It’s almost certain that no musical act in history has produced as many “cover” bands as the Grateful Dead. In nearly every major city in America, as well as countless smaller towns and rural communities, Dead cover bands regularly celebrate the music of that storied band. Some are long-established lineups of cats who gather regularly down under the stars; some are catch-as-catch-can pick-up bands.

In West Marin County, California, on Saturday afternoon, a benefit performance by Skeleton Krewe, a unique trio (Stephen Inglis, Barry Sless, and Rob Barraco) in which each member possesses decades of high-level Grateful Dead-esque experience, was enhanced by the presence of two powerhouse musical guests (Pete Sears and Jay Lane), both of whom have displayed their own improvisational prowess seemingly forever.

Grammy-nominated Hawaiian slack-key guitarist Stephen Inglis joins forces with longtime friends and musical collaborators Barry Sless (Bob Weir & Wolf Bros, Phil Lesh & Friends) and Rob Barraco (Dark Star Orchestra, Phil Lesh & Friends, The Dead) to bring the Skeleton Krewe Trio to Northern California in October. The live shows in Marin, Sonoma, Chico, Humboldt, and the Sierra Foothills will dive into a musical stew of Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan classics, originals, Hawaiian songs, and more.

On November 10th, 1999, I attended my first ever Phil Lesh & Friends show at the New Haven Coliseum. The venue, affectionately known as 'the old barn,' was just off I-95 in lovely downtown New Haven, Connecticut. It also hosted my second Grateful Dead concert back in May 1978. The New Haven Coliseum did not age well and it was gone shortly after that show in 1999. A young lad, the 20-year-old Derek Trucks, was called in as an emergency fill-in guitarist, hired on the fly.

Thursday, April 20th, was the first full day of music at the 2023 Skull & Roses Music Festival. Many in the crowd happily celebrated 4-20 in a smokey haze during the 12-hour musical marathon. The fact that cannabis is now legal in California made the occasion all the more celebratory. A strong wind picked up, clearing the sky of clouds, making for a warm afternoon and a crystal-clear evening.

In a land abundant with Grateful Dead tribute bands, Dark Star Orchestra (DSO) on February 2 in Sacramento, California, strengthened its unofficial claim as the quintessential torch bearers. Flanked by a devoted and euphoric nearly sold-out audience at the 975-capacity Crest Theatre, the band on this night didn’t replicate an actual Grateful Dead show as they are inclined to do.

It has been a long strange trip for the fourth annual Skull & Roses Festival. The biggest and best iteration of the festival finally took place this spring after a nearly three-year-long pandemic delay. The much-anticipated event drew the biggest crowd to date, attracting Deadheads from all over California, to the Ventura Fairgrounds, for four days of music inspired by The Grateful Dead.

The jam band enthusiasts—“aged Deadheads”—and hipsters alike, all made their way out from the depths of the Colorado Front Range for a night of Grateful Dead tribute and homage. Dark Star Orchestra made the Dead fans of Denver “Get Up, Get Off, Get Out of the Door,” to suit up for an original setlist and production at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on July 5th, 2021.

It was easy to tell that Ventura was a bastion of Deadheads of all ages when the faithful descended on the Majestic Ventura Theater on February 20th for a concert by Dark Star Orchestra. The Grateful Dead cover band has a massive following in Ventura, as evidenced by the sold-out crowd that spilled out into the streets. Curbside vendors sold all manner of Dead paraphernalia, while faithful followers without tickets searched for the mythical “Miracle Ticket.”

Jam veterans Barry Sless, Rob Barraco, Pete Sears and John Molo team up with singer/ songwriter/guitarist Katie Skene to perform original music, classic Americana and rock n’ roll, blending uninhibited jams, swamp blues, old style twang, traditional roots music, and southern soul into a musical truth that pushes forward the tradition of the California Jam Band movement.

Barry Sless – guitar & pedal steel (David Nelson Band, Phil Lesh, Moonalice, Cowboy Jazz)

Pete Sears –  bass & vocals (David Nelson Band, Jefferson Starship, Hot Tuna, Moonalice)