Jerry Garcia & Friends, Mickey