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By: Ann Marie Svilar
 Donna Jean and the Tricksters |
The people we meet through music often feel like family, especially in the jam band scene. Chances are if you were a Deadhead, you knew other Deadheads who knew other Deadheads, and eventually you all met at a show and are still best friends.
As I wonder if it's okay for me to date a man who doesn't know who Tom Waits is, I realize that people who love music also love each other. It gets pretty lonely having to explain rock history to one's mate. Of course, the path our passion takes us on in music will vary. And for better or worse, everyone has an opinion. There are the critic (which I tend to be). There's the fans and groupies. There is the musician's perspective. There is yours. And then there is Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay. Having been the female vocalist for the most monumental jam band in history, Grateful Dead, Donna Jean has spent her life playing in the band.
"It is like a relationship, and all of the relational issues that go on in a relationship also go on in a band. So you have to be very committed and know that this is something worth putting your energy and focus into," says Donna Jean.
Though her life has been filled by relationships with musicians, she was never a Band-Aid (ala Penny Lane in Almost Famous). She was the band. She is the widow of Keith Godchaux, the late Grateful Dead keyboardist, and is currently married to David MacKay, her former bandmate in the Heart of Gold Band.
 Weir, Donna Jean & Garcia |
"We [both husbands] started our personal and musical relationship together. I have never found that to be much of an obstacle, other than The Grateful Dead was on the road so much," says Donna Jean. "The Grateful Dead thing was so huge that it was very difficult at that time, back in the '70s with all that was going on with Keith and I. We struggled because we were together 24/7, and being on the road with The Grateful Dead was not the easiest thing for a married couple. We fought like cats and dogs. It was tough, and, of course, there were substances that added to the drama. The truth is I cannot imagine being in a relationship, much less being married to somebody who was not in music. I just don't know how I would relate to somebody that was not involved in music. I don't think I could do it."
Donna Jean's relationships in music stretch far past her husbands. She has two sons, Zion and Kinsman, who are also musicians, and she sings with both of them. With long gray hair straight from the sixties and a strong voice from somewhere after that, she is the culmination of where she's been. Donna Jean got her start as a session singer at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. A young sweetheart amongst Southern musicians, she was only 21-years-old at the time she sang backup for Elvis Presley.
"I remember walking into the studio and Aretha Franklin was an unheard of person then, and I said, 'Who is Erica Franklin?' I was there when Otis Redding was there. He was an incredible presence, oh my God," enthuses Donna Jean. "Being born and raised in this little Podunk town of Muscle Shoals, Alabama and recording studios popping up here provided a palette for me to express myself musically and sing on a large scale, not just in a garage band sort of way. [It allowed me to] be involved in a musical explosion that became one of the musical capitals of the world. That's life changing. I was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time."
 Donna Jean by Weiand |
We can't think of Donna Jean and not think about Jerry Garcia. Many Grateful Dead fans feel a certain ownership of Garcia. The coffee shop I'm writing this in is playing Terrapin Station, the album Donna Jean wrote her first song on. Garcia was the one who encouraged her to write it. He has touched many lives but few as significantly as Donna Jean's.
"Getting to be in The Grateful Dead, being in the right place at the right time, and having the experiences that I did in that band, the incredible privilege of being a part of Jerry Garcia's life for almost nine years and to be in his presence. He was one of the major influences of my life and the direction that it would take" says Donna Jean. "He was very influential on me in so many ways, musically and philosophically. I learned probably more from him than anybody in my whole life."
"He could communicate things that were generally very hard for people to communicate, that had to do with real high things and concepts and philosophies that were unusual and really required you to get out of yourself and out of your thinking that you had always been in," continues Donna Jean. "He had the ability and capacity to take people out of themselves and into another place. I can speak for myself and say that he did that for me. He was able to communicate in ways that I have not heard other people be able to communicate. He was an amazing person. His sense of humor was unequaled by anyone else I've ever been around. He was hilarious [and] he had a very intelligent humor."
Continue reading for more on Donna Jean...
