Grateful Dead

You Win Again - Hank Williams
The Race Is On - George Jones (Don Rollins; not the one who wrote It's 5 O'clock Somewhere)
Good picks Crow.
Country - Cowboy. Close enough.
Cheers

The cowboy songs are good. The first couple hundred listens, anyway.

But the 'problem,' if there is one, is that they don't vary much from one version to the next. If you've heard one Me and My Uncle, you've pretty much heard 'em all. And it says here that song got performed 629 times, behind only Drums, Space, and PITB on the all time list. So it's often bathroom break material for me.

I still like El Paso, somehow. The melody is more interesting that uncle, and you get the harmony vocals, too. And there some country covers that were played less often (You Win Again, or even Race is On) that are still easy to appreciate. Not sure if those count as cowboy songs.

My favorite of the country covers is probably Sing Me Back Home. That version from Veneta still blows me away: after playing outdoors for 3+ hours in record-setting heat (and doing it for free, no less), they're still singing their hearts out, and a better live vocal performance was never captured in all of Deadom.

How could that be? I'm always crystal clear. In my own head.

Just weighing in that I was jesting on whether a patch would be acceptable if used on an El Paso. I too enjoy the cowboy songs because, as 1stshow alluded, Jer is free of vocal duties to craft killer fills and solos. Big River is a favorite of mine for that reason.

Are there GD songs I'm lukewarm on? Definitely. But I'd have to think too hard to name them. Maybe a couple late era Weir-Barlow songs.

Did someone mention the Watkins Glen soundcheck?? It's only been 50 years since we laid on our sleeping bags right in front of Jer, just far enough from the stage to see the band, heads resting on water jugs, snorting good mescaline and smoking opium on a lovely summer evening at age 15. Now that was a great way to spend my mid-teens!

Sitting On Top Of The World-Me and My Uncle moves along at quite a clip during the show I am half way through at the moment - Munich 5/18/72. A great show already, and I haven't got to the 3rd cd yet.

I like em. These are the songs you may not expect much out of when they start, like they'll only be a 4 minute throwaway and then.....

No such thing as a bad dead song, just a song you haven't heard tore up yet. When the magic hits, the song doesn't matter.

…..

I like Big River too.

Istshow -yes,that's the pick of the tunes I mentioned - stunning rock n' roll/country picking by Jerry, as you say. The original recording by Johnny Cash is great too, but in a completely different way

... as Bob says. I always look forward and pay close attention to the Big Rivers.
They have some of the best ripping Jerry solos. Many are just downright Hot!
Even when I hear similar riffs elsewhere I'll say Jerry just Big River-ed that.
I know Oro has tired of Me & My Uncle, mostly because he played it so much himself in his performing days. To each his own.
Cheers
I've heard Raga has some of the best CD players out there. I need to look up what exactly SACD and HDCD are.

I have had a look at my telly etc, Oro, and remembered that the telly is an Oled 48A2. It has 2 HDMI video outputs on the back, but there is just the one HDMI outlet at the back of the blu ray player. The cd player does have DAC included I think, and cds do sound really good. As for my amp...I can't get at the back of that so easily, as it's fitted in a cabinet with it's back right up against a wall. And working with my head bent down for more than about a minute gives me dizzy spells!
I am happy with the sound of everything - it's just a bit disconcerting when discs sometime say "blank disc" on the display panel when I put them in. I take these ones out, put them back again - and hey presto - music. It also sometimes takes a long time to read a disc - and the goes straight to track 2. But again, it's easily remedied. But I wish it wouldn't happen.

As for "El Paso" - I like it. Along with "Mama Tried", "Big River" and "Me and My Uncle". I prefer these covers to the blues ones they used to do. Possibly because I don't listen to authentic country music as much as I do blues. "El Paso" peaked in 1971, though. Very nicely sung at the April Fillmore East shows.

But I love the original El Paso by Marty Robbins. And the teller is telling the story in first person as it is happening to him. No mystery there when he knows he's dying. That said, there aren't many ripping solos versions and, like some of the polka-time songs, it does wear out it's welcome. Listening to an El Paso as I write from 7-8-78. Had no idea that would happen, but odds are....
Cheers
And while I'm sure there are other El Paso haters Dogon only said he didn't like it because it was a substandard aud. patch. My don't care for/skip list has mostly songs from the later repertoire like Victim or that Mickey one.
Only three weeks to go for HCS!