On December 31, 1963 Jerry Garcia was playing a banjo in a back room at Dana Morgan's Music Store while waiting for his regular Tuesday night students to arrive. Since it was New Year's Eve they never came, but a group of friends from Atherton out looking for a place to spend the holiday evening heard the music and went to the door. Among the boys were Bob Matthews, one of Jerry's students, and his classmate Bob Weir.
Jerry got instruments from the front of the store for everyone and they jammed the rest of the night. Soon afterward, they formed the jug band Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, which became the Warlocks and then the Grateful Dead. Bob Matthews was an early sound engineer for the Dead during shows and on studio recordings.
On Feb. 9, 1973, Jerry Garcia made an instructional audio recording of “Wave that Flag” so he could teach the song to his Grateful Dead bandmates.
The solo demo of the song that would eventually become “U.S. Blues” is out to announce the forthcoming From the Mars Hotel (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition). It finds Garcia at home, on acoustic and electric guitars and percussion, singing mostly complete - but slightly varied - lyrics to the short-lived member of the Dead’s live repertoire.
The recording reveals Garcia pretty much knew what he wanted his collaborators to do with the song. That’s particularly strange, given the many iterations it went through as it morphed from “Wave that Flag” into “U.S. Blues.” As such, it’s a super-cool peek behind the curtain and a demo that checks all boxes as it’s a good listen to boot.
Out June 21, Mars Hotel 50 includes a remaster of the original LP, the Dead’s previously unreleased May 12, 1974, concert in Nevada and a demo of “China Doll” to go with “Wave that Flag.”
Grade card: Grateful Dead - “Wave that Flag” (Demo) - A
Farm Aid 2023. Deer Creek, Noblesville, In. (us old timers will always call this venue Deer Creek no matter what corporate entity puts their name on it). Bobby Weir with the Wolf Brothers. “Not Fade Away” My son just sent me this.