Round Records Launches New Jerry Garcia Vinyl LP Archival Series

A new archival Jerry Garcia LP series is on the way from the Garcia Family Provisions via Round Records entitled Heads & Tails. The first installment, Heads & Tails: Volume 1, is due out on November 3 and is available for pre-order now.

Each Heads & Tails installment will feature previously unreleased performances from the Jerry Garcia vault that each fit onto a single side of vinyl. The new series allows the team behind Jerry Garcia archival sets to put out recordings from which there’s only a small portion suitable for release. Look for most sides to span between 18 to 22 minutes.

Heads & Tails: Volume 1 is pressed on cloudy blue vinyl featuring artwork by Madalyn Stefanak. The first side, Heads, consists of “Save Mother Earth” recorded during Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders‘ January 19, 1972 concert at Lion’s Share in San Anselmo, California. Garcia and Saunders’ lineup was rounded out by bassist John Kahn and drummer Bill Vitt. Special guest Paul Butterfield contributed harmonica to “Save Mother Earth,” an instrumental penned by Saunders and Edmund Lewis.

The Tails side of Heads & Tails: Volume 1 is devoted to a two-song sequence from the second set of Jerry Garcia Band’s February 5, 1988 show at Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Santa Rosa, California. The classic JGB lineup featuring Garcia on guitar joined by Kahn on bass, keyboardist Melvin Seals, drummer David Kemper and backing vocalists Jacklyn LaBranch and Gloria Jones make their way through Jesse Stone’s “Don’t Let Go” and the Jimmy McCracklin/Don Robey co-write “Think.”

“They’re two very different eras in Garcia’s music, slivers of accidental record consciousness connected in spirit and now by side-flip, as well, on a turntable near you,” noted a description of Heads & Tails: Volume 1 on JerryGarcia.com. The set will be available for streaming as well.

Heads & Tails: Volume 1 Tracklist

Heads:

Jerry Garcia & Merl Saunders
January 19, 1972 @ Lion’s Share – San Anselmo, CA

1. 1. Save Mother Earth

Tails:

Jerry Garcia Band
February 5, 1988 @ Veterans Memorial Auditorium – Santa Rosa, CA

1. 1. Don’t Let Go
2. 2. Think