop in Elks Park during the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, he asked Book to join him, and they would “play some Jerry”; that was the birth of this side gig that ultimately honors Garcia.
“We obviously love the music of Jerry Garcia, he’s extremely influential to both of us in our musical careers,” Falco said. “We’re all doing this for Jerry, so we like to say that we’re not playing the music of Jerry Garcia for the people, we’re playing the music of Garcia, and we’re celebrating with the people.”
It’s a daunting task to cover a man who wrote epic psychedelic rock and heady ballads, while also consuming the canon of Americana, which includes Motown, bluegrass, traditional work songs and straight up rock ’n’ roll.
“The joke is that eventually we’ll get to everything. Some of it I think resonates more with us than others. It’s interesting for us to touch on The Jerry Garcia Band stuff because that’s old soul music by other people. It’s fun also to make sure we mine the Garcia-Grisman stuff and the folk-oriented stuff, the old sea shanties that he brought in, that was so cool,” said Book, who despite the aforementioned parts of the Garcia catalog, will always favor the good ol’ Grateful Dead.
“I’ve enjoyed the music of the Grateful Dead for a long time, but I did not have an adequate appreciation for the depth of the songwriting with the Hunter-Garcia ballads, you know, the ‘Black Peter’ or ‘Wharf Rat,’” he said. “What really makes this special, we really focus on the song. We try to serve the songs and when you strip it down to just acoustic guitar and an upright bass, it really allows that to shine through.”
The song is what you’ll get. Many Garcia fans grew up with the man, including Book and Falco. Change that comes with personal growth accompanies how you ingest Garcia: Fans who have stuck with him likely were drawn in via the package of rock ’n’ roll and the extracurriculars that accompany a Grateful Dead show; outgrow those extras and stick with the band, and ultimately the greatness of his songs shine through.
“I think so many people are still listening to the Grateful Dead because it’s the songs,” Falco said. “When you’re younger, maybe you’re partying, you’re at the Dead show, and it’s the jams, it’s the exploration that’s a big part of that, and it always has been with the Grateful Dead. But as you get older, you realize you’re still listening because it’s the songs. It’s the songs that last, and that’s exactly what we’re celebrating.”
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
