Morning Dew (Grateful Dead)

[Railroad Bum]

Here's one of my favorite things that the Grateful Dead did live, the old Bonnie Dobson post-nuclear apocalypse folk ballad "Morning Dew." The Dead turned this into an epic for Jerry Garcia, belting out the ballad and ripping through the instrumental sections. I tried to compress it down a little, but it's kind of long. Sorry. It's a hard song to cover because you can get lost and mesmerized by this number. This is played on my Yamaha FG830. I had a previous version up on YouTube, but I thought it was way too wild and noisy, even for me, hahaha:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abd5kFk8UgQ

[Glennwillow]

Cool! Nice job on this Tim! Post-nuclear apocalypse folk ballad, for sure!

- Glenn

[raysachs]

Nice version Tim. I think Morning Dew and I Know You Rider were probably the first two Dead tunes I learned how to play WAAAAAAY back in my teen years. All these years later, we still haven't had that apocalypse to sing this tune after (should we survive it) and I still haven't learned (and probably won't) the China Cat to lead into I Know You Rider! Morning Dew was always pretty beautiful when the Dead played it live and it's one I still go back to from time to time.

-Ray

[Railroad Bum]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

Cool! Nice job on this Tim! Post-nuclear apocalypse folk ballad, for sure!

- Glenn

Thank you, Glenn. It doesn't get much weirder or cooler than a ballad for a nuclear winter's night, eh?

[Railroad Bum]

Originally Posted by raysachs

Nice version Tim. I think Morning Dew and I Know You Rider were probably the first two Dead tunes I learned how to play WAAAAAAY back in my teen years. All these years later, we still haven't had that apocalypse to sing this tune after (should we survive it) and I still haven't learned (and probably won't) the China Cat to lead into I Know You Rider! Morning Dew was always pretty beautiful when the Dead played it live and it's one I still go back to from time to time.

-Ray

Those are two of my absolute favorites as well, my friend, and I have been trying to pick both since I was a kid, too.

I played China Cat when I was in this one band, and it was fun. It works best with two guitars, preferably electrics. I wouldn't even try to pull it off solo acoustic.

I still listen to The Dead sometimes. I actually just listened to a Dew from Chapel Hill, NC, in 1993, a show that I was at. Once Jerry passed, I drifted away from that scene except for a few Phil and Friends shows. I got more into The Allman Brothers, bluegrass, singer-songwriters, and whatever else caught my fancy.

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by Railroad Bum

Those are two of my absolute favorites as well, my friend, and I have been trying to pick both since I was a kid, too.

I played China Cat when I was in this one band, and it was fun. It works best with two guitars, preferably electrics. I wouldn't even try to pull it off solo acoustic.

I still listen to The Dead sometimes. I actually just listened to a Dew from Chapel Hill, NC, in 1993, a show that I was at. Once Jerry passed, I drifted away from that scene except for a few Phil and Friends shows. I got more into The Allman Brothers, bluegrass, singer-songwriters, and whatever else caught my fancy.

Yeah, I also went to a couple of "Remains of the Dead" shows post Jerry - I can't remember all of the different iterations and what they were calling themselves, so I just group them together under Remains. I was generally bummed out by them. I had high hopes with one of the iterations that had Steve Kimmock in one of the guitar seats - I loved his playing with Zero and thought he'd have a decent shot at filling the Jerry seat, but he hung back waaaay too much, was way too deferential to the other guitarist (I can't remember who it was) and I just thought the whole thing was really pretty uninspired, even though Bob and Phil were both part of that outfit. I'd love to have caught a few Dead and Co shows - I thought Mayer was a terrible choice at first and the earlier shows with him were pretty bad, but he really grew into the role and I'd have loved to have seen some of those 2018-2019 shows. But if never happened.

I still put on some Dead shows from time to time - my second show was the best I ever saw - it's Dave's Picks #23 and I try to listen to that every year around its anniversary (1/22/78). But mostly I listen to stuff from the one drummer period, usually from 72 or 73. To me, that was the best they ever were, so loose and agile, and there are so many great shows from that period. I don't listen to them very much anymore, but then I don't listen to that much of anything anymore. I really enjoy playing and I'll occasionally put on some Coltrane or Miles from the early 60s, but the days when I was listening to music nearly 24-7 are way in my rearview. Or if a new album catches my fancy, I'll spend some time with it, listen to them on walks - I'm really digging some recent Jason Isabel and Casey Musgraves lately.

But I still love so many Dead songs and find a bunch of them a blast to play, so I play 'em...

-Ray

[Railroad Bum]

Originally Posted by raysachs

Yeah, I also went to a couple of "Remains of the Dead" shows post Jerry - I can't remember all of the different iterations and what they were calling themselves, so I just group them together under Remains. I was generally bummed out by them. I had high hopes with one of the iterations that had Steve Kimmock in one of the guitar seats - I loved his playing with Zero and thought he'd have a decent shot at filling the Jerry seat, but he hung back waaaay too much, was way too deferential to the other guitarist (I can't remember who it was) and I just thought the whole thing was really pretty uninspired, even though Bob and Phil were both part of that outfit. I'd love to have caught a few Dead and Co shows - I thought Mayer was a terrible choice at first and the earlier shows with him were pretty bad, but he really grew into the role and I'd have loved to have seen some of those 2018-2019 shows. But if never happened.

