Death never stopped the Grateful Dead before.
Since Jerry Garcia's death in 1995, a sprawling collection of musicians and fans across generations have kept the band's legacy alive in different ways. But without members Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, Deadheads are experiencing their first summer where there's no clear inheritor of the Grateful Dead's mantle.
Where does the music, and the community, go from here? NPR Music resident Deadheads Felix Contreras and Isabella Gomez-Sarmiento did what the Dead does best: they hit the road, interviewing musicians, fans and archivists to find out what's next.
For more podcast episodes and stories about the future of the Grateful Dead, check out Dead After Death.
This episode was produced by Noah Caldwell. It was edited by Jacob Ganz and Hazel Cills. The executive producer of NPR Music is Suraya Mohamed. Our executive director is Sonali Mehta.
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