March 6, 1964
Plus a bonus mystery show
March 6, 1964
Date Listened
January 22, 2025. The entire show feature on disc 4 of Before The Dead is only 40 minutes long. Additionally, the phantom show that claims this date is only another 25 minutes.
Sources
The only source for this show is on disc 4 of Before The Dead, tracks 9 to 25. The quality is absolutely fantastic for what was basically a 1964 tape recording.
There’s another tape that claims this date. This is SHNID 17914. However, the lineup announced during this show does not match the lineup on March 7. It’s clear that this is an earlier show, since Eric Thompson was still playing guitar, but it’s not clear precisely which date this show belongs to. My guess is that it’s likely late 1963 or very early 1964.
This comment on Lossless Legs gives more information:
I seriously doubt we’ll ever know what date SHNID 17914 is from, unfortunately. There’s simply not enough information available about the short-lived Black Mountain Boys.
The Deadhead’s Trading Compendium Volume 1 lists for this date a tape that matches the description of SHNID 17914 exactly. However, the author of the article mentions that the date can’t be correct because Thompson was the guitarist. This is also good evidence that the actual March 6 show was never released into the community before Before The Dead came out.
Reputation
Honestly, not much.
There are a few Reddit mentions of these early tracks, but they’re more of the “listen to this interesting thing” variety.
I’m not particularly knowledgeable about bluegrass or the surrounding community, and have no idea how this is received there. I’d also say that you’re a pretty dedicated Garcia or Grateful Dead fan to get to the point where you’re listening to this.
Discussion
This kind of music is sort of a guilty pleasure for me.
I grew up listening to early 1980s hardcore punk and speed metal. Though I did toy around with a few bluegrass recordings for this date. when I was a senior in high school, it wasn’t until I got on the bus that I started taking these recordings seriously.
When these tracks pop up in my playlist in the car, my teenage daughter teases me for being a hillbilly. I would have been embarrassed as a teenager to listen to this around anybody else. I guess I’ve grown up a bit since then.