Otis Gibbs elicites a great interview with Ray Benson of Asleep At The Wheel!

Oops, I should have also mentioned The Band’s followup, 1969’s s/t album (the "brown" album), perhaps even more influential (according to Bernie Taupin, the inspiration and model for Elton’s Tumbleweed Connection). I have listened to that album more than any other in my music library, and is my choice for the best album ever made.

Yeah, this is ancient history, but those two Band albums cast a very long shadow, and a lot of the best (imo) music being made today was in part inspired by them. While lots of music made in 1968 and ’69 sounds comically dated, the first two Band albums still sound fresh, timeless. If I could own only two albums, it would be Music From Big Pink and it’s s/t followup.

And yours?

@bdp24

I’ve yet to read/watch any interview or biographical piece with/about the Dead that is consistent with this view that the Dead "copied" The Band. Garcia was playing Bluegrass banjo before he even picked up a guitar or contemplated playing electric music. Weir started out playing acoustic Folk and Country.

It seems to me the material Garcia and Hunter produced during their Americana phase came very naturally. Based on the sheer quality of those songs, I don’t see how you can justify any claim that they were "derivitive" , musically. Garcia and Hunter had no need to copy anyone. They were quite capable of convincingly mining the same traditions as The Band without aping Robertson or anyone else. The quality of their compositions speaks for itself. Garcia had a musicologist’s love for and knowledge of all types of traditional music, unlike Robertson, who was "tutored" by Levon regarding what would come across as authentically traditional.

If you’re suggesting the Dead copied The Band strictly as a money-making strategy, with all due respect, you must not know much about the Dead. "Business savvy" they were most definitely not!

I enjoy The Band and the Dead equally and have played tunes by both for many years. With all due respect, I remain mystified regarding your zeal to "prove" The Band were the best of the best.

@stuartk: I never said The Dead copied The Band. And I’m well aware of Garcia’s musical roots. I bought the Old & in The Way album when in was released in 1973 (and felt it was rather mediocre), and have played "Friend Of The Devil" in a band, a great song. I saw The Dead live in 1967, and had their debut album released that year.

What I HAVE said, including in this thread, is that while the musical style of a lot of Rock bands in ’67/’68/’69---including The Dead---had moved in one direction---very long songs, improvisation, psychedelic explorations---out of nowhere comes this album---Music From Big Pink (and it’s successor the brown album), which was music in a very different style. As was Dylan’s John Wesley Harding, released in December of ’67.

By the time Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty were released in 1970, there was a burgeoning "back-to-the-roots" movement (McCartney was inspired to do the Get Back album and movie), and it was in that environment that those two Dead albums were released. Kinda late to the party.

My point is not that anyone was copying anyone else (though there was some of that), but rather that it was The Band (and a few others) who "righted the ship", so to speak. As Clapton said about Music Big Pink: "Music had been headed in the wrong direction for a long time (including his band Cream? ), and when I heard it I thought, well, someone has finally got it right." I share that opinion.

The Band and The Dead did a tour together across---ironically---Canada, traveling by train. And both did tours acting as Dylan’s backing band, with double albums chronicling the shows. A comparison of the two releases tells you a lot about the abilities of the two bands.