I still put on some Dead shows from time to time - my second show was the best I ever saw - it's Dave's Picks #23 and I try to listen to that every year around its anniversary (1/22/78). But mostly I listen to stuff from the one drummer period, usually from 72 or 73. To me, that was the best they ever were, so loose and agile, and there are so many great shows from that period. I don't listen to them very much anymore, but then I don't listen to that much of anything anymore. I really enjoy playing and I'll occasionally put on some Coltrane or Miles from the early 60s, but the days when I was listening to music nearly 24-7 are way in my rearview. Or if a new album catches my fancy, I'll spend some time with it, listen to them on walks - I'm really digging some recent Jason Isabel and Casey Musgraves lately.

But I still love so many Dead songs and find a bunch of them a blast to play, so I play 'em...

-Ray

I like that--"Remains of the Dead." I agree about most of that stuff. I like Steve Kimmock a lot, too. I think that other guitarist was Mark Karan, and he's fine, but he's no Kimmock, lol. I will say that Phil and Friends had a nice run with Warren Haynes and Jimmy Herring on guitars, and I saw maybe a dozen shows with that lineup. I also saw a couple Phil and Friends shows with John Scofield, and that was awfully good. But I was never much of a Bob Weir fan, and I don't care for John Mayer either, although he is a great guitar player. Like you, I moved on from that scene.

78 Dead is fantastic stuff. I really dig most anything from 69-83, and I pick and choose from shows after that. I don't listen to as much music as I used to either. Jason Isbell is quite good. I saw him years ago with The Drive-By Truckers, and he was by far the highlight of that band, I thought.

I would recommend checking out Mapache, excellent young duo out of California. Here's a little acoustic show they did (maybe 25 minutes long): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrQHNX5qOiY

[started with 1]

Nice cover of Dew! It’s and old favorite of mine too. And Im sure you know that before mapache, these two were in Grateful Shred, an LA based dead cover band. Check out some of their videos in Shred too. Great easygoing vibe, excellent vocals and harmonies and really good guitar work by both of these guys, especially lefty playing Hendrix style upside down on a squire.

[Railroad Bum]

Originally Posted by started with 1

Nice cover of Dew! It’s and old favorite of mine too. And Im sure you know that before mapache, these two were in Grateful Shred, an LA based dead cover band. Check out some of their videos in Shred too. Great easygoing vibe, excellent vocals and harmonies and really good guitar work by both of these guys, especially lefty playing Hendrix style upside down on a squire.

Thank you, Joe. Dew is a very hypnotic tune, and it's deceptively tricky to get down because you just get lost in it. And I did know that Sam and Clay got started in Grateful Shred with Dan Horne. All of that Grateful Shred-Mapache-Circles Around the Sun group of guys is outstanding music.

And there was nothing better to wind down a second set of a Dead show than a good old Morning Dew!

[Inyo]

Originally Posted by Railroad Bum

Here's one of my favorite things that the Grateful Dead did live, the old Bonnie Dobson post-nuclear apocalypse folk ballad "Morning Dew." The Dead turned this into an epic for Jerry Garcia, belting out the ballad and ripping through the instrumental sections. I tried to compress it down a little, but it's kind of long. Sorry. It's a hard song to cover because you can get lost and mesmerized by this number. This is played on my Yamaha FG830. I had a previous version up on YouTube, but I thought it was way too wild and noisy, even for me, hahaha:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abd5kFk8UgQ

Nice version with the Yamaha FG830 (I happened to pick one up not too long ago). The Dead's live and studio renditions are excellent (OK, admittedly some live Dead versions of Morning Dew are better than others), of course (and loads of other folks have also covered it), but my favorite 1960s take on the classic 1962 Bonnie Dobson composition (with a later co-writing credit by Tim Rose) is the one recorded by The Nova Local (formed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1964--first name was The Shadows), from their 1968 vinyl album Nova 1 (some reports suggest that this was the first album ever recorded using the Dolby Noise-Reduction system).

The video, embedded:

[Railroad Bum]

Originally Posted by Inyo

Nice version with the Yamaha FG830 (I happened to pick one up not too long ago). The Dead's live and studio renditions are excellent (OK, admittedly some live Dead versions of Morning Dew are better than others), of course (and loads of other folks have also covered it), but my favorite 1960s take on the classic 1962 Bonnie Dobson composition (with a later co-writing credit by Tim Rose) is the one recorded by The Nova Local (formed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1964--first name was The Shadows), from their 1968 vinyl album Nova 1 (some reports suggest that this was the first album ever recorded using the Dolby Noise-Reduction system).

The video, embedded:

Hey, thank you for the comments and the additional information. I am a Dead Head and was a tape trader for several years, back in the late 80s and early-to-mid 90s, so I can't even say how many versions of the Dead's version of Dew that I have heard. It was always at least good and sometimes unbelievably transcendent. I will look for The Nova Local version--I have never even heard of it!