This week's archival GDH post is a "roots" piece, pairing some important Grateful Dead covers with the originals on which the Dead based their interpretations.
Bob Weir took his arrangement of "Samson and Delilah" from Rev. Gary Davis's amazing solo acoustic rendition (available on several albums and compilations, including The Music Never Stopped: Roots of the Grateful Dead), but at the time I was putting this broadcast together the Blind Willie Johnson recording had just been released on a compilation titled News & the Blues: Telling It Like It Is. I really like the insistent groove of this recording.
Also of interest in this program is the Dead inserting "Wharf Rat" into the middle of their "disco" "Dancin' in the Streets." This had happened spontaneously at the Oakland Stadium a few days earlier, and they tried it again at this show in Los Angeles.
Enjoy!
Cannon's Jug Stompers, The Complete Works
MINGLEWOOD BLUES
Grateful Dead 10/14/76 Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles
MINGLEWOOD BLUES
Blind Willie Johnson, recorded 12/3/27
IF I HAD MY WAY I'D TEAR THE BUILDING DOWN
Grateful Dead 10/14/76 Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles
SAMSON AND DELILAH
Martha and the Vandellas
DANCING IN THE STREETS
Grateful Dead 10/14/76 Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles
DANCING IN THE STREETS->
WHARF RAT->
DANCING IN THE STREETS
Every Wednesday, we post a program from the Grateful Dead Hour archives for your enjoyment and enlightenment. You can browse or search the playlists at gdhour.com or on the GD Hour Search page, and let me know what program(s) you'd like to hear by emailing me at gdhour@dead.net.
Thank you for listening!
- David Gans
Producer/host