Watch Grateful Dead Rope A Pair Of Cowboy Songs In 1990

The Grateful Dead shared video of “Me And My Uncle” and “Big River” as this week’s All The Years Live installment. The footage is from GD’s July 10, 1990 concert at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Both songs are staple Dead covers. “Me and My Uncle” was written by John Phillips of The Mamas & The Papas. Judy Collins released a version of the song in 1964. The Grateful Dead debuted “Me And My Uncle” two years later in 1966 and played it upwards of 600 times in their 30-year tenure.

The legendary Johnny Cash wrote “Big River” and released it as a single on Sun Records in 1958. GD premiered “Big River” in 1970 and played it nearly 400 times. The Grateful Dead performed “Me And My Uncle” and “Big River” consecutively 176 times beginning in 1977, as per herbibot.com.

The songs were often included in what came to be known as the Cowboy Medley. Dead archivist David Lemieux detailed the Cowboy Medley in his notes accompanying the Raleigh video.

“Starting in 1978, most Grateful Dead shows featured what became affectionately known as a Cowboy Medley. The country/western songs that were primarily sung by Bob Weir had been a part of the repertoire since 1969, but in 1978 they began joining them into medleys, with the most common being Me and My Uncle / Mexicali Blues and Mama Tried / Big River, with common variations on these combinations, as heard here from 1990 in Raleigh.”

Watch the Grateful Dead perform “Me And My Uncle” and “Big River” in Raleigh below: