Ever since word spread that Grateful Dead / Furthur bassist Phil Lesh planned to open his own venue, Lesh has made it clear that his vision was inspired by Levon Helm and the Midnight Ramble events The Band drummer threw at his home/studio in Woodstock. Last night at Terrapin Crossroads, the venue Lesh owns in San Rafael, Calif., Phil hosted the first “West Coast Ramble” and fittingly started it off by paying tribute to Levon and The Band.
At the first of eight West Coast Rambles scheduled for the month of May, Lesh was joined by Chris Robinson, Tim and Nicki Bluhm, John Skehan (Railroad Earth) Adam MacDougall (Chris Robinson Brotherhood) Grahame Lesh, and Jaz Sawyer and Jon Graboff. The ensemble kicked off the evening by covering The Band’s self-titled sophomore album, often referred to as “The Brown Album,” in its entirety as the first set. We hope recordings or videos surface as we look forward to hearing the group’s takes on Up On Cripple Creek, King Harvest (Has Surely Come), Look Out Cleveland and the other wonderful tunes on that album.
For the second set, Lesh and his troops played all of the Grateful Dead’s landmark 1970 album Workingman’s Dead. Chris Robinson has lots of practice covering tunes from both albums during his days with the Black Crowes. The next West Coast Ramble takes place tomorrow. Last night’s show was the only performance billed as a “special album night.”
4 Responses
Sounds amazing.
I MUST hear a recording of this!!
Now all we need is some audience recordings or soundboards! If you’re looking for the latest news and reviews of Terrapin Crossroads then I highly recommend http://www.terrapinlanding.com
Fantastic! I want to hear Jawbone…the best.