Day 278: Cold Rain & Snow, 12/26/79

Cold Rain and Snow is one of those songs that was in the Grateful Dead’s catalog from the beginning and stayed there right until the end. Not a lot of songs can make that claim.

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As a result, songs like Cold Rain and Snow provide a unique perspective on the Dead’s evolution over the course of their career. Of course, with the Dead they could play the same song on back to back nights and it would be completely different. As cliche as that is, it’s true.

This version is an awesome way to kick off a show. Just hearing the first few notes got me hooked on this take. Jerry’s guitar has a very crunchy distortion that just means business. He seems to dial it back a bit as the song goes on, but what a call to arms!

Jerry guitar starts off this song with so much crunch it’s ridiculous (but in a good way). It’s like Cap’n Crunch eating a bowl of crunchberries level crunchy. Of course, this augmented by Brent’s B3 (mmmm….) and Weir’s typical mid-range-heavy guitar sound. The crunch doesn’t stay for long but it’s a great call to arms for the evening. During the first instrumental section Jerry and Phil seem to be playing follow the leader for a bit. Right at 4:08 there’s a really cool pause in the action and Phil hits a note combo that is just on point. Bobby joins in on the chorus with Jerry at the end. Then Jerry stomps on his distortion pedal and we’re treated to some of the same crunchy goodness that kicked the song off. Everything comes full circle as the song comes to an end.