Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest places, if you look at it right. And if you get confused, just listen to the music play. On this week's All Songs Considered, resident Deadheads Isabella Gomez Sarmiento and Felix Contreras help host Robin Hilton hear what he's been missing in the music of The Grateful Dead.
This conversation, which you can hear with the listen link at the top of the page, comes ahead of a big series we're launching Aug. 1 all about The Grateful Dead, their legacy and what's next for the vast and devoted scene that rose up around the band's music, now that they've lost guitarist and singer Bob Weir. Weir, who died in January, had been keeping the movement alive for much of the thirty-plus years since frontman Jerry Garcia passed in 1995.
Are you a Deadhead? We want to hear how and why you became a fan. Share your memories about the band and we may feature it as part of our series.
Support the show with a review on Apple or Spotify wherever you listen to podcasts.
Questions, comments, suggestions or feedback of any kind always welcome: allsongs@npr.org
Featured songs:
- "King Solomon's Marbles"
- "China Cat Sunflower / I Know You Rider" Alpine Valley, WI 7.17.89
- "Help On the Way / Slipknot / Franklin's Tower"
- "Ripple"
- "Morning Dew (Europe '72)"
- "I Shall Be Released (Live)"
- "Black Muddy River"
- "One More Saturday Night"
- "Sunrise"
- "Shady Grove"
- "Birdsong"
- "Uncle John's Band"
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