Trey Anastasio Goes Deep On Grateful Dead

The current issue of Rolling Stone Magazine includes a piece about Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio’s participation in Fare Thee Well, a series of three concerts to be held over the Fourth Of July Weekend at Soldier Field in Chicago. Rolling Stone has just posted an extended version of Anastasio’s chat with scribe David Fricke in which he shares more insight into the Dead and the upcoming shows.

One of the questions Fricke asked is about how much time Anastasio dedicates to his “Garcia studies.” Trey responded, “Right now, I’m in the thick of it, because I don’t have any [other] shows on the horizon, which is a real luxury. I get up really early, when it’s still dark. I light a little fire in the fireplace, take my guitar and do a song. Yesterday, I did “Help on the Way” [from 1975’s Blues for Allah]. I’ll spend a few hours in the morning on it, then do it again later in the day.”

Trey also discussed his role in the upcoming shows and revealed he’s exchanged notes with both Bob Weir and Mickey Hart about what’s to come. Here’s Anastasio’s response about finding his place on stage with the rest of the ensemble at Fare Thee Well:

Trey Anastasio: Funnily enough, Mickey sent me a book last week, The Ants [a scientific study by Edmund O. Wilson and Bert Hölldobler that won the Pulitzer Price for general non-fiction in 1991]. It’s about this concept of a super-organism, where the individual is not as important as the hive mind, the swarm – how much can be accomplished when you become part of a group.

I know that we, in Phish, heard that message loud and clear. We’re always trying to do that. That’s what all of those [rehearsal] exercises we did were about. That’s why it’s so easy for me to get up there with Phil [in Phil Lesh and Friends] and get into that style of music right away. That’s where a lot of jam-type music goes wrong for me, when it becomes solo-oriented. It can turn self-indulgent on a dime.

The previous Rolling Stone article mentioned song lists that Anastasio exchanged with Weir. Trey went into more detail about the song lists in the extended interview:

Trey Anastasio: When I first started getting into this, I made myself an exercise: I’m gonna write down 60 songs off the top of my head. My list was called “60 Songs It Would Be Sad Not To Hear One Last Time.” It came in about a minute.

Then Bob sent me this e-mail: “I’ll help ruin your vacation. You can learn these 60 songs.” And I wrote back: “These are great. May I be so bold as to add the possibility of ‘Casey Jones,’ ‘Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo,’ ‘Friend of the Devil,’ ‘Tennessee Jed,’ ‘Bertha,’ ‘Dire Wolf,’ ‘Sugaree,’ ‘Candyman,’ Dupree’s Diamond Blkues,’ ‘China Doll.'” [laughs] None of those were on his list. And the ones that were were great.

Will Trey handle vocals on Jerry’s songs?

In my opinion, Jerry was one of the great American singerrs. He knew how to deliver the heartache in those slow tunes. Bobby says, “You’ll sing some, Bruce will sing some, I’ll sing some.”

Those post-Jerry configurations [of the Dead] – that’s always been the issue. I don’t think anybody can be Jerry’s voice. My thought is, I love Jerry’s voice, and I love these songs. I’m happy to joyously sing whatever comes my way. But my take on it is that everybody sings – the audience too. They’ll sing. We’ll sing. Everybody knows the words. People have such lifelong relationships to these songs. When I say I’m providing a service — it’s to the songs, the memories, the community.

There’s much more from Trey in the new interview including Anastasio’s thoughts on what this experience will bring to his work with Phish. Head here to read the whole thing.