In September of 2019, Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter died. His work had always served as a major influence on my own music. I wanted to try to pay tribute to his work with my songwriting. I wanted to wander into an imaginary yet very literal world captured in Hunter’s lyrics. My first composition “Silhouette in Blue” from my CD Together Alone followed this direction including direct references to Hunter’s “Stella Blue”. Within a few weeks of penning that song, pandemic took hold of the world and my songwriting pivoted towards the topical arena, reflecting on the volatile world we live in and my experience during our time of universal isolation. My goals of a personal tribute to Robert Hunter remained though temporarily sidelined.

As life began to move forward, I found myself in the middle of a new movement within the folk music community. As president of Folk Alliance Region Midwest, I became focused and dedicated to that organizations new mission to help provide the tools and knowledge to our community of musicians and presenters to produce live music through streaming platforms. We began leading tech discussions, peer sessions, and performance opportunities through a new program we called Virtual Connections. Our work became the model that much of the folk community began to follow. Those of us programming Virtual Connections became extremely busy. In addition to this work, I was teaching songwriting workshops and the history of the blues via zoom and eventually back into classrooms throughout Northeast Ohio. I also began my apprenticeship to Kevin Richards learning piedmont blues in a traditional arts program sponsored by the Ohio Arts Council.

My time was limited. I was constantly preparing. Most of my personal time for music came in the late hours of the evening. It was at this time that I began to work on this collection.

My first thought was to produce multi-instrument arrangements of these songs, maintaining an acoustic feel. After recording the first few demos, I decided that I wanted to present these songs exactly as you would hear them if you were sitting with me in my living room. The importance of simple acoustic performances took priority as I considered their importance to me.

As a folk musician, the importance of traditional arts is often impressed on me. This has left me wondering what tradition I am a part of. As I dig deep into my early years, it was the music of the Grateful Dead that drew me towards folk music. As a teenager, it was songs like Friend of the Devil and Going Down the Road Feeling Bad that helped me to learn to play the guitar. My friends and I would sit in circles at school and in the local park learning these songs. We were also fortunate to have Jim Miller and Bill Cogan of the local Grateful dead inspired group Oroboros teaching and coaching us. As I explore my traditional roots, it makes sense that it begins here. Later. the recordings made by David Grisman and Jerry Garcia introduced me catalogues of music that I had never heard before. Prompted by these records, I discovered an unlimited universe of music that has informed and influenced me throughout my 40+ year adventure in songwriting and music preservation.

While beginning to recognize that this music was in fact a traditional art that was being passed onto me within my community and knowing that my original intent was to pay tribute to Robert Hunter, I decided to present these songs as simple folk songs each performed with a single instrument. With a Martin 0-18, mandolin, dulcimer, ukulele, and a cigar box guitar I would use the various tones to try to best draw out the heart and character of every song with my choice of instrument. My goal with this collection of recordings is to answer the question of the staying power of the Grateful Dead. It begins with great songs. Robert Hunter is an American Master. The focus of these recordings is the songs presented as American folk music.