Mr. T. and I are pretty budget conscious, and between all the things for the boys, the house and well, life….there’s not usually much $ left for fun stuff for the two of us. Today though we decided to splurge and download an album.
We weren’t sure what we wanted to get but had some ideas of some artists in mind. From there, Mr. T. started his search. After a few great possibilities, he happened upon this super fun album called Grateful Grass.
It’s a fantastic show with Keller Williams, Keith Moseley (formerly of The String Cheese Incident) and Jeff Austin (Yonder Mountain String Band) all playing Grateful Dead songs….but spun with an awesome Bluegrassey vibe.
The first thing Mr. T. and I both thought when we first heard the album was “Jerry would be proud!”. Jerry Garcia (RIP) one of the founders of the Grateful Dead got his start in bluegrass. In fact, he still played his own style of bluegrass on the side while he was a member of the Dead. He made some great stuff. Not only that though, he inspired a whole new generation of pickers to do something different with a classic sound.
These 3 guys are just some of those new comers who were first turned on by The Dead. In honor of the iconc band and their even more iconic songs, they performed these songs at a show in Denver….and decided to donate 100% of the proceeds of the recording to The Rex Foundation; the non-profit created by The Grateful Dead to support a wide variety of different worthy causes.
When we heard all that, our decision was made! Our “splurge” (it was only a whopping $8!) all when to an awesome charity, and we got some absolutely amazing music in return…not much can top that!
If you know these guys, I’d tell you its some of their best work. If you don’t know these guys but you’re a Dead fan at all, check out this album. Its not people trying to cover The Dead (which is just close to impossible to do well at all) – its people honoring the amazing songs The Dead wrote by bringing them back out with a different sound….and it’s just awesome!