Day 315: Tennessee Jed, 5/21/77

This version of Tennessee Jed snuck up on me. I was casually listening to Dick’s Picks, Volume 29 last month and had already decided on my selection for the Dick’s Picks series I did in November, but when I heard this Tennessee Jed I knew I wanted to highlight it soon.

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Well today is that day. This is one of those versions that seems pedestrian at first. I don’t want to call it first set filler, but it’s certainly a known, familiar entity. There’s a point where Jerry flips a switch (literally and figuratively) and the feeling of the entire song changes. It’s not a seismic shift, but then again maybe it is given how the song had developed to that point.

Somewhat unrelated, I love how the a number of the Dick’s Picks releases often surpassed the typical three CD model. DP29 was an epic set with two complete shows across 6 discs (plus some killer filler). I guess in the full-show-or-nothing environment (not judging, just repeating what David Lemieux has already said) three discs seems to be the upper limit. It’d be great to even have 4 or 5 disc sets in the Dave’s Picks series, but at the end of the day that’s a minor quibble. I’m not going to look that gift horse in the mouth for too long.

This isn’t the most energetic Tennessee Jed ever. Instead it eases along like a humid southern afternoon. Perhaps a bit of sweet tea is in order? The relaxed pace does create a bit more breathing room though and Keith takes advantage of that with some filigree fills. Bob plays a lot more, intricate stuff during the verses than simply your typical rhythm chords, keeping things interesting. It’s worth mentioning that Donna sounds good here too, doubling Garcia on the chorus vocals. Around 4:45 Jerry digs in a bit both vocally and on guitar to finish the current verse, almost like a flip was briefly flipped because it’s back to the laid back feel almost right away. The next instrumental section Jerry does in fact flip the switch, on either his envelope filter or wah pedal (I assume the former), and his solo takes on a totally different feel. This changes the tenor of the song in a good way and the tempo is still slow but the energy picks up all around. By the time he switches back to a clean channel the band is grooving hard, Keith adds a big key swipe back into the final chorus before its all over.