Songs Of Their Own: The Other Ones – Albino Dirt ‘Loser’

Leading up to the final Fare Thee Well – Celebrating 50 Years Of Grateful Dead concert at Soldier Field, JamBase teamed with Telefunken to produce the Songs Of Their Own daily video series. In honor of the band’s 50th anniversary being celebrated this year, Songs Of Their Own featured some of our favorite musicians covering 50 Grateful Dead original compositions. With so many willing participants we ended up recording more than 50 songs, and like a must-hear filler on a bootleg tape, we’re sharing those videos as The Other Ones. As usual, no song was allowed to be covered twice, and today’s participants Albino Dirt had a chance at “Loser.”

“Loser” was among the several new tunes debuted by the Grateful Dead on February 18, 1971 at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, New York. Written by Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia, a recording of “Loser” appeared on the latter’s debut solo album Garcia, released in 1972. The Dead would go on to play “Loser” over 340 times, never falling out of their repertoire from 1971 through its final live performance on June 28, 1995 at The Palace in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The second Fare Thee Well concert held at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California on June 28 featured “Loser” in the first set.

For their recording of “Loser” Albino Dirt was filmed in the foothills below Mt. Tamalpais in the backyard of JamBase staff member Jake Alexander. Bay Area musicians J.R. Wilson and Joel “Hurricane” Kellogg, who keep busy playing with several local groups, trade verses in this dual-acoustic guitar performance of “Loser.”

Head here to explore our Songs Of Their Own homepage featuring The New Mastersounds, Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers, John Scofield & John Medeski, Yonder Mountain String Band, Incidental Animals, Keller Williams and more or watch each entry via the YouTube Playlist below.