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There are many elements that made The Grateful Dead singular, but one of the most defining was having two primary songwriters and lead singers. Plenty of bands shared the load—The Clash, The Beatles, The Who, Fleetwood Mac, even Uncle Tupelo—but the dynamic between Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia went far beyond simple balance. Their contrasting […]

Ross Warner’s American Standard: Cheap Trick From The Bars to the Budokan and Beyond (Foreword by Mike McCready) came out just recently. It’s been seven years since Glide asked him to compile a Top 10 list, and the timing and subject seem appropriate. So without further introduction, here’s his Top 10 Under the Radar Cheap […]

Especially when compared to the Grateful Dead’s like-minded releases of the same period, Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty, New Riders of the Purple Sage debut can be seen and heard as more style than substance. Yet as the passage of a half-century of time has proven, the album possesses a depth and durability all its […]

For the Grateful Dead, New Year’s Eve concerts were often lavish, yet begrudgingly approached affairs. Jerry Garcia reportedly lamented the added pressure of performing on 12/31, despite having played twenty-two New Year’s Eve shows with the Dead, including sixteen in-a-row from 1976-1991. Musically speaking, the shows themselves were generally underwhelming, especially when juxtaposed with the […]

Today (9/8) marks what would have been the 75th birthday of original Grateful Dead keyboardist and co-founding member Ron “Pigpen” McKernan who entered the world on September 8, 1945, in San Bruno, CA. A true musical badass in every sense of the word, Pigpen, simply put, was the blues. He personified the timeless genre with […]

By 1979, the Grateful Dead were at something of a crossroads in their career. For the past eight years, the husband & wife duo of Keith & Donna Godchaux had done a fine job of providing piano accompaniment & background vocals, respectively, but as a new decade approached it was clear the band needed a […]

Since improvisational rock came into fruition over 50 years ago, the “jamband” genre has ultimately become defined by the live music experience. While a majority of today’s popular-music industry measures success based on album sales and various social media-centric stats, bands such as The Grateful Dead, Phish, & Widespread Panic honed their chops on the […]

This July 4th weekend marks the fifth anniversary of the greatest “final act” (with all due respect to The Last Waltz) in rock history when the surviving members of the Grateful Dead celebrated the iconic band’s 50th anniversary at Soldier Field in Chicago with a trio of concerts officially titled: “Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 […]

Since their formation in 2015, Dead & Company has not been shy about plumbing the depths of the Grateful Dead’s legendary songbook. The latest “official” Grateful Dead spin-off band – featuring original members Bob Weir, Mickey Hart & Bill Kreutzmann and augmented by John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge & Jeff Chimenti – has performed nearly 130 […]

April 3, 1990 – The Omni, Atlanta, GA After 16 shows and nearly 2200 miles traveled, including a couple of harrowing Canadian border-crossings, the Grateful Dead’s celebrated 1990 Spring tour finally came to an end in the “Big Peach.” As we’ve stated ad nauseam over the past few weeks in this series of superlative-laden articles, […]

Spring ’90 is synonymous with many things to many people, but in the Grateful Dead world, it was perhaps one of the most vital tours in the beloved band’s history: everything was clickin’. Glide is continuing to revisit Grateful Dead’s Spring ’90 tour in honor of its 30th anniversary, with recaps and video highlights and […]

Spring ’90 is synonymous with many things to many people, but in the Grateful Dead world, it was perhaps one of the most vital tours in the beloved band’s history: everything was clickin’. Glide is continuing to revisit Grateful Dead’s Spring ’90 tour in honor of its 30th anniversary, with recaps and video highlights and […]

Spring ’90 is synonymous with many things to many people, but in the Grateful Dead world, it was perhaps one of the most vital tours in the beloved band’s history: everything was clickin’. Glide is continuing to revisit Grateful Dead’s Spring ’90 tour in honor of its 30th anniversary, with recaps and video highlights. For […]

Spring ’90 is synonymous with many things to many people, but in the Grateful Dead world, it was perhaps one of the most vital tours in the beloved band’s history: everything was clickin’. Glide is continuing to revisit Grateful Dead’s Spring ’90 tour in honor of its 30th anniversary, with recaps and video highlights. For […]

Spring ’90 is synonymous with many things to many people, but in the Grateful Dead world, it was perhaps one of the most vital tours in the beloved band’s history: everything was clickin’. Over the next week, Glide will continue to be revisiting Grateful Dead’s Spring ’90 tour in honor of its 30th anniversary, with […]

Spring ’90 is synonymous with many things to many people, but in the Grateful Dead world, it was perhaps one of the most vital tours in the beloved band’s history: everything was clickin’. Over the next week, Glide will continue to be revisiting Grateful Dead’s Spring ’90 tour in honor of its 30th anniversary, with […]

Spring ’90 is synonymous with many things to many people, but in the Grateful Dead world, it was perhaps one of the most vital tours in the beloved band’s history: everything was clickin’. Over the next week, Glide will continue to be revisiting Grateful Dead’s Spring ’90 tour in honor of its 30th anniversary, with […]

Spring ’90 is synonymous with many things to many people, but in the Grateful Dead world, it was perhaps one of the most vital tours in the beloved band’s history: everything was clickin’. Over the next week Glide will continue to be revisiting Grateful Dead’s Spring ’90 tour in honor of its 30th anniversary, with […]

Spring ’90 is synonymous with many things to many people, but in the Grateful Dead world, it was perhaps one of the most vital tours in the beloved band’s history: everything was clickin’. Over the next few weeks, Glide will be revisiting Grateful Dead’s Spring ’90 tour in honor of its 30th anniversary, with recaps […]

Spring ’90 is synonymous with many things to many people, but in the Grateful Dead world, it was perhaps one of the most vital tours in the beloved band’s history: everything was clickin’. Over the next few weeks, Glide will be revisiting Grateful Dead’s Spring ’90 tour in honor of its 30th anniversary, with recaps […]