The 1-Hit-Wonder Band That Brent Mydland Was In Before The Grateful Dead

One of the ways to identify an era of the Grateful Dead from a live recordings is to keen in on the keyboard sound. Over the course of their 30-year career, the Dead employed several keyboard players, each bringing his own talents and skills to shape the band’s sound.

The Brent Mydland era of the Grateful Dead began in 1979 when he replaced Keith Godchaux to become the band’s latest keyboard player. Mydland’s tenure in the band is notable for being the longest of any keyboardist, though it came to a tragic end when he died of an accidental drug overdose on this date in 1990.

The significance of Mydland’s impact on the Dead goes well beyond the length of his time in the band. Between his first show on April 22, 1979, and final appearance on July 23, 1990, Mydland’s keyboard playing and gritty vocals helped define the era of the band that saw it grow from a somewhat under-the-radar cult following to a global cultural phenomenon reaching Deadheads around the world.

Mydland’s journey with the Grateful Dead began in April 1979 when he participated in rehearsals at the Dead’s Club Front facility in San Rafael, California, and made his live debut with the band at Spartan Stadium in San Jose.

Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir’s solo album Heaven Help The Fool was recorded in late 1977 and released in January 1978. Weir put together a solo band to tour in support of the record. An essay by the indispensable Lost Live Dead/Hooterollin’ Around resource detailed the circumstances that led Mydland to Weir:

Bob Weir invited [late multi-instrumentalist] David Lindley to join him on his inaugural tour. Weir would likely have known Lindley from the various times that Lindley’s ‘60s band Kaleidoscope had opened for the Grateful Dead. By the late 1970s, Lindley had become well-known as Jackson Browne’s chief collaborator. However, the perpetually busy Lindley apparently turned Weir down – darn it – but recommended drummer John Mauceri.

Mauceri was auditioned and hired, and in turn brought in his partner Rick Carlos on bass. The pair had played together in various aggregations. They had backed up the duo Batdorf & Rodney on tour various times … With the rhythm section intact, Carlos recommended his friend Brent Mydland to play organ. Carlos and Mydland had played together since high school, and Mydland had even played with Carlos behind Batdorf & Rodney (albeit not with Mauceri). By 1975, Mydland had ended up in the group Silver with [guitarist] John Batdorf, and they had released an obscure album on Arista.

Along with Mydland and Batdorf, the Silver lineup included guitarist Greg Collier, bassist Tom Leadon (who was a member of Mudcrutch with Tom Petty) and drummer Harry Stinson (who went on to work with Steve Earle, Marty Stuart and many others).

As noted above, Silver released only one album, their 1976 self-titled debut, which came out on Arista Records, the label that signed the Grateful Dead that same year. Executive produced by Artista Records’ head Clive Davis and produced by Tom Sellers, the album’s single, “Wham Bam” reached #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Alternately titled “Wham Bam Shang-A-Lang,” the song written by Rick Giles was included in the soundtrack to the 2017 Marvel movie Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

Two of the album’s 10 songs were written and sung by Mydland, “Climbing” and the somber second single, “Musician (It’s Not An Easy Life).” Listen to those two tracks, as well as Silver’s one hit, “Wham Bam,” below: