Jerry Garcia (1942–1995) founded the Grateful Dead and kept a rich parallel life going — the Jerry Garcia Band, bluegrass with Old & In the Way, acoustic duets with David Grisman. For the solo records, Garcia (1972) and Cats Under the Stars (1978) are where to begin. Shop Jerry Garcia vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Jerome John Garcia was born in San Francisco, California on August 1, 1942. He founded the Grateful Dead in Palo Alto in 1965 and led the band as primary creative force and frontman until his death. His parallel solo and side-project work was active throughout the Grateful Dead's career - including the Jerry Garcia Band (his primary post-Dead solo project, with multiple lineups across decades), the bluegrass group Old & In the Way (with David Grisman, Vassar Clements, and Peter Rowan, 1973), and the Garcia/Grisman acoustic duo (with David Grisman, 1990s). He struggled extensively with heroin addiction and diabetes-related health issues throughout the 1980s and 1990s, with multiple medical incidents. He died of a heart attack at a drug rehabilitation facility on August 9, 1995 at age 53, eight days after his 53rd birthday. His death ended the Grateful Dead.
Jerry Garcia's sound combines rock, country rock, bluegrass, folk rock, jam band, jazz fusion, and Americana with his distinctive melodic guitar work, vocal delivery, and extensive improvisational approach. His foundational influence on the jam band genre and on broader American rock music is widely documented.
Jerry Garcia Band official live releases have been extensive through the JerryGarciaBand.com archive program. Multiple anniversary editions, audiophile reissues, and the Garcia/Grisman Acoustic Disc catalog have been released.
Listeners new to Jerry Garcia's solo work typically start with Garcia (1972) or Cats Under the Stars (1978). The Grateful Dead catalog provides essential primary context.
