Dave McMurray Announces Grateful Dead Tribute Album & Shares ‘Loser’ Cover Featuring Bob Weir & Bettye LaVette

Jazz saxophonist Dave McMurray pays tribute to the Grateful Dead on Grateful Deadication, a new studio album due through Blue Note Records on July 16. McMurray recorded nine Grateful Dead covers, with two versions of “Touch Of Grey,” for the LP which features vocalist Bettye LaVette, GD guitarist Bob Weir, bassist Don Was, pedal steel guitarist Greg Leisz, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and drummer Jay Lane on lead single “Loser.”

The saxophonist recently found and fell in love with the music of the Grateful Dead. McMurray sat-in with in his hometown of Detroit on March 5, 2019 and a year earlier at San Francisco’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival. David’s connection came through Blue Note president Don Was, a member of Bob Weir & Wolf Bros. McMurray toured in Don’s Was (Not Was) project starting in 1981.

“The funny thing is, I’m not a longtime fan,” explained McMurray. “I knew their hits. I remember seeing the video for ‘Touch of Grey’ and thinking, ‘Wow, that’s quirky.’ But I knew nothing about the Grateful Dead. I was confused that they had such a following, with fans actually following the band from city to city. I was like, ‘What are these people seeing?’ I just didn’t get it.”

“I saw the music and realized this was a crazy song,” David noted regarding “Days Between,” a song he played on at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. “It had weird time signature changes and all kinds of stuff. But when we did it on the gig, it was great. It just had this beautiful vibe and the audience loved it. So I thought I’d better start checking them out. At first, I didn’t understand it, but one day I was driving and it just clicked. The long forms and jams reminded me of Miles Davis, or Soft Machine, or Weather Report. It turned my ears around.”

Watch the video for McMurray’s “Loser” below:

Grateful Deadication Tracklist

1. Fire On The Mountain
2. Dark Star
3. Loser (feat. Bettye LaVette & Bob Weir And Wolf Bros)
4. Estimated Prophet
5. Eyes Of The World
6. The Eleven
7. Touch Of Grey (feat. Herschel Boone)
8. Touch Of Grey (Instrumental)
9. Franklin’s Tower
10. The Music Never Stopped