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:
A classic trio of songs from 1973-1978, all of which stuck around for the duration after their debuts
day27_XgWAyFAjeSHDaAQ_shakedown_world.mp3
994 comments

  • miraclekev
    3 weeks 2 days ago
    Lovin' It!

    Nailed it pretty quickly this morning - honestly, this just brings me so much joy each year! Love to the family!!!

  • ronmarley1
    3 weeks 2 days ago
    Me Three

    Definitely not complaining about free music! I believe I got this too, but the online and download lengths aren't jiving. And as Poneill378 said, it doesn't quite match with the Archive version I guessed. It's almost like one of the versions has been "speed corrected." I'm not that much of an audiophile, but maybe one of the experts here can weigh in.
    Or, never trust a Prankster...

  • Default Avatar
    Poneill378
    3 weeks 2 days ago
    Weird files

    Agree with the comments about the files being weird. 99.9% sure I got this Black Throated Wind correct, but the speed is off from the Archive version by just the tiniest bit. Every time I had them synched up, one would start to fall behind the other. Maybe I’m just wrong lol

  • Default Avatar
    mcganahan.skje…
    3 weeks 2 days ago
    Strange bit-rate and properties

    Something really odd about these mp3 files, apart from not being 320kbps. Once downloaded the properties come up as 124kbps which is completely non-standard - mp3 files are normally a multiple of 32kbps - and the track lengths don't agree - BTW shows up as 7.07 on-line but 7.19 once downloaded. Days 1 and 2 show the same variation, about 3percent longer (or could this be 4/128 longer). Someone who's into pitch correction might be able to compare the online playback with the download playback.

  • RyXs
    3 weeks 2 days ago
    Weird Download

    Time length on the Dead.net "BTW" from Nov.3 of 30Dead Days seems normal for that song.
    What was downloaded to my iTunes was some over twelve minute behemoth of a "BTW" so what gives!? An error?

Yesterday's answer...
San Francisco, CA, Winterland Arena
The track that opens Workingman's Dead signals a new Grateful Dead sound, the Americana acoustic Dead focusing on vocal harmonies. It was often played as an encore in 1977, to very strong results as heard here
Yesterday's Winner...

Past Dates

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

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