Garcia Family Provisions offered up another preview of the upcoming GarciaLive Volume 21 archival release with audio of Jerry Garcia Band covering Bob Dylan‘s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door”. The live album out June 14th finds the Grateful Dead guitarist at his home away from home, Berkeley, CA’s Keystone, on February 13th, 1976.
The Keystone show marked JGB’s third-ever performance of the 1973 Dylan classic, debuted by Garcia and company on January 27th at the same venue and played again at Keystone the following night. Jerry would go on to cover the song live throughout much of the rest of his life, though he played it only four times with the Grateful Dead—all on the 1987 Dylan & The Dead tour, and once with Bob himself.
The band’s cover of “Knockin’” is in its infantile state on Volume 21—as in, it crawls as slowly as an infant. Clocking in at about 30 BPM, there’s practically enough time for an entire Bob Weir story every measure. While this sloth-like telling oozes emotion and intention with every beat, it’s not exactly a thrilling listen. If you are listening to it on YouTube, you may as well change the playback speed to 1.5x (on desktop, the gear-shaped “Settings” icon will be in the bottom right of the player and in the top right on mobile).
We’re only kind of kidding. With that altered playback setting, Keith Godchaux (who joined the group at the dawn of 1976 with vocalist Donna Jean Godchaux) executes beautiful piano runs while Jerry’s playing is crisp, clear, and clean. At 1.5x speed, Jerry Garcia Band wakes up from whatever nap it was taking on February 13th, 1976, saving this version from becoming a lullaby. Jerry’s vocal falsettos sound a little weird and mousy, but it’s worth it for the enhanced jam.
GarciaLive Volume 21 hears Jerry and the newly-minted JGB lineup featuring Donna and Keith laid back at their local haunt in Berkeley. Garcia was particularly fond of this lineup for his solo band due to its rich vocal harmonies, reportedly saying, “This is what I want to hear.” The upcoming archival release contains almost the entire 2/13/76 show, with filler from the following show on February 15th at Sophie’s in Palo Alto, CA thrown in to fill out the 2CD set.
Listen to Jerry Garcia Band cover “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” (at whichever speed you choose) below and pre-order GarciaLive Volume 21 here.
Jerry Garcia Band — “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” (Bob Dylan) — 2/13/76
The post Jerry Garcia Band Delivers Evocative “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” At Keystone 1976 On ‘GarciaLive Vol. 21’ [Listen] appeared first on L4LM.
