I mentioned yesterday how the “Pizza Tapes” are what really got me into the Dead. Up until then, I had no idea about the amount of influence that country music had on Jerry Garcia.

Backstory of the music – in 1993, David Grisman was at his home studio jamming and hanging out with Tony Rice, both members of the Bluegrass Hall of Fame, and both involved with Dead studio work. They decided to call Jerry up and record some jams just for fun, so over the course of the next couple of days, what would soon be known as “The Pizza Tapes” was recorded.

The name – “The Pizza Tapes”, as I understand it, the story goes like this. After the recording of the sessions, all who were present decided to order some pizza, and Jerry actually gave his copy of the recordings as a tip to the pizza delivery guy. I don’t know if the guy was a fan of the Grateful Dead or what, but holy shit, can you imagine that if you were a fan of the band? I can’t imagine. If not, you’d probably be pissed that the famous rockstar didn’t fork over $5. Funny how something could be truly priceless to one and mean nothing to another. I guess it just depends on who was assigned the delivery. Pretty cool how the universe can work.

Release – Eventually, a couple of months after Jerry gave the guy the tape as a tip, Grisham heard one of the recorded tracks on the radio in NYC (guess the guy was a fan, or wanted to make some cash and understood the value) and apparently got pretty pissed about it. Eventually, bootleg copies started to spread, and for a band that was pretty much synonymous with the idea of bootleg records, it seems they weren’t a fan of the widespread distribution of such a recording at their shows. They even went as far as confiscating a box of CDs at a concert that reportedly had samples of the recordings on them. Eventually, in 2000, five years after Jerry’s passing we got an official release. The quality is incredible, and they left in a lot of the banter in-between songs. It is pretty easy to close your eyes and imagine you’re in the room with these guys.

Beaver’s Picks – A lot of the live material we have for the GD comes from collections of “Bear’s Picks” or “Dick’s Picks” across various tours, so while I do HIGHLY recommend a complete top-to-bottom listen of this, I figured I’d highlight some of my favorites. Not linked but worth mentioning, the only known recording of Jerry Garcia singing ‘Amazing Grace‘, and the ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door‘ cover is also great. My personal favorite, which is linked, is their cover of Miles Davis‘s “So What”.

Man of Constant Sorrow – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJivfdmiIik

Shady Grove – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XKm66YR0H0

Guitar Space (jam)/ Summertime – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTXw4qJVU10

So What (Miles Davis) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5BxDzHdwDA

House of the Rising Sun – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D34AYbOL0X8