u/harpua_2626

Listen with volume up.

Thanks to the pristine, studio-quality recordings of Betty Cantor-Jackson, we can enjoy nearly every note of the remarkable Grateful Dead spring tour of 1977 nearly 50 years later. Most deadheads will readily acknowledge the remarkable quality of playing throughout the April-May shows. Yes - the band had recently recorded Terrapin Station under the production of Keith Olsen who notoriously demanded the band rehearse the album material endlessly. To my ear, the most impactful quality of these 1977 shows comes down to the interplay between Keith Godchaux’s piano and Jerry Garcia developed to a new level during the Jerry Garcia Band shows in 1976.

I’m a huge fan of the Keith years and his playing brought so much to the Dead’s sound. Keith joined the Jerry Garcia Band in January 1976 and played over 280 shows with Jerry’s side band through late 1978. From listening to many of those 1976 shows, you can hear a new level of musical conversation happening between Garcia and Godchaux that carries over to the Dead starting in late 1976.

Take a listen to any JGB version of After Midnight from 1976 (the vault release from February 13 is a good example) and listen to the groove between Jerry and Keith. The Grateful Dead’s live performances of Sugaree were typically 7 to 8 minutes through 1974 but starting with the late 1975 JGB shows with Nicky Hopkins and into 1976 JGB with Keith, you saw Sugaree stretch into an amazing jam vehicle. Take a listen to Keith/Jerry interplay during the Sugaree from November 13, 1976 or from November 19, 1976 to hear the seeds of the Sugaree of May 22, 1977.

I feel like Jerry/Keith musical conversation peaks during that spring 1977 tour with incredible interplay during moments like the May 8 Scarlet Begonias, that May 22 Sugaree, and the Morning Dew from those respective shows. Personally, I find the Keith/Jerry interplay throughout most of 1977 to be thrilling and a key part of the success of that year for the Grateful Dead.