I would be remiss to not post a brief remembrance of Phil Lesh, the virtuosic musician, best known as the bass player and one of the composers for the Grateful Dead. Many credit Phil with bringing the bass guitar out of the backgound in popular music.

The Grateful Dead did not click with me until my mid/late-30s. As a big live music fan, most of my favorite musicians adored the Dead, so I found it surprising that they did not appeal to me.

One day, I noticed that the official live recordings of the Dead were available on the music streaming services. I thought I’d give it another shot. I tried to find “the best show recording”, and found a 1972 concert from Oregon that was beloved. I listened to all seven 3 hours of it and it finally clicked. Once I had decoded the complexity, I could now enjoy decades worth of recordings.

Shortly after, Prime Video released a multi-part Grammy-nominated documentary, Long Strange Trip which I would encourage anyone with an interest in music to watch. The Dead were such an incredible phenomenon on top of being world-renown musicians. The soundtrack is an excellent collection of some of their best live tracks all in one place. Still, that better serves to point you to excellent shows, as listening to a specific show all the way through as a single piece of art is really the best way to appreciate their craft.

If you’d like an example of Phil’s playing, composing and even singing, checkout Box of Rain. He composed it with Robert Hunter for Phil’s dying father.

Perhaps Phil’s passing will lead to others to discover their music for the first time. Fare The Well, Phil.