Daniel de Visé

Back in the 1960s, the Grateful Dead weren’t even regarded as the best band in San Francisco. That honor went to the Jefferson Airplane, who headlined the second day at Woodstock, albeit at 8 a.m. on day three. More than half a century later, the Dead loom large on the American music scene — larger, perhaps, than any other band of their era, from Frisco or anyplace else.

I don’t know of another American rock band that has been the subject of more books: a veritable shelf-load, including collections of stories and pictures, annotated lyrics, business studies, scholarly tomes, and even a book about the Dead’s sound system that somehow reached the New York Times bestseller list this year.

Now, into that fray comes Here Beside the Rising Tide, a biography of Jerry Garcia penned by Jim Newton, a longtime Los Angeles Times journalist. 

Read on:

https://www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/bookreview/here-beside-the-rising-tide-jerry-garcia-the-grateful-dead-and-an-american-awakening