01	Uncle John's Band						04:45
	02	High Time						05:15
	03	Dire Wolf						03:15
	04	New Speedway Boogie						04:07
	05	Cumberland Blues						03:18
	06	Black Peter						05:44
	07	Easy Wind						05:00
	08	Casey Jones						04:24

Workingman's Dead
Date of Release Jun 14, 1970
Styles Country-Rock, Folk-Rock, Album Rock

The Grateful Dead were already established as paragons of the free-form, improvisational San Francisco psychedelic sound when they abruptly shifted gears for the acoustic Workingman's Dead, a lovely exploration of American roots music illuminating the group's country, blues, and folk influences. The lilting "Uncle John's Band," their first radio hit, opens the record and perfectly summarizes its subtle, spare beauty; complete with a new focus on more concise songs and tighter arrangements, the approach works brilliantly. Despite its sharp contrast to the epic live space jams on which the group's legend primarily rests, Workingman's Dead nonetheless spotlights the Dead at their most engaging, stripped of all excess to reveal the true essence of their craft. - Jason Ankeny

1. Uncle John's Band (Garcia/Hunter) - 4:42
2. High Time (Garcia/Hunter) - 5:12
3. Dire Wolf (Garcia/Hunter) - 3:11
4. New Speedway Boogie (Garcia/Hunter) - 4:01
5. Cumberland Blues (Garcia/Hunter/Lesh) - 3:14
6. Black Peter (Garcia/Hunter) - 5:41
7. Easy Wind (Hunter) - 4:57
8. Casey Jones (Garcia/Hunter) - 4:24

Mickey Hart - Percussion, Drums, Engineer, Mixing, Sound Design, Stereo Mix Producer, Surround Sound
Jerry Garcia - Guitar, Songwriter, Pedal Steel, Vocals
The Grateful Dead - Producer
Bob Weir - Guitar, Vocals
Robert Hunter - Lyricist
Andrew McPherson - Authoring
Greg Allen - Design
Betty Cantor-Jackson - Producer
Henry Diltz - Photography
Tom Flye - Engineer, Mixing
Bill Kreutzmann - Drums
Phil Lesh - Bass, Songwriter, Vocals
Bob Matthews - Producer
Ron "Pigpen" McKernan - Harmonica, Keyboards, Vocals
David Nelson - Guitar (Acoustic)
Jeffrey Norman - Engineer
Ramrod - Equipment Technician
Betty Cantor - Producer
Scott Heard - Equipment Technician
Stanley Mouse - Photography
David Singer - Poster Design
Amalie R. Rothschild - Photography
Alembic - Engineer
Rudson Shurtliff - Engineer

CD Warner Brothers 2-1869
CS Warner Brothers M5-1869
1970 LP Warner Brothers WS-1869
1990 LP Warner Brothers 1869



Uncle John's Band
Composed By Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter

AMG REVIEW: Grateful Dead biographer Blair Jackson calls "Uncle John's Band" one of the Dead's best-known songs, and there are a number of reasons for this. It was the leadoff track on 1970's Workingman's Dead, their first album to reach the Top 30 and to be certified for sales of one million copies; it was also their first single to reach the charts. Beyond these statistics, it marked a stylistic shift, or perhaps a stylistic expansion, for the band. From their debut in the San Francisco Bay area in the mid-'60s, the Dead had been known for their blues-based rock and their instrumental excursions, and that was the kind of music that characterized their four modestly selling albums The Grateful Dead (1967), Anthem of the Sun (1968), Aoxomoxoa (1969), and Live/Dead (1969). But singer/guitarist Jerry Garcia had a background in bluegrass music, which made him susceptible to the influence of Crosby, Stills & Nash when they appeared in 1969 with their three-part harmonies and acoustic guitars. Meanwhile, Garcia had inveigled his friend, poet Robert Hunter, into contributing lyrics to the group's songs, and after some fairly esoteric early efforts, Hunter was turning to a more folk-based, homespun-philosophy approach on his latest submissions. Garcia cited a recent interest in Eastern European music as the initial inspiration for the music that became "Uncle John's Band," admitting to Jackson that he stole "this little turn of melody" from a Bulgarian Women's Choir or Greek-Macedonian music record, but saying that it had been transmogrified in the Dead's arrangement. Listeners with less wide-ranging tastes are more likely to hear the influence of Crosby, Stills & Nash's "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," especially because of the three-part harmonies by Garcia, bass player Phil Lesh, and guitarist Bob Weir. If Hunter was writing less abstractly, he still was still writing in a highly poetic, allusive manner, and the lyrics to "Uncle John's Band" are anything but straight-forward. Jackson, in Garcia: An American Life (New York: Viking, 1999), says Hunter was issuing "an invitation to his generation to learn from the past and move forward into the future... 'Uncle John's Band' was like a friendly outstretched hand that reached into the psychic darkness that was enveloping the culture and pulled the tattered survivors onto safer ground." Oliver Trager also picks up on the state of the culture - that is, the "counterculture" of the late '60s - in his analysis, writing in The American Book of the Dead (New York: Fireside, 1997), "Composed at the tail end of 1969 with the sense of community in the hippie counterculture quickly disappearing, 'Uncle John's Band' is a clarion call to the tribes and a warning about those who seek to undermine them." In retrospect, however, the lyrics may have less to do with the times than with Hunter's emerging worldview and approach to writing for songs. As he told this writer, he came to realize that people don't listen to songs the way they read poetry, i.e., in a linear manner, able to appreciate what came before and anticipate what is coming after. Rather, they hear isolated lines. "Uncle John's Band" is written in isolated lines with repeating patterns and phrases; it does not have a narrative. Hunter told Jackson that " Uncle John was a Kansas City drifter who had a flea circus," and that is the band he had in mind, but this inspiration doesn't really make it into the song, which is full of Hunter's sense of philosophical balance, with good always countered by bad. "When life looks like Easy Street/there is danger at your door," goes part of the opening verse, and in the last verse the narrator says he's got a violin and invites the listener to call a tune, but then asks, "How does the song go?" Nevertheless, in Hunter's "on the one hand, on the other hand" universe, music always provides some comfort; hence the chorus, "Come hear Uncle John's Band," which echoes Irving Berlin's 1911 breakthrough hit, "Alexander's Ragtime Band." The Grateful Dead first played music identifiable as part of "Uncle John's Band" as early as September 1969, though it was not until December 4 that they played the finished song in a concert. Workingman's Dead was released in May 1970, along with a 45 pressing of "Uncle John's Band" that was edited for time and content. For radio play, the track was cut from 4:42 to 3:07, and the word "goddamn" was awkwardly clipped out. The single was only a minor chart entry, but that was better than any previous Dead single had done. "Uncle John's Band" was probably the first Grateful Dead song that many people ever heard, and its accessible style vastly increased the group's audience, while longtime fans must have been surprised at the band's turn toward an emphasis on vocals and short, melodic songs. The Dead continued to play "Uncle John's Band" regularly during their career. In 1974, it was used on the compilation ^The Best of the Grateful Dead/Skeletons From the loset, which sold over three million copies. After the band's demise, live versions turned up on their many archival releases. While cover versions were few, Indigo Girls performed it on the tribute album Deadicated in 1991, and Jimmy Buffett put it on his Fruitcakes album in 1994. - William Ruhlmann


