“Old and in the Way” is a song written by mandolinist David Grisman, and it gave its name to the band that recorded it. Old & In the Way was a short-lived but legendary bluegrass group, formed in 1973 around Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead on banjo, with Grisman, the singer-guitarist Peter Rowan, the fiddler Vassar Clements, and bassist John Kahn.
The song is a wry reflection on aging — the rueful feeling of being thought old and in the way, set aside by a younger world. That bittersweet, knowing humor suited the band’s loose, warm approach to traditional bluegrass.
The live album the group recorded in 1973 became, on its 1975 release, one of the best-selling bluegrass records of its time. Carried by Garcia’s fame, it introduced a vast rock audience to bluegrass, and the song “Old and in the Way” remains the emblem of that influential project.
