The inaugural Days Between Festival, celebrating the legacy of late-Grateful Dead patriarch Jerry Garcia and the musical score he left embedded in our soul, was upbeat and a resounding success in northern Mendocino County, California on August 6 and 7, even amidst the rage of north-state wildfires and Covid-19 pandemic 2.0. Proof of vaccination or a negative, very-recent Covid test were required for entry.

Grateful Dead music continues to inspire and muse generations of contemporary musicians. When the band played, their music fostered an experience each night that transformed the ordinary bounds of everyday life beyond possibility. A trip into the transcendental. Even if the words and melodies were familiar to followers, something about their approach of spontaneity and improvisation combined with an overarching reworking of Americana made the music familiar and new simultaneously.

Seemingly a departure from Anela’s first album of Hawaiian music, "Mele from the Harp", this album acts as a vehicle for continuing to spread the Grateful Dead's mission of peace and love throughout the world. This album will be part of the Rex Foundation’s musical caravan, supporting the arts worldwide. For those who are not familiar with the Dead’s music, this is a "safe" introduction to it.