Jeff’s Playlist: History of the Grateful Dead. vol. 1 (Bear’s Choice)

Ron “Pigpen” McKernan was born on this day in 1945. He is fea­tured on vocals here in the songs “Katie Mae,” “Smokestack Lightning,” and “Hard to Handle.” Unfortunately, Pig died at the age of 27 three years after this was recorded. 

This is the Dead at their finest in their ear­ly days, record­ed at both Fillmore East and West, two of their “home courts.” The first side of this album is acoustic and side two is elec­tric. All of these songs are cov­ers cho­sen by the band’s audio engineer/chemist Owsley Stanley, aka Bear.

Album Information

1.         “Katie Mae”   Lightnin’ Hopkins      February 13, 1970, Fillmore East 4:46
2.         “Dark Hollow”           Bill Browning February 14, 1970, Fillmore East 3:30
3.         “I’ve Been All Around This World” tra­di­tion­al       February 14, 1970, Fillmore East
4:40
4.         “Wake Up Little Susie”        Felice and Boudleaux Bryant February 13, 1970, Fillmore East 2:4
5.         “Black Peter” Jerry Garcia Robert Hunter February 13, 1970, Fillmore East 7:20
6.         “Smokestack Lightning”      Howlin’ Wolf  February 13, 1970, Fillmore East 18:00
7.         “Hard to Handle”      Al Bell Allen Jones Otis Redding February 14, 1970, Fillmore East 6:14

Jerry Garcia – acoustic and lead gui­tar, vocals on “Dark Hollow”, “I’ve Been All Around This World”, “Wake Up Little Susie”, and “Black Peter”; elec­tric gui­tar and vocals on “Smokestack Lightning” (both ver­sions), “Hard to Handle”, “Good Lovin’ ”, “Big Boss Man”, and “Sitting on Top of the World”

Mickey Hart – drums and per­cus­sion on “Smokestack Lightning” (both ver­sions), “Hard to Handle”, “Good Lovin’ ”, “Big Boss Man”, and “Sitting on Top of the World”

Bill Kreutzmann – drums and per­cus­sion on “Smokestack Lightning” (both ver­sions), “Hard to Handle”, “Good Lovin’ ”, “Big Boss Man”, and “Sitting on Top of the World”

Phil Lesh – bass gui­tar and vocals on “Smokestack Lightning” (both ver­sions), “Hard to Handle”, “Good Lovin’ ”, “Big Boss Man”, and “Sitting on Top of the World”

Ron “Pigpen” McKernan – acoustic gui­tar and vocals on “Katie Mae”; organ, per­cus­sion, har­mon­i­ca, and vocals on “Smokestack Lightning” (both ver­sions), “Hard to Handle”, “Good Lovin’ ”, “Big Boss Man”, and “Sitting on Top of the World”

Bob Weir – acoustic rhythm gui­tar and vocals on “Dark Hollow”, “I’ve Been All Around This World”, “Wake Up Little Susie”, and “Black Peter”; elec­tric gui­tar and vocals on “Smokestack Lightning” (both ver­sions), “Hard to Handle”, “Good Lovin’ ”, “Big Boss Man”, and “Sitting on Top of the World”

James Austin – pro­duc­tion (reis­sue)
Joe Gastwirt – mas­ter­ing con­sul­tan­cy (reis­sue)
David Lemieux – pro­duc­tion (reis­sue)
Peter McQuaid – exec­u­tive pro­duc­tion for Grateful Dead Productions
Owsley Stanley – production

Original Release July 13, 1973
Recorded             February 13 & 14, 1972 Filmore East NYNY and February 5, 1970 Fillmore West SFCA
Length                  47:28
Label                    Warner Bros.
Producer              Owsley Stanley
Compiler               Owsley Stanley