The Dead Is Not Dead … And I’m Grateful

For our first practice of 2026, the Mentone Ukes started the year with a fun day of learning some downhome traditional folk music. The theme of our selection was old-timey songs originally hand-picked by Grateful Dead guitarists Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir. While best known for playing original tunes on electric guitar with the Grateful Dead, these music legends also had a great repertoire of historical American songs, which they recorded in abundance.

Having this great base of traditional music allowed them to get together with a variety of other musicians and play music better suited for sitting on the front porch or around a campfire with friends. Even at “Dead” shows, there were times when they set down their electric guitars and played an acoustic set for their audiences. Their original songs, featuring characters like cowboys, coal miners, pioneers, outlaws, and sailors, fit right in alongside the old classic tunes they were bringing to new generations.

Though Garcia made his mark as one of the greatest electric guitarists of all time, when he was a young musician, he avidly explored the roots of American music and even played the banjo in a bluegrass band. These early explorations would remain with him throughout his life, and when he wasn’t touring with the Dead, he kept that love of simple, timeless songs alive by forming other bands and playing with a multitude of talented musicians over the years.

The basic structure and easy lyrics of these songs provided a framework where people of all musical genres could meet. Musicians who had never played together could connect around a simple tune with three chords and a repeating chorus that everyone could sing along with, but to which complex riffs could also be added.

For someone who wants to take the deep dive into American roots, Garcia and friends offer many great albums to choose from. In 1973, Garcia, along with other prominent performers of the time, created a band called Old and in the Way. Though the project only lasted a year, the album they released in 1975 held the spot for the number one best-selling bluegrass album of all time until it was dethroned by the soundtrack to “Oh Brother Where Art Thou?” in 2002. In 1975, Garcia put together another group, the Jerry Garcia Band. This side project became an outlet for playing more acoustic rock and folk music than the electric acid rock the Grateful Dead were becoming famous for. The Jerry Garcia Band continued to tour until Garcia’s death in 1995, and many great recordings of the live shows exist, including one that was released as an album called “Almost Acoustic.” Also, later in life, Garcia developed a special relationship with mandolin player David Grisman, and they produced numerous albums together featuring beautiful covers of traditional country, gospel, and bluegrass songs. They even released a simple yet profound collection of traditional songs for children called “Not For Kids Only.”

Over the years, Garcia and Weir introduced me to so many great tunes. But along with the songs, they introduced me to the idea of how fun getting together and playing music with people could be, leading me down a path that would eventually take me to the Mentone Ukes. Our group is always looking for new music to play, and we are encouraged to bring in our own favorite songs to learn as a group. What better genre to explore than music that was meant to be shared and played together? These songs have survived all this time, not only because they provide an easy format to play around but also because they contain profound, relatable truths about the human condition.

When these songs were born, there was no radio or TV, and no recordings. To enjoy music, one would either have to learn an instrument by playing with others or catch a group like the Mentone Ukes playing live around the community. Music allowed people the moment to take a break from the struggles of life and to share those struggles with others, to shout them to the heavens in song or to dance them off. In these settings, songs were shared and learned and spread by word of mouth until no one even knew where the original song had come from.

These songs had a life of their own. People traveled with them and passed them to others, lending to many versions of a song with differing lyrics. The ones that have survived until today only have the word “Traditional” listed as the song writer.

As we play them, I find it fascinating to be part of the chain that breathes new life into an old song. There are plenty of songs out there rich with the emotion and experience of the people who tried to tame this wild land before there were machines. For me they are a direct connection with the past, pieces of our own history that live on like a time capsule that we dig up again and again. Who hasn’t been “Going Down the Road Feeling Bad” at some point, or lost a love like in “Dark Hollow” and wanted to catch a train out of town, or wanted to build a cabin on a mountain and leave it all behind like in “I’m Troubled”? Who hasn’t known someone who was “Drifting Too Far from the Shore”?

Thanks to people like Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia and all the other musicians that continue to learn and play the songs of our roots, the music lives on. Here on the mountain, the Mentone Ukes keep that tradition alive. Without the Ukes, I would never have experienced what playing music with others was like and why it brings people such joy.