Photo Credit: Marc Millman
The seventh installment of Phil Lesh’s Clubhouse Sessions series has been uploaded to YouTube. Steeped in thematic references, the video establishes an intentional throughline with a focus on the music of bluesman and original member of the Grateful Dead, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan. The video also features North Mississippi Allstars Luther and Cody Dickinson, Stu Allen, Holly Bowling, Elliott Peck and Grahame Lesh, the ensemble works through four select songs with significant ties to Phil’s late bandmate.
Given North Mississippi Allstars’ association with the hill country blues trope, their presence informs another layer of historical reference, given McKernan’s admiration for the genre, the video’s display of song selections: “Operator,” “The Stranger (Two Souls in Communion),” and a sequenced “Alligator” into “Caution.” Stitching another layer of syndication, Luther strikes a musical resemblance between his father and McKernan, “What Pigpen did was very similar to what our father did in his band.”
Rather than draw comparisons in musicianship, Luther delineates his own challenges when attempting to perform Jerry Garcia originals, likening his skills to McKernan’s archive, calling it “a link to our lineage… Our dad’s spirit.” Talks of patriarch continued, as Lesh brought it back to his late bandmate, “It’s interesting, too, cause Pigpen’s dad was a DJ at KDIA out of Oakland, which was the black music radio station in the Bay Area. And he just en-vibed that stuff, from his earliest years, I think.”
Before busting into song, Phil provided some final history on Pigpen’s Dead repertoire, adding, “He wrote a few cool things. He wrote the lyrics to ‘Alligator,’” followed by a call out of lyrics from fellow participants and ensuing laughter. Watch the group’s performance of Pigpen material below.
The post Watch: Phil Lesh Taps North Mississippi Allstars for Ron “Pigpen” McKernan Deep Dive on Episode Seven of The Clubhouse Sessions appeared first on Relix Media.
