Round Records Issues Jerry Garcia ‘Before The Dead’ Singles

An extensive box set of Jerry Garcia’s earliest known performances entitled Before The Dead will be released by Round Records on May 11. Two additional tracks from the forthcoming five-LP limited edition and four-CD archival project are now streaming in advance of the box set’s release.

Premiered by Rolling Stone, the first newly-available single is a 1963 recording of “Deep Elem Blues” from a 1963 performance with Sara Ruppenthal Katz (Garcia’s first wife) at the Top of the Tangent in Palo Alto, California. Garcia would later perform the traditional song many times as a member of the Grateful Dead.

Rolling Stone also posted a 1964 recording of Garcia as a member of the Black Mountain Boys which include Garcia’s writing partner Robert Hunter as well as future New Riders Of The Purple Sage member David Nelson. Also featuring Sandy Rothman and Geoff Levin, the single from the Top of The Tangent showcases a rendition of Bill Monroe’s “Raw Hide.”

Stream the pair of newly posted tracks below:

[Deep Elem Blues]

[Raw Hide]

Spanning from 1961 to the summer of 1964, Before The Dead also finds Garcia performing with as a member of the bands Hart Valley Drifters, Asphalt Jungle Mountain Boys and Sleepy Hollow Hog Stompers. The box set comes with a 32-page book that presents track-by-track essays, listening notes, other essays, rare photos and memorabilia.

Grateful Dead publicist and author Dennis McNally and documentarian Brian Miksis worked together to produce and curate Before The Dead, which comes with Miksis’ extensive liner notes.

Stream a previously posted recording of Garcia with the Sleepy Hollow Hog Stompers performing “Man of Constant Sorrow” on June 11, 1962 at Boar’s Head Coffeehouse, Peninsula Jewish Community Center in San Carlos, California here:

Below, listen to Garcia and the Black Mountain Boys on “Who Will Sing For Me?” in the fall of 1963 at the Top of the Tangent:

Before The Dead Cover

Before The Dead Tracklist

SIDE ONE:

Bob and Jerry
May 26, 1961
Brigid Meier’s Sixteenth Birthday Party
Menlo Park, California

  1. Santy Anno
  2. I Got A Home In That Rock
  3. Oh, Mary Don’t You Weep
  4. All My Trials
  5. I Was Born Ten Thousand Years Ago
  6. Blow The Candles Out
  7. Rake And A Rambling Boy
  8. Trouble In Mind

SIDE TWO:

Jerry Garcia, Marshall Leicester, and Robert Hunter
July 1961
Boar’s Head Coffeehouse, Carlos Book Stall
San Carlos, California

  1. Brown’s Ferry Blues
  2. Jesse James

    3. Jerry Garcia and Unknown Musician
    Summer or Fall 1961
    Boar’s Head Coffeehouse, Carlos Book Stall
    San Carlos, California

  3. Down In The Willow Garden
  4. Long Lonesome Road
  5. Railroad Bill
  6. The Wagoner’s Lad
  7. Katie Cruel

SIDE THREE:

Sleepy Hollow Hog Stompers
June 11, 1962
Boar’s Head Coffeehouse, Peninsula Jewish Community Center
San Carlos, California

  1. Cannonball Blues
  2. Little Birdie
  3. Sally Goodin
  4. Hold That Woodpile Down
  5. Legend Of The Johnson Boys
  6. Shady Grove
  7. Sweet Sunny South
  8. Man Of Constant Sorrow

SIDE FOUR & FIVE

Hart Valley Drifters
Fall 1962
KZSU Radio Studio A, Stanford University
Stanford, California

  1. Band Introductions
  2. Roving Gambler
  3. Ground Speed
  4. Pig In A Pen
  5. Standing In The Need Of Prayer
  6. Flint Hill Special
  7. Nine Pound Hammer
  8. Handsome Molly
  9. Clinch Mountain Backstep
  1. Think Of What You’ve Done
  2. Cripple Creek
  3. All The Good Times Have Past And Gone
  4. Billy Grimes, The Rover
  5. Paddy On The Turnpike (Boys, My Money’s All Gone)
  6. Run Mountain
  7. Sugar Baby
  8. Sitting On Top Of The World

SIDE SIX:

The Wildwood Boys
February 23, 1963
Top of the Tangent
Palo Alto, California

  1. Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms
  2. Jerry’s Breakdown
  3. Standing In The Need Of Prayer
  4. Mule Skinner Blues
  5. Saturday Night Shuffle
  6. Pike County Breakdown
  7. The Little Sparrow
  8. We Shall Not Be Moved

SIDE SEVEN:

Jerry and Sara
May 4, 1963
Top of the Tangent
Palo Alto, California

  1. Deep Elem Blues
  2. Will The Weaver
  3. I Truly Understand
  4. Long Black Veil
  5. The Man That Wrote That Home Sweet Home Never Was A Married Man
  6. Foggy Mountain Top

SIDE EIGHT:

Black Mountain Boys
Fall 1963
Top of the Tangent
Palo Alto, California

  1. Barefoot Nellie
  2. She’s More To Be Pitied
  3. Noah’s Breakdown
  4. Who Will Sing For Me?

    5. Black Mountain Boys
    January 10, 1964
    Top of the Tangent
    Palo Alto, California

  5. Salt Creek
  6. Monroe’s Hornpipe (Jody’s Hornpipe)
  7. Rosa Lee McFall
  8. John Hardy/Closing Theme

    9. Black Mountain Boys
    March 6, 1964
    Top of the Tangent
    Palo Alto, California

  9. Katie Kline
  10. Walkin’ The Dog

SIDE NINE:

Black Mountain Boys
March 6, 1964
Top of the Tangent
Palo Alto, California

  1. Paddy On The Turnpike (Boys, My Money’s All Gone)
  2. Love And Wealth
  3. Sourwood Mountain
  4. If I Lose
  5. Homestead On The Farm (I Wonder How The Old Folks Are At Home)
  6. Stoney Creek
  7. Salty Dog Blues
  8. Love Please Come Home
  9. Make Me A Pallet On The Floor
  10. Darlin’ Allalee

SIDE TEN:

Black Mountain Boys
March 6, 1964
Top of the Tangent
Palo Alto, California

  1. In The Pines
  2. Raw Hide
  3. Black Mountain Rag
  4. True Life Blues
  5. Medley: Devil’s Dream–Sailor’s Hornpipe

    6. Black Mountain Boys
    Spring 1964
    Top of the Tangent
    Palo Alto, California

  6. Drink Up And Go Home

    7. Asphalt Jungle Mountain Boys
    Summer 1964
    Top of the Tangent
    Palo Alto, California

  7. These Men Of God
  8. Roll On Buddy
  9. Goodbye Old Pal
  10. Back Up And Push

Note: The 4-CD Edition is comprised of the following – CD 1: Sides 1 & 2; CD 2: Sides 3, 4 & 5; CD 3: Sides 6, 7; and CD 4: Sides 8, 9 & 10

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