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[Jerry Garcia] was very influential on me in so many ways, musically and philosophically. I learned probably more from him than anybody in my whole life. -Donna Jean |
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Photo by Susan J. Weiand
"[Being in The Grateful Dead] was really hard on the relationship [for] Keith and me personally. And then we had Zion and I was always concerned about what was happening with him if he wasn't with me, if he was being taken care of and if he was with me it was an added pressure. Being on the road and, like I said, all the substances that were involved back in those days contributed to a lot of things that went on with Keith and me," Donna Jean recalls. "By the time it got to be 1979 and Zion was four-years-old, we just knew that we needed to take a break. The band also knew that we needed to take a break. They knew it was time for us to leave the band and we knew it was time for us to leave the band. There was a meeting at our house and they said, 'We think you should move on.' And we said, 'Well, we know we should move on [laughs].' So it was a mutual decision. There was never any harsh weirdness between us... we remained friends and retained a life long friendship."
"There is always going to be that Grateful Dead base and how we relate to music philosophically. That's a plus actually, but the reality is that it's 20 years later and everybody is doing their own thing," observes Donna Jean. "When I get back with them they are my brothers, they are my friends and we have a musical and personal relationship, and it's just the coolest thing in the world."
Currently, Donna Jean is the musical companion of the seven-piece band, Donna Jean & the Tricksters. Donna Jean first met the Tricksters at the Gathering of the Vibes festival. Donna Jean recalls how she was first impressed by the kind of people they were. Later, she was impressed with the way they played her songs, and by their own songwriting and range. They decided to give musical union a shot, and what has come of that she describes as Southern groove roots with a backbeat, as well as intensive jams. Their self-titled debut was released January 29 on Dig (part of the Rykodisc network).
"The good thing about this band is that we have so many songwriters," says Donna Jean. "We have seven members in this band, so we have seven songwriters [and] seven lead singers. So, we are not at a loss for material and a range in what we can do vocally. It opened up arenas for me vocally, and stimulated me vocally to where we can really do more than I've ever been able to do. For instance, three people can sing a line and four people can answer. Or we can almost have a choir sound because we have so many singers. On this CD we really incorporated that but we've only scratched the surface of what we can do vocally."
When Donna Jean talks about the Tricksters, she gushes with the excitement of someone who has just found a new best friend.
 Donna Jean by Susan J. Weiand |
"I didn't have to struggle and go out there and find something, yet again. After the Donna Jean Band and Heart of Gold Band, I just had this serendipitous experience of meeting these people who were on the same page and in the same place. Once again at the right time and the right place for something really magical to happen. I just could not be happier as a person or as a singer-songwriter right now," gushes Donna Jean.
It's interesting to hear Donna Jean say that her current band feeds her with more inspiration than she's ever had. It's sort of like The Grateful Dead was her first boyfriend – rocky at times but unforgettable, training her through rich, complex experiences.
"Going into The Grateful Dead I had only been a session vocalist. I had never performed live until I stood onstage with The Grateful Dead," she says. "A lot of my years in The Grateful Dead were really acclimating to the live situation. The Grateful Dead were an established band. They knew who they were. They had a sound that they were going for. They knew what they were doing and they had a real run on their identity as The Grateful Dead, so I didn't press that at all. I was trying to find out who I was as the lead vocalist in this band of brothers. So, I had a lot of acclimating to do, so I never really pressed anything. I never have been one to want to interject myself and be bold in that way. Like I am now! Many of my years in The Grateful Dead were spent that way, where I was just finding myself."
She's not alone in that experience. Most people's days with The Grateful Dead were spent trying to find themselves in the midst of that most unique circus environment. It was a time of hallucinogens and experimentation, not unlike what they were hearing in the music. Like '60s jazz musicians, The Grateful Dead were monumental in the way they introduced improvisational music to a generation.
Almost three decades have passed since Donna Jean was a member of The Grateful Dead, and 13 years have gone by since Jerry Garcia passed. I asked Donna Jean if and how the audience has changed over time.
"Most people who come to our shows are likeminded musically. In the jam band scene you are going to get people who pretty much have the same musical philosophy, and they are ready to have an experience and an adventure because it is experimental and adventuresome" observes Donna Jean. "Our audience is one that really expects that and applauds that, so we are likeminded in that regard."
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