The Grateful Dead’s Workingman’s Dead was released on Warner Bros. Records (WS 1869) on 14 June 1970. It was recorded in February 1970 at Pacific High Recording in San Francisco, in nine days, with Bob Matthews and Betty Cantor producing with the band. After the long sessions of the two previous studio albums, Jerry Garcia suggested doing it in three weeks, and the band turned from psychedelic experiment toward songs largely written by Garcia and the lyricist Robert Hunter.
The band was Garcia on lead guitar, pedal steel guitar and vocals, Bob Weir on guitar and vocals, Phil Lesh on bass and vocals, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan on keyboards, harmonica and vocals (he sings lead on “Easy Wind”), and Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart on drums, with David Nelson on acoustic guitar on “Cumberland Blues.” Garcia had bought a steel guitar on a tour stop in Boulder, Colorado, the year before and wanted to use it on the new songs, many of which, in Lesh’s words, had a decidedly country flavor, including “Dire Wolf,” “High Time” and “Casey Jones.”
The vocals were a new feature. Hart recalled that Stephen Stills and David Crosby had turned Garcia and Weir onto the possibilities of singing, and Garcia said hearing Crosby, Stills and Nash made the band think “we can try that.” Kreutzmann said the band wanted to sound like a Bakersfield band while keeping its psychedelic roots. “Uncle John’s Band,” “High Time” and “Cumberland Blues” carry the harmony vocals. Readers of Rolling Stone voted it the best album of 1970.
Tracklist
- 1 Uncle John's Band - 2013 Remaster 4:45
- 2 High Time - 2013 Remaster 5:16
- 3 Dire Wolf - 2013 Remaster 3:14
- 4 New Speedway Boogie - 2013 Remaster 4:06
- 5 Cumberland Blues - 2013 Remaster 3:17
- 6 Black Peter - 2013 Remaster 5:44
- 7 Easy Wind - 2013 Remaster 4:59
- 8 Casey Jones Source Recording 4:25
