by Edith Johnson/thefestivalgirl.com
The late, great Jerry Garcia was a man of diverse musical interests (to put it lightly).
As the intrepid bandleader and heart center of the Grateful Dead, and through his multiple side projects, Garcia left behind a legacy of sonic adventure and exploration that continues to be mined for inspiration. Discovered and rediscovered, imagined and reimagined, the songs of the Dead are fertile ground. So it seems perfectly fitting that Roots of Creation, a multi-genre band steeped in jam culture, has grown their latest project—Grateful Dub: A Reggae Infused Tribute to the Grateful Dead—from that soil.
A reggae-rock outfit at its core, Roots of Creation has shown an affinity and aptitude for synthesizing influences as seemingly disparate as electronica, punk, and jazz. And while the jam band world might take eclecticism to be a given in music, outside that bubble, it is not. It is precisely Roots of Creation’s experimental proclivities and jam band-iness that allowed them to approach the Dead’s songbook with authenticity, making their 13-track Grateful Dub LP a collection of soulful new renditions rather than simply covers.
Released in March 2018 and debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard Reggae Chart, Grateful Dub was a long time coming. Its immediate origins were in a 2016 Halloween show played for the organizers of Jerry Jam, a Garcia tribute festival in Roots of Creation’s home state of New Hampshire. Donning the Dead as their “musical costume,” the band played an entire set of reggae-style Grateful Dead tunes. It went so well and felt so right that they reprised it the following summer at Jerry Jam. An idea was born.
To be fair, there was already a clear intersection with the Grateful Dead in Roots of Creation’s ethos and sound prior their Dead-themed Halloween show. Versions of Dead classics including “Sugaree” and “Row Jimmy” were part of their live repertoire, with the latter also appearing on the band’s 2016 LP, Livin Free. That same album included a collaboration with longtime Jerry Garcia Band (now JGB) keyboardist, Melvin Seals, whose extraordinary Hammond B-3 stylings feature heavily on Grateful Dub. And the band was also engaged in a heavy touring schedule with a loyal following of traveling fans dubbed the “RoC family.”
It should come as no surprise, then, that Brett Wilson (lead vocals/guitar) honed his craft by studying bootleg Dead recordings—fast-forwarding, rewinding, dissecting, and analyzing—and trying to emulate Garcia’s style. Nor should it come as a surprise that Wilson cites Sublime and Slightly Stoopid—torchbearers in the reggae-rock lineage with ties to the Dead (via Sublime’s reinvention of “Scarlet Begonias” and Slightly Stoopid’s “Live at Roberto’s TRI Studios” sessions)—as influences.
Wilson is a gregarious, ginger-haired Oregon Trail-er. That last bit is a riff on a term coined by a journalist who borrowed it from an old computer game to describe those born in the late ’70s and early ’80s (i.e., Gen X- and Millennial-adjacent). The specific connotation is analog childhood, digital adulthood, and for Wilson this meant his early music education developed around cassette tape trading. Like his Roots of Creation bandmate Tal Pearson (keyboards/melodica), with whom he cofounded the band during college, Wilson was born into a generational circumstance that prepared him with a unique blend of nostalgia and forward thinking—one that is evident in the sonic quality of Grateful Dub.
Through a serendipitous linkup courtesy of Big Reggae Mix radio, the band brought in legendary sound engineer and five-time Grammy winner Errol Brown (Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Gregory Isaacs), to record, mix, and coproduce the album. As collaborator and advisor to the band Jon Phillips explains, “It was important to bring in iconic personnel on this project.” The Dead were, of course, extremely pioneering in sound, and both Phillips and Wilson were invested in finding the right sonic signature for Grateful Dub. “We wanted to try to find an analog sound but also a modern sound,” says Phillips. “We were trying to make an audiophile-quality record and I think we were successful in that.”
Because Garcia was a driving influence in Wilson’s musical development, and because the band was already well versed in that aspect of the catalog, Grateful Dub is almost exclusively made up of Garcia/Robert Hunter compositions. In fact, Wilson originally planned to call the album A Tribute to Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead. Having foregone the opportunity to see the Dead while Garcia was still alive—a final show in Highgate, Vermont—with an attitude of “we’ll see them next time,” Wilson says Grateful Dub was his way of honoring the man who gave so much to so many: “This was definitely like saying ‘Thanks, Jerry, for the inspiration. Here’s this record.’”
Roots of Creation has initial plans for a second volume of Grateful Dub, which will highlight Bob Weir and John Perry Barlow compositions. According to Wilson, the next installment will feature “deeper cuts” and further exploration. “It will almost be like a set two,” says Wilson, “where the first set is the songbook and the second set gets a little more adventurous.”
Still, there is plenty to love on this initial effort: hypnotic grooves, bouncy ska beats, funk undertones, bright horns, soaring guitar, swirling organ, sing-along vibes—all the good stuff. With an incredible roster of special guests—including standout turns by Stephen Marley and Marlon “Ganja Farmer” Asher on “Fire on the Mountain” and Jesse Wagner of The Aggrolites on “Deal”—Grateful Dub is a fun, fresh take on old favorites.
Roots of Creation play May 3 at BeachLife Festival.
