30 Days of Dead

30-days-of-dead-2024

It's a Dead Head's most wonderful time of the year! Welcome to another 30 days of unreleased Grateful Dead tracks from the vault, one for every day of the month, selected by archivist and producer David Lemieux. The tracks are yours, 100% free gua-ran-teed, but the real fun is taking part in the challenge for the chance to win some sweet swag from the Dead.

Those of you who know what to do, feel free to skip right on ahead. For those of you who need a refresher, here's the drill:

You know your Ables from your Bakers from your C's, but can your finely tuned ears differentiate the cosmic "comeback" tour from a spacey 70s show? Each day we'll post a song from one of the Dead's coveted shows. Will it be from that magical night at Madison Square Garden in '93 or from way back when they were just starting to warm it up at Winterland? Is that Pigpen's harmonica we hear? Brent on keys? If you think you know, lob your answer in and you just might find yourself taking home our daily prize of a 2025 Grateful Dead wall calendar or the grand prize – a copy of limited, numbered, FRIEND OF THE DEVILS: APRIL '78 boxed set!

Hint:
Three tracks, two of which debuted in 1972 and one in 1971
day14_qEcFNyvBPYufvkM_mississippi_bird.mp3
588 comments

  • China Cat Sunflower
    1 week 4 days ago
    Every November is my favorite!!!

    Thank you for always making 30 Days Of Dead so much fun. RIP dearest Phil Lesh.... may the four winds blow you safely home. We are blessed to have so many sweet memories.

  • deded54
    1 week 4 days ago
    post noodling??

    I wouldn't call 10 seconds of short chopping as noodling...I've listened repeatedly with no recognizable tune in there...so yeah...must be luck, especially when there's almost 3 minutes of noodling after the song that still doesn't give me any clues to the next song... but I submitted my choice and it syncs perfectly.

  • ivansbacon
    1 week 4 days ago
    MP3's

    I take em cause they are free. I hate digital music, I only buy analog vinyl
    (no plangnet crap files on vinyl) I will not pay money for that.
    MP3 are the worst.
    PLEASE , stop putting plangent files on vinyl. save it for CD's.

  • Default Avatar
    tnjed98
    1 week 4 days ago
    Same here

    Really stumped on this one as well, great pick for Day 2 after a relatively easy Day 1.

    The comment made regarding the noodling after the song made me even more confused though, as I spent a long time trying to deduce that to no avail. Some people just have an ear for this that I do not yet I suppose..

    All I can say is this one has some pretty sweet playing by Weir..

  • Default Avatar
    bpolits
    1 week 4 days ago
    Baffled

    "From the post Candyman noodling I was able to correctly identify the next tune played..." How, in God's name? I'm a musician and pretty dang well-versed in the repertoire, all I get is "some song in the key of C".

Yesterday's answer...
San Francisco, CA, Family Dog at the Great Highway
The St. Stephen>The Eleven combination was played frequently in late 1968 through 1969, and makes up a quarter of Live/Dead. Here, rather than heading to Lovelight or Death Don't Have No Mercy, they segue into Drums and High Time
Yesterday's Winner...
michael
Pittsfield
MA

Past Dates

Missed a day? You can go back and grab downloads here.

Enter the Contest

By entering my information, I acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy, Terms of Use and Official Rules and I agree to receive marketing messages from Grateful Dead (from which I can unsubscribe at any time). No purchase or payment necessary to enter or win. A purchase will not increase your chances of winning. This sweepstakes is offered only to legal residents of the United States (excluding Puerto Rico) who are located in the united states (excluding Puerto Rico) and have reached the age of majority in their state of residence at the time of entry.