Jerry Garcia Wolf Guitar Scores Over $3 Million For Southern Poverty Law Center
By Scott Bernstein Jun 1, 2017 • 6:13 am PDT
Brooklyn Bowl in New York City hosted a live auction that saw Jerry Garcia’s famed Wolf guitar sell for $1.9 million including a $300K buyers premium. The guitar was purchased by Brian Halligan, HubSpot CEO and co-author of Marketing Lessons From The Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn From The Most Iconic Band in History. Halligan’s pre-premium bid of $1.6 million was matched by an anonymous donor, so a total of $3.2 million went to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The evening also featured a marathon night of music. Drummer Joe Russo led an all-star lineup which was dubbed Joe Russo’s Friends With Benefits through a night focused on material from various Garcia projects. Guitarists Neal Casal, Scott Metzger, Tom Hamilton and Cass McCombs each had an opportunity to play Wolf at various points in the night.
Highlights were numerous but included a wild take on “Morning In Marin” from Hooteroll? featuring John Scofield, Nels Cline, Jonathan Goldberger, Dave Harrington, Coachemea Gastelum, Billy Martin, Erik Deutsch and Russo. There was also an adventurous start to the second set which saw Hamilton, Casal, Harrington, Dave Dreiwitz, Deutsch and Martin team with Russo on a jam that led into “Help On The Way” > “Slipknot!” > “China Cat Sunflower” > “I Know You Rider.” Despite a lengthy second set, the assembled musicians returned for a memorable encore that contained one Grateful Dead repertoire classic after another. Jon Shaw, Eric D. Johnson, Delicate Steve and Alecia Chakour also contributed to the wonderful night of music.
Jerry Garcia first used Wolf – which was built by luthier Doug Irwin – on September 5, 1973 as part of a Garcia & Saunders gig at a private party held for the Hell’s Angels. Garcia used the guitar through the first half of 1975 and then again full-time in the fall of 1977 through the summer of 1979 as per Relix. Wolf came out of retirement in 1989 when Garcia started to experiment with MIDI synthesizers and was last thought to be played by Jerry with the Dead on February 23, 1993. Since his passing, the guitar has been used by a number of musicians in a number of settings over the years including by Warren Haynes for many Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration performances.
Check out a series of videos from the evening:
Setlist (Compiled by Peter Costello)
Set One: Truckin @ (SM), Dire Wolf @ (CM) > Eyes Of The World @# (NC) -> Stella Blue @$ (EDJ) > Wharf Rat @% (EDJ) > Bird Song @^ (CM), The Music Never Stopped @ (SM) -> Drums & -> Morning In Marin*
[Auction]
Set Two: Jam + -> Help on The Way + (TH) -> Slipknot! + -> China Cat Sunflower + (NC) -> I Know You Rider + (All), The Stranger/Two Souls In Communion @@ # $$ (AC) -> Jam @@ # -> Deal @@ # (TH) > Magnificent Sanctuary Band @@ (TH), I Second That Emotion @@ $$ %% (EDJ) > Lovelight @@ $$ (AC)
Encore: ^^Terrapin Station (TH) > Throwing Stones (SM), Not Fade Away && (All) -> St. Stephen && (All) -> The Eleven && (TH & JR) -> St. Stephen && (All) -> Not Fade Away && (All)
- @ – Core band was Scott Metzger (Gtr & Vox), Neal Casal (Gtr & Vox), Jon Shaw (Bass), Erik Deutsch (Keys), Cass McCombs (Gtr & Vox), Billy Martin (Drums), Joe Russo (Drums & Vox)
- # – With Cochemea Gastelum on Sax
- $ – With Eric D. Johnson on Keys & Vocals
- % – With Eric D. Johnson on Guitar & Vocals
- ^ – Contained a verse of “Shady Grove” (Doc Watson)
- & – Just Billy & Joe, band switch
- * – Core band was John Scofield (Gtr), Nels Cline (Gtr), Jonathan Goldberger (Gtr), Dave Harrington (Bass), Cochemea Gastelum (Sax), Billy Martin (Drums), Erik Deutsch (Keys), Joe Russo (Drums)
- + – Core band was Tom Hamilton (Gtr & Vox), Neal Casal (Gtr & Vox), Dave Harrington (Gtr), Dave Dreiwitz (Bass), Erik Deutsch (Keys), Billy Martin (Drums), Joe Russo (Drums & Vox)
- @@ – Core band was Tom Hamilton (Gtr & Vox), Delicate Steve (Gtr), Dave Dreiwitz (Bass), Erik Deutsch (Keys), Joe Russo (Drums)
- $$ – With Alecia Chakour on Vocals
- %% – With Eric D Johnson on Vocals
- ^^ – Core band was Tom Hamilton, Scott Metzger, Dave Dreiwitz, Erik Deutsch, Joe Russo
- && – With Neal Casal (Gtr & Vox)