High Time
Composed By Jerry Garcia/Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter/Robert Hunter

AMG REVIEW: A mournful, blusey folk song, "High Time" is an excellent example of the Grateful Dead's move to a more mellow, melodic direction on the Workingman's Dead album. A commentary on leading a simpler life away from a crazed, out of control lifestyle, it is cast in a parable of a love song, but the theme of change in one's life is inescapable. The melody is positively bittersweet and a brilliant marriage of blues and country. - Matthew Greenwald


Dire Wolf
Composed By Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter

AMG REVIEW: A relatively straight-ahead country-folk ballad, "Dire Wolf" is a colorful Western tale of romantic complications and is told in an impressionistic style similar to Bob Dylan's late-'60s work. The melody was clearly defined by the band's general country & western approach, which was no doubt inspired by groups like the Flying Burrito Brothers, and Jerry Garcia's sweet pedal steel guitar is a great feature here. - Matthew Greenwald


New Speedway Boogie
Composed By Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter

AMG REVIEW: One of the heavier songs on the Workingman's Dead album, "New Speedway Boogie" is directly about the disastrous December 1969 Altamont concert where the Grateful Dead were to perform before the Rolling Stones. The lyrics are slightly impressionistic, yet the point about the Stones (and particularly Mick Jagger) had obviously bit off more than they could chew out of the counterculture apple. Musically, the band sounds more relaxed in a rock/ blues setting than they ever have, and the loose, blues-boogie is a perfect vehicle for the band. - Matthew Greenwald


Cumberland Blues
Composed By Jerry Garcia/Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter/Robert Hunter/Phil Lesh/Phil Lesh/Phil Lesh

AMG REVIEW: A sprightly country melody and a breezy tempo are the vehicles for "Cumberland Blues," one of the finest songs on the Workingman's Dead album. An almost Hank Snow approach is utilized by the band here, and it is also a great place for the band's newfound skill as a three-part harmony group. There is little doubt that the band was inspired in this area by their friendship with Crosby, Stills, & Nash. Lyrically, the theme of change and leaving a past life behind is the centerpiece here, as are many of the album's songs. - Matthew Greenwald


Black Peter
Composed By Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter

AMG REVIEW: Another classic from the excellent Workingman's Dead album, "Black Peter" is a laid-back, almost Don Williams-like ballad and is quite evocative of a barroom at three in the morning. The mournful melody is blues-based, yet it also has strong elements of both gospel and country. A sterling bridge is also the home of some of the band's finest harmony vocals. Lyrically, like many of the album's other songs, it speaks of leaving the past behind and looks toward a happier future. - Matthew Greenwald


Easy Wind
Composed By Robert Hunter

AMG REVIEW: Possibly the only song on Workingman's Dead that is reminiscent of the Grateful Dead's earlier work, "Easy Wind" is a big, bluesy, mid-tempo rocker. Some excellent crisscrossing of the melody is driven by Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir's electric guitars, along with some slightly African drumming that sounds out of synch, but ultimately isn't. Ironically, the song is about working and living too hard, and a doctor's advice to slow down; the fact that lead singer Ron "Pigpen" McKernan died shortly after this recording makes it even more frightening and effective. - Matthew Greenwald


Casey Jones
Composed By Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter

AMG REVIEW: One of the Grateful Dead's first (and only) hit records, "Casey Jones" was widely banned due to the overt cocaine references. Indeed, the song is about excess, no doubt about it. Although hugely popular as a pro-drug song, the subtext is more of an autobiographical warning of temperance. Told with great wit and irony, it's one of the band's most effective and charming lyrics. Musically, a big, mid-tempo boogie guides the song perfectly, along with some subtle but welcome country and gospel flourishes. - Matthew Greenwald