Grateful Dead Shares Early Performance Of 1 Of Bill Walton’s Favorite Songs

Grateful Dead shared video of “Black Muddy River,” one of the late Bill Walton’s favorite songs, as the latest in the band’s All The Years Live archival series. The performance is from the Bay Area’s Shoreline Amphitheatre on October 2, 1987.

The Grateful Dead debuted the poignant “Black Muddy River” on December 15, 1986, as per JerryBase. It was the last of the songs that would appear on GD’s 1987 album, In The Dark, to be premiered live, as Dead archivist David Lemieux noted.

“The final song debuted live from the material that would appear on In The Dark, “Black Muddy River” was played primarily as an encore in 1987-1990, before rather abruptly being dropped after 1990, with only four more performances 1991-1995 (one in 1991, three in 1995). This was one of Bill Walton’s favourite Grateful Dead songs.”

In a 2016 interview with NBA.com, legendary basketball player and Deadhead Bill Walton, always on the lookout for synchronicity, shared an anecdote about hearing “Black Muddy River” twice while he was in the NBA store to promote his book, Back From The Dead: Searching For The Sound, Finding The Light And Throwing It Down.

“When we were at the NBA store during the initial launch, I was there for five hours. They played the Grateful Dead throughout the entire store for five hours and never repeated a song with one exception at the very end, they played “Black Muddy River” (twice). I kept thinking to myself, ‘They have not repeated a single song in five hours,’ and then they played “Black Muddy River,” which they can play all the time as far as I’m concerned.”

Bill Walton passed away on May 27, 2024. Watch the Grateful Dead perform Bill’s favorite song at Shoreline in ‘87 below: