Happy 70th Birthday Bill Kreutzmann: 7 Standout Billy Sit-Ins

Today marks the 70th birthday of drummer, author and founding member of the Grateful Dead Bill Kreutzmann. As the California-native and one-half of The Rhythm Devils alongside fellow Dead percussionist Mickey Hart enters his seventh decade, Billy remains an active member of the music scene he helped establish in the late 1960s. Current assignments behind the kit with Dead & Company featuring John Mayer and his Dead mates Hart and Bob Weir and with Billy & The Kids alongside Aron Magner, Reed Mathis and Tom Hamilton, provide ample opportunities to see Kreutzmann keep time.

It doesn’t always take having a ticket to a pre-billed Billy show to get to see him performing live. In recent years he’s shown up to add percussion in a number of settings with many bands who credit him as an influence. He’s also been known to help out longtime friends when called upon to take the stage as can be seen in the seven videos collected below.

First up is a sit-in that went down on August 2, 2009 at Phish’s show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado. Kreutzmann emerged mid-second set after a second drum kit was brought onstage during the “You Enjoy Myself” vocal jam, joining in on “Undermind” and sticking around for the rest of set two. Here’s video of the full set thanks to BurningShoreProphet . OG, the sit-in starts around 32:00:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0W725BJx1E

If you attend a festival and Billy’s around there’s a good chance he’s going to collaborate. This pro-shot video from EPIC Creative features Yonder Mountain String Band performing at the Northwest String Summit in August 2012. Watch the BillyK-assisted take on “Shakedown Street” here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geowSoQq5ts

Organizers of Gathering Of The Vibes brought the Disco Biscuits together with Kreutzmann and Hart for a headlining set at on August 2, 2014. The Rhythm Devils and Bisco mixed Grateful Dead classics such as “The Other One” and “Eyes of the World” with tDB originals including “Home Again” and “I-Man” at Seaside Park in Stamford, Connecticut. Videographer MKDevo filmed the full set, watch:

Later in 2014 Billy joined longtime collaborator guitarist Steve Kimock for a tribute to his late Grateful Dead band mate Jerry Garcia. Held on December 5, 2014 at Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, California, the video below also features Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz on guitar, Bobby Vega on bass, Bill Vitt on drums and Dead & Company’s Jeff Chimenti on keys. Here’s “Help On The Way” > “Slipknot! > “Franklin’s Tower” captured by C.N. Miller:

At the 2015 edition of Gathering Of The Vibes, Billy & The Kids performed and were joined by Warren Haynes. The event also had a collaborative set planned featuring Haynes backed by Railroad Earth and Warren brought Billy out to play drums as the guitarist led the ensemble through the Dead’s “China Doll.” The sit-in took place August 1, on what would have been Garcia’s 73rd birthday, and was filmed by Sean Roche. View it here:

A few days after GOTV, last year’s Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival was held in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park on the 20th anniversary Garcia’s death. Kreutzmann sat-in with Alex Bleeker & The Freaks on August 9, 2015 during their noon set at the Panhandle Stage for “The Other One” and “St. Stephen.” Here’s audience shot footage the pair of Dead tunes captured by mattb4310 inside the famed Bay Area park:

Finally, this clip comes from the Lockn’ Festival held in September 2015 at Oak Ridge Farm in Arrington, Virginia. Billy was among the all-star lineup of musicians that came together for a one-time-only celebration of Jefferson Airplane in honor of the famed psychedelic rock band’s 50th anniversary. The video below showcases Kreutzmann alongside Airplane’s Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady, as well as Larry Campbell, G.E. Smith, Jeff Pehrson, Rachel Price and Justin Guip and was posted by WardenJune, watch: