Ragged But Right

Jerry Garcia's interest in bluegrass and old-time country music (which predated his tenure in the Grateful Dead) resulted in periodic efforts to perform in those styles, examples including Old & In the Way and his duo records with David Grisman. In between, he organized an acoustic band with old friends David Nelson of the New Riders of the Purple Sage (guitar) and Sandy Rothman (mandolin, Dobro, banjo), plus longtime cohort John Kahn (bass), Kenny Kosek (fiddle), and David Kemper (snare drum), to play a series of shows in the fall of 1987 at three theaters in major cities: the Lunt-Fontanne (a Broadway house) in New York, the Wiltern in Los Angeles, and the Warfield in San Francisco. The shows resulted in a 1988 live album, Almost Acoustic, which covered about half of the band's repertoire. The other half is featured on this follow-up disc 22 years later, most of it taken from the Lunt-Fontanne shows. Garcia, Nelson, and Rothman sing in three-part harmony, enthusiastically essaying songs associated with the likes of Riley Puckett, the Stoney Mountain Boys, Charlie Monroe, and Ralph Stanley, among others. It isn't quite up to the standard of, say, the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, much less the originals, but the performers clearly are enjoying themselves. "Ragged but right" is a good description of the contents. Grateful Dead fans may take special interest in the version of "Goodnight Irene," which is rearranged so differently from familiar renditions that it's practically a different song, at least in terms of the music; it sounds like it could have been on Garcia's first solo album from 1972. ~ William Ruhlmann