Songs Of Their Own | Brian Dolzani – Mission In The Rain

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead, JamBase teamed with Telefunken to produce the Songs Of Their Own video series. We began with a list of 100 Grateful Dead original songs (exclusively their tunes, not covers they often played) and tapped many of our favorite artists to record a cover version either at the JamBase office in San Francisco or at one of the many venues around town and beyond. No song was allowed to be covered twice, and today’s participant Brian Dolzani strolled through “Mission In The Rain.”

As noted at the start of the video, “Mission In The Rain” was only performed live by the Grateful Dead five times. Debuted June 4, 1976 at the Paramount Theater in Portland, Oregon, The Dead played the song just four more times that same month, culminating with the final “Mission In The Rain” on June 29, 1976 at the Auditorium Theater in Chicago. The Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter composition first appeared as the second track on Garcia’s third solo album, Reflections (released in February 1976) and would become a staple of the Jerry Garcia Band setlists. 

Though filmed at the South Windsor, Connecticut home of partners Telefunken, Connecticut native Brian Dolzani chose this ode to San Francisco’s Mission District – named after the city’s oldest building, Mission San Francisco de Asis, and Mission Street – for his solo performance. Backed by his acoustic guitar and harmonica, the singer-songwriter arranged a tempo- shifting, stirring take on “Mission In The Rain.”

Watch all of the Songs Of Their Own entries including Jackie Greene, Strangefolk, Midnight North, Anders Osborne & Luther Dickinson, Keller Williams and more via the YouTube Playlist below.