In 2010 the folks over at dead.net introduced a new feature during the month of November. 30 Days Of Dead provided a new song from the archives every day for a month. People could guess the date and venue of each performance and win prizes. It’s continued annually through 2013 and I know that I’m looking forward to this year’s installment. It wasn’t until after I started this project that it dawned on me that this is kind of like a 30 Days on steroids. The main difference is that I track down streams online because I don’t have copyright permission to let people download. Oh well.
For those interested, the 2013 songs should still be available at dead.net. The previous 4 years’ worth of material is available at http://deadroots.net/30days and a direct link for today’s song is here.
The chorus on this song is always a bit odd, but in a good way. They move almost seamlessly between time signatures. A few measures of 3/4 and then back to 4/4. This dynamic change is a bit jarring, but it helps to distinguish the solo that follows. Jerry spits out a series of rapid fire blues licks.
Another verse paves the way for another Garcia solo. He’s got the treble turned up and you can tell he’s playing a guitar with single coil pick ups here – the tone just bites. What is typically a short song gets stretched out here. The blistering attack lets up a little bit as Jerry figures out where to go next. He quickly find a path and is off to the races again.
All of a sudden Jerry takes another stab at the wave of fanned chords that jumps out at the beginning of the song, and just like that this war is over.
