Watch Billy & The Kids Honor Brent Mydland With ‘Blow Away’ On Halloween

Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann’s Billy & The Kids shared pro-shot video of the Brent Mydland-composed “Blow Away.” The footage is from Billy & The Kids’ Halloween concert at the idyllic Mountain Winery in Saratoga, California — part of their Daze of the Dead run.

GD debuted “Blow Away” on June 20, 1988 at Wisconsin’s Alpine Valley. With lyrics by John Barlow and music by Grateful Dead keyboardist Brent Mydland, “Blow Away” later appeared on the Dead’s final studio album, Built To Last, which arrived on Halloween in 1989 — less than a year before Mydland’s untimely death due to an accidental drug overdose.

Billy & The Kids core members Kreutzmann, guitarist Tom Hamilton, bassist Reed Mathis and keyboardist Aron Magner debuted the song this past Halloween at The Mountain Winery, the first Billy & The Kids show in the Grateful Dead’s home state of California since 2016. They were joined by guitarist Brad Barr and drummer Andrew Barr of The Slip for the occasion.

In a nod to his late keyboard brethren, Kreutzmann enlisted Magner to handle lead vocals on the Mydland tune. Watch Billy & The Kids debut “Blow Away” below: