4 Rock Songs You Never Knew Featured Members of The Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead is the kind of larger-than-life band into which most of its musicians disappear. With the notable exception of the countless Deadheads around the world, the casual “big hits” listener might not know the names Brent Mydland, John Perry Barlow, or Robert Hunter off the top of their head. (We’ll give the casual listener the benefit of the doubt that they would recognize major players like Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, and Phil Lesh.)

But for as much as these musicians’ identities have been wrapped up in the tie-dye package that is The Grateful Dead, they’ve also explored other musical avenues on occasion. Here are four rock ‘n’ roll tracks you might not realize feature members of San Francisco’s favorite psychedelic jam band.

“Teach Your Children” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Jerry Garcia was in the next studio over when Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were recording their iconic album, Déjà Vu, in 1969. As CSNY worked on the album’s second track, “Teach Your Children”, they decided to ask Garcia if he would be willing to put down a part on pedal steel, which he had recently started playing. He agreed, and the first spontaneous take is the one that made the record. Graham Nash gifted Garcia a vintage Fender Strat, which Garcia decorated with an alligator sticker, turning it into his famous “Alligator guitar.”

“Silvio” by Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan and The Grateful Dead went on tour together in 1987, immortalizing the six-show run with the live album Dylan & the Dead. But before this live album came out, the two musical powerhouses joined forces in the studio on Dylan’s Down In The Groove track, “Silvio”. The song was a Dylan-Dead collab from the beginning, with Robert Hunter co-writing the track. Fellow Grateful Dead members Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, and Brent Mydland provide backup vocals for the song, which peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard rock chart.

“Suspicious Minds” by Elvis Presley

This entry on our list of rock songs featuring Grateful Dead members technically needs an asterisk. Donna Jean Godchaux sang on Elvis Presley’s rendition of “Suspicious Minds” in 1969, a couple of years before she would join The Grateful Dead as a temporary member. Prior to her time in the Dead, Godchaux was a session vocalist in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, performing on tracks like Elvis’ and Percy Sledge’s “When A Man Loves A Woman”. After her time with the Dead, she started the Heart of Gold Band with her then-husband, Keith Godchaux.

“Lay Of The Sunflower” by Gov’t Mule

It only makes sense that jam band musicians would gravitate toward other jam bands, and this seems to be the case for Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh. The bassist worked with Southern rock jam band Gov’t Mule on their 2002 album, The Deep End, Volume 2. Lesh appears on “Lay Of The Sunflower”, the tenth track on the album. Gov’t Mule’s founding member and bassist Allen Woody died two years earlier, and Lesh’s involvement was part of a larger project that saw the surviving bandmates call in bassists Woody admired as a tribute to him.

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