John Mayer Recounts Life-Changing Moment With Grateful Dead’s Music During SiriusXM Takeover

Dead & Company guitarist John Mayer is in the midst of a week-long guest DJ takeover on SiriusXM’s Grateful Dead Channel (ch. 23). Along with spinning his favorite Grateful Dead tracks, Mayer recounted the story of a life-changing moment listening to the band.

“It’s John Mayer here playing some of my favorite Grateful Dead tracks, and I want to get into one that was so moving and affecting that I actually remember where I was,” Mayer said on SiriusXM’s Grateful Dead Channel. “I was on the way to a girlfriend’s house on the corner of Outpost and Franklin. I’m now moving my hands to draw the streets. That’s how important and impactful this song was. I remember exactly where I was, and it is a one-of-a-kind rendition of ‘Scarlet Begonias’ into ‘Fire on the Mountain’ because it’s almost a reggae dub version.”

Hear John reveal the show in the full audio clip below courtesy of SiriusXM’s Grateful Dead Channel:

Mayer also shared some of the Grateful Dead songs he listens to before he goes on stage with Dead & Company, who are currently on break during their second residency at the Las Vegas Sphere:

“As you probably know, Grateful Dead Channel is free this month, and so to celebrate, because I know you love free stuff, I thought that I would run down nine of my favorite Grateful Dead tracks and in some cases a Grateful Dead Universe tracks by one of the band members and these are the songs that got me into the music, kept me into the music, and keep me really straight down the road of trying to play this music correctly night after night before I hit the stage, so you don’t know this, but now you do. There isn’t a night that goes by that I don’t listen to at least one of these tracks before I take the stage so that I can do my best at bringing you to your happy place…”

Listen to the full clip:

Dead & Company’s Sphere residency continues Thursday, April 17. Scroll down for the schedule and ticket info.