The musical palate of the Dead is so diverse that it continually blows my mind. When they reach into the bag of gospel and Americana there’s not much left to do but smile, smile, smile.
I was listening to this Road Trips release recently and A Voice From On High floored me. Of course I had heard it before, but listening carefully made me appreciate it that much more. The focus on vocals is evident here and I think that’s what really sold me. For a band that was so hit-or-miss vocally this really shows what they were capable of when they wanted to be.
Now I haven’t listened to the Bill Monroe original, but it would be interesting to compare the Dead’s arrangement to that of the song’s composer.
Your opinions, similar or divergent, are always welcome in the comments.
Suddenly we are transported from bluesy Mississippi to bluegrass Kentucky. David Nelson joins in on mandolin and John Dawson on harmony vocals. These guys have clearly worked out a nice arrangement and they deliver it well, except for a muff near the set-up to the second verse. There is not near enough of this pure gospel music in the officially-released Grateful Dead world, if you ask me. Garcia clearly loved delving into this kind of stuff and it is easy to love listening to it whether you are an atheist or a Buddhist or a Christian.