3 Grateful Dead Classics Guaranteed To Make Fans out of Non-Deadheads

For newcomers, finding an entry point to Grateful Dead’s music can be intimidating. The band became an institution and, arguably, its own genre, blending rock, folk, blues, and country. Instead of beginning at the beginning, with Grateful Dead (1967), or with the group’s many live recordings, I’ll guide you toward how the Dead started the 1970s, with a pair of iconic Americana releases.

Videos by American Songwriter

I admit, this list is impossibly incomplete. However, I want to begin with a few tracks that, to me, feel immediate and accessible. And they may even make fans of non-Deadheads.

“Truckin’” from ‘American Beauty’ (1970)

Bob Weir sings, perhaps, Grateful Dead’s most popular tune. “Truckin’” is a road song that details the real-life adventures and trouble the Dead endured on tour. It’s a perspective few can relate to unless you’ve spent time traveling the country in a rock and roll band. Weir delivers rapid-fire lyrics over an old-fashioned blues shuffle. For many non-Deadheads, American Beauty and its country-rock predecessor, Workingman’s Dead, are the most direct ways in to the band’s sprawling catalog.

“Ripple” from ‘American Beauty’ (1970)

A gorgeous lullaby about navigating life while attempting to unlock its mysteries. Jerry Garcia’s longtime collaborator and lyricist Robert Hunter doesn’t answer any big questions in the tune. But it’s interesting to hear these words in Garcia’s voice, where the writer wonders how his thoughts get interpreted through another’s voice, or even through the music itself. “Ripple” remains open to many interpretations, but I think it speaks to life’s journey more so than its destination.

“Casey Jones” from ‘Workingman’s Dead’ (1970)

Crosby, Stills & Nash had (supposedly) inspired The Dead to sing harmonies. It offered a new texture as the band discarded psychedelia and returned to its American folk roots. Released within a month of each other, Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty reinvigorated the band and helped lift them from the financial pit they found themselves in at the end of the 1960s. The album title borrows from Merle Haggard’s “Workin’ Man Blues”. But Haggard’s inspiration can also be heard in the Dead’s adoption of the raw Bakersfield sound—a dusty revolt against the polished sounds of Nashville’s country music establishment.

“Casey Jones” borrows from a folk standard about a train careening toward disaster. But the old tale could be a metaphor for both the Dead and the acid scene it came from.

Photo by MediaPunch