I hope you don't mind a late contribution.

Over the past couple of years I have played on and off with some youngsters (early twenties) who are heavily into the Dead. Sometime we were booked under the name "The All Night Radio Show". The group centers around a very talented lady who plays bass guitar, Regina Gilbert. I would drop in to sing lead and harmony and play rhythm guitar. The rest of the ensemble was always "fluid" - guitarists, fiddle/mandolin, keys, drums - whoever could be rounded up. The club that hosted these Friday night sessions is the Town Hall Pub, on North Halsted.

When we started looking for material that we knew in common, I picked some old country, folk, and rock'n'roll standards in their book, many of which I'd done at plenty o'jams over the years. When we started playing them, though, I became accutely aware that they didn't play them like everyone else. There were phrasing differences and rhythmic devices that altered the song considerably. When I pointed a few of these out, I was assured that they were playing things exactly right.

With songs like like "Catfish John" or "Mama Tried" (both country standards, the first by Johnny Russell and the second by Merle Haggard), I knew they were mistaken, but I only figured out why when we kicked back to listen to some stuff over some wine one evening. Turns out, they had learned all the trad stuff from Dead recordings. They were adamant about doing the songs "authentically", but didn't realize that their source material had taken a lot of liberty with the material.

I like the Dead (even though their singins is weak). Their ensemble playing - the ability to hide their individual weaknesses within the context of the group and come up with some really appealing music is a lesson to us all. I always thought it was interesting that they are the patron saints of the jam bands; their jams are extremely dull (unless you're rippled) and the best part of their work is their songs.

As carriers of the folk tradition I have a problem with their audience, more than with them. If their admirers aren't willing to go past the Dead to their source material, they will miss a lot in the old songs. In a way, this does a great disservice to the original music. IMHO