grass

Track list

1. Goof Balls
2. Another Brick in the Wall
3. Mary Jane’s Last Breakdown
4. Stunt Double
5. New Horizons
6. Loser
7. Crater in the Backyard
8. Dupree’s Diamond Blues
9. Local
10. I’m Just Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail

Let me start by saying that I am very much a Keller Williams fan. I often escape into the brilliance that is the “Loop” album or rock out to “Dream” on the drive home. Also in my collection is the “grass” album – which is not only Keller, but includes “The Keels”. I have had this album for a while, and always enjoyed it. I tend to not favor too much bluegrass (with the exception of JGB), so the first few listens were sort of “meh” for me. One thing that makes this album more accessible is that many of the tracks are covers – Pink Floyd, Grateful Dead, Tom Petty – but the other tracks (which may be covers for all I know) also get my toes tapping. This album has really, really grown on me and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Also, I reconnected with an old friend from my high school days (Pete!) on facebook and he has a bluegrass band in the Arizona area: Workingman’s Grass. If you are in the area, I’d recommend checking them out. If not, you can download some of their music at archive.org. I have downloaded a few of their shows and have enjoyed them quite a bit. If you love the dead like I do, check them out!

It’s interesting to me to see how much Pete has embraced the dead. When I first met him he was more into a little harder stuff – like the Chili Peppers, Fishbone, etc. He played in a local band “Peace and Quiet” (with the catch phrase: “give me a piece and I’ll be quiet”). The band members were all good friends and I’d give anything for a time machine to go back to those days. Of all the members, I think I had the most admiration for Pete though. He is just one of those “good guys” that are rare. Completely open, honest and true to himself.

The last time I saw Pete was when he was rolling through St. Louis to sell wares at the VP Fair (this was in 96 maybe?), prior to that I caught up with him at the 95 dead shows in town. I was surprised at how much he had taken to the dead. In 92, a bunch of us trekked to Chicago to see the dead and I got the feeling we were dragging him to the show with us (although he might have been way more into it than I realized at the time). I was hardcore hooked at this point, so perhaps I viewed anyone that didn’t share my enthusiasm for them as not “getting it”. I dunno, I was young and dumb(er) at this point in my life. One particular memory of the show was that John and Pete were going to drive my car home after the show, while I caught up on sleep in the back seat (I had driven all night the day before to get there and was hurting for sleep). Anyway, they started out and I quickly KO’d. I wake up at 5am and we are on the shoulder of the highway. I was like “WTF guys – what happened?”. They said they drove for hours and just got too tired. This is understandable, but when I looked out the rear windows I could see the city of Chigago in the distance. Apparently they got on the wrong highway and drove on the one that loops around the city for hours – doh! Good times.

Anyway, I listened to grass on the way into work this morning and took a stroll down memory lane and thought of those times and Pete quite a bit and decided to share that here.

-b