Here's one of my favorite videos ever. Highight's include a very very drunk Leon Russell leading Willie, Doug Kershaw, and Waylon in Jambalaya, and a real good Cosmic Cowboy by Michael Martin Murphey.
A good night of Outlaw Shit
Click on the picture and Enjoy
My love for the Dead has never been a secret. Everyone I know gets tired of me talking about them constantly. The only solution is to convert more Deadheads until everyone wants to talk to me about them all the time. I figure the best way in for a lot of you is through their Country, Western and Cowboy music. After they got tired of the Hippy scene in the Haight they all moved out to ranches in NorCal and started riding horses and shooting guns. See the attached pictures for reference if you don't belive me.
Here's some top tier shit.
Some of the sound quality on these is questionable but you'll get the point.
Me and My Uncle and Big River - Two birds with one stone , both sang by (Cowboy) Bob Weir. When they play them together that shit is lights out. Yes, its the Johnny Cash song Big River. (Here's a Big River into a Dark Star from the tour last summer...this was a very big deal...trust me I was there)
Dark Hollow - Originally by Bill Browning the Dead played this shit as part of their acoustic sets for a long time and Bobby is still busting it out. He just played it with Sturgill at a festival down in Mexico
Friend of the Devil - I picked a Grisman and Garcia version. This song got played 1000 times a 1000 ways. This one is one of the best. Garcia played with David "Dawg" Grisman in a group called Old & in the Way, and on The Pizza Tapes with Tony Rice. If you dig bluegrass check that shit.
Mama Tried - Yes that one. This is from Woodstock. There's a ton a versions of this song but I like this one. They were getting electrocuted throughout it.
Katie Mae - Let's highlight Pigpen the O.G. leader of the band. A little more old school blues than country but still Americana. If you want to see/hear some wild shit check out early dead with Pig. Go listen to Turn On Your Lovelight...maybe this one if you got 40 minutes.
Jack Straw - This is a cowboy song if I ever heard one.
Mexicali Blues - If you can't tell by now Bobby loves cowboy music. This was on his '72 "solo" album (backed by the rest of the dead...)
Big Railroad Blues - This song gets me fuckin going every time. This video is from my favorite era of the band, Europe '72. Song starts about 2:45 into the video.
You Ain't Woman Enough - This shit is controversial. People don't like Donna (singer) other people do (I do). This song is evidence they should have let her sing lead more.
Bertha - Not exactly a cowboy song I just love to so much. I waited like 15 shows to see them open with it and on the last show I was at of the Dead and Co tour last summer they finally did. Here's them playing it in front of the Great Pyramids.
Another '72 Show - This video is a gift. Set 1 of a show from Europe '72. If you're this far into this and got some more time. This is the band at their best.
There's others I left off, El Paso and You Win Again, etc. But, you get the picture.
This is not definitive or in any order. Mostly I just remembered them because the previous movie reminded me of the next. I'm not sure where most of these are streaming but check them out if you haven't. You can psychoanalyze me a little based off this list.
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019) - Quentin Tarantino
Brad Pitt, Leo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie, Margaret Qualley
1969 LA. Hippies, Movie Starts, Cults, Hollywood Parties, Washed Up TV Cowboys. I love it.
Chinatown (1974)-Roman Polanski
Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston
Directed by Roman Polanski Chinatown proves you don't gotta be a good guy to make the best movie of all time. 70's New-Hollywood commenting on its own past. Both cinematically and politically.
The Other Side Of The Wind (1972/2013)-Orson Welles
John Huston, Peter Bogdanovich, Oja Kodar, Susan Strasburg
Orson Welles last film, left unfinished for 50 years. Tells the story of a Hollywood directors (Huston) birthday party and final day on earth. The movie screened inside the movie is a masterpiece of it's own. This is on Netflix.
Dirty Harry (1971)-Don Siegel
Clint Eastwood, Andy Robinson, Harry, Guardino, Reni Santori
Scorpio is very clearly the Zodiac Killer. Andy Robinson plays the shit out of that role. This movie kicks ass and is interesting historically. It came out during the murders. Dirty Harry is so good I just keep watching it and have never seen any of the others. Curtis Mayfield has a cameo.
Zodiac (2007)-David Fincher
Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., John Carrol Lynch
They made a movie about the Zodiac Killer and it was well done. I'm gonna like it.
Dr. Strangelove (1964) - Stanley Kubrick
Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Slim Pickins
This is the best war satire ever made and it's not all that close. Not a bad shot.
Easy Rider (1969)-Dennis Hopper
Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda, Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Toni Basil, Luke Askew
I don't really feel like I have to explain this one. They made it for $300,000 and it did $60 million in the box office. 60 million in 1969.
Being There (1979)-Hal Ashby
Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, Jack Warden
Written by Jerzy Koninski. It's like if Forrest Gump was a good movie. Peter Sellers plays a man with a child's brain who ends up becoming the biggest influence on Washington politics.
The Grateful Dead Movie (1977)-Jerry Garcia
Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kruetzmann, Mickey Hart, Keith & Donna Godchaux
A great show, interviews, trippy ass animation. I've watched this shit countless times.
Head (1968)- Bob Rafelson
The Monkees and a bunch of cameos.
This is nothing like the TV show and people hated it. It's weird as all shit because the band had creative control. Shot at the same time as Easy Rider, there's a scene where Nicholson and Hopper wonder through the background of a shot accidentally.
I don't see what I'm about to say as divisive. If you are reading this I assume you won't either. Censorship has been issue LFDW has faced since I started this company.
Occasionally I'm gonna post a list of 10 songs I never get tired of. Here is the first.
Ride 'Em Cowboy - David Allan Coe
Harvest Moon - Neil Young
Gettin By High & Strange - Kris Kristofferson
Fat Man In The Bathtub - Little Feat
Big Railroad Blues - Grateful Dead
Honey Won't You Call Me - Hank Williams Jr
One More Cup Of Coffee - Bob Dylan
Misery & Gin - Merle Haggard
Almost Cut My Hair - Crosby Stills Nash and Young
Good Time Charlies Got The Blues - Danny O'Keefe
