Classic Clips: Jerry Garcia & David Grisman “Friend of the Devil” – The Late Show, 1993

The 1990s were not a good time for Jerry Garcia despite the fact that the Grateful Dead had reached new levels of popularity following the success of 1987’s ‘In The Dark’, and  they were second only to the Rolling Stones as the highest-grossing touring act. His health hadn’t been good since he suffered a diabetic coma in 1986, and the Grateful Dead had become such a large commercial entity that it proved impossible for the band, and Garcia in particular, to have a rest from the mammoth stadium gigs they were now playing, to recharge personal batteries, adjust their perspectives, and create some new material. To top it all, Garcia’s physical and mental challenges had meant that he had started using narcotics again occasionally, which only added to his overall health and mental issues. The one bright spot in the 1990s for Garcia was the acoustic music he made with his friend David “The Dawg” Grisman.

While Garcia grew up on the West Coast and Grisman on the East Coast their paths crossed in the early ‘60s as they followed various bluegrass acts across the country. Like many young musicians at the time they were both honing their musical chops playing jug band, folk, and bluegrass music in various local bands, before moving onto rock music with a heavy dose of psychedelics. When his band Earth Opera disbanded in 1969 Grisman moved to the West Coast and met up again with Garcia. This meeting led to Grisman playing mandolin on the ‘Ripple’ and ‘Friend of the Devil’ on the Grateful Dead’s ‘American Beauty’and joining Garcia in Old & In The Way, with Peter Rowan, John Kahn, and Vassar Clements. The sole album, which was recorded live, was the best-selling bluegrass album of all time until the ‘O Brother Where Art Thou’ soundtrack.

Grisman subsequently went on to create Dawg Music a mix of bluegrass, folk, and acoustic jazz, and for a while had a contract with a major label, Warner Brothers. The friendship between Garcia and Grisman had cooled because while Old & In The Way had the best-selling bluegrass album of all time, the fact it had been issued on Round Records, part of Grateful Dead Records, at the time the label was in financial difficulty and being wound up, meant that Grisman had not received the royalties he felt he was due. However, at the end of the ‘80s, Garcia arranged for the Dead’s charitable arm, the Rex Foundation, to make a grant to Grisman which enabled him to found the  Acoustic Disc label. This was particularly helpful as Grisman’s time on a major label had come to an end.

Garcia also agreed to record a duet album with Grisman, ‘Jerry Garcia & David Grisman’, which became the label’s second release after ‘Dawg 90′. The album, a mix of covers with a couple of originals from Grisman and Garcia,  was very successful for a folk record and this ensured the survival of the new Acoustic Disc label. It was easy for Garcia to visit Grisman at home when they were both in San Francisco and though they only released one more album, ‘Not For Kids Only’, an album of child-friendly folk songs, during Garcia’s lifetime, there was enough music in the vault for a steady stream of posthumous releases. Garcia and Grisman didn’t really tour due to their other existing commitments, and the dates they did play were largely in and around San Francisco where they were accompanied by Joe Craven on percussion and fiddle and Jim Kerwin on acoustic bass, both members of the David Grisman band. In 1993 they were promoting ‘Not For Kids Only’ and an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman was perfectly natural because Garcia had been a fairly regular guest over the years.

Playing with David Grisman allowed Jerry Garcia to reconnect with his past and the music that inspired him to take up music in the first place, as well as developing new music that was a long way from the stadium music that the Dead were now playing. In short, the pressure was off and he was allowed to enjoy himself and go where the muse took him. From Grisman’s point of view, he was playing with a friend with a shared background who had the chops and the musical vision to push his own playing constructively. Watching this performance, it is obvious that Garcia is enjoying himself.

‘Friend of the Devil’ was on ‘Jerry Garcia & David Grisman’; it is one of the most covered Grateful Dead songs and was written by Garcia and John “Marmaduke” Dawson with lyrics by Robert Hunter. Hunter had originally intended the song for Dawson’s band the New Riders of the Purple Sage before it became a Dead track. The original recording on ‘American Beauty’  was taken at a quicker tempo than the Garcia Grisman version, though Grisman left his own mark on the original recording. The themes of the song are timeless and buy into the outlaw mystic. It is also possible that Hunter borrowed some of the imagery from Robert Johnson’s ‘Hellhound On My Trail’.

The 1990s were a difficult time for Jerry Garcia, but the music he made with David Grisman managed to keep his original spirit alive when the colossal success of the Grateful Dead threatened to snuff that out. Jerry Garcia died less than two years after this recording but it does give a glimpse of two master musicians having fun and bringing pleasure to themselves and the audience.