Jerry Garcia – Garcia (1972)

This is the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia’s first solo album (released on January 20, 1972). Garcia recorded the album almost entirely alone, with only Bill Kreutzmann, one of the Dead’s drummers, assisting him. The Dead’s label at the time, Warner Brothers, encouraged Dead members to release solo material. In 1972, Garcia released this album, Bob Weir released Ace (May 1972), and Mickey Hart released Rolling Thunder (September 1972). A couple of years earlier, the Dead released their back-to-back Americana classics, Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty, to critical acclaim and commercial success. The Dead were on a roll, and the magic spilled to the solo albums. Half the songs on Garcia would have fit comfortably on Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty. However, the three songs that open side two (“Late for Supper,” “Spidergawd,” and “Eep Hour”) are weird musique concrète instrumental soundscapes that could have been on a Pink Floyd album from the era.

Garcia, side one, includes two songs that would become standards in the Dead and Jerry Garcia’s live repertoire: “Deal” and “Sugaree.” “Bird Song”’ and “Loser” fit nicely in the Dead’s Americana sound. Side two ends with another Dead/Garcia live standard: “The Wheel.” Side two also includes “To Lay Me Down,” a piano ballad that shows a different side of Garcia, a Laurel Canyon singer-songwriter. Finally, the oddball Garcia/Kreutzmann jam is “An Odd Little Place.”

Track listing (and songwriters in parentheses):

Side one
“Deal” (Robert Hunter, Jerry Garcia)
“Bird Song” (Hunter, Garcia)
“Sugaree” (Hunter, Garcia)
“Loser” (Hunter, Garcia)
Side two
“Late for Supper” (Garcia, Bill Kreutzmann)
“Spidergawd” (Garcia, Kreutzmann)
“Eep Hour” (Garcia, Kreutzmann)
“To Lay Me Down” (Hunter, Garcia)
“An Odd Little Place” (Garcia, Kreutzmann)
“The Wheel” (Hunter, Garcia, Kreutzmann)

I am more of a Jerry Garcia fan than a Dead fan. My introduction to Garcia is a 1991 live album called Jerry Garcia Band. I have had a box-set collection of studio albums but never explored it deeply.

I picked up a vinyl reissue at Record Store Day 2014, but never gave it an attentive listen until this fall.

Record Store Day 2014 (white 180 g vinyl)

This is an outstanding introduction to Garcia’s solo career. I also recommend the 1991 JGB album mentioned earlier. If you want to experience the jazz side of Garcia, check out his collaboration with Merl Saunders Live at the Keystone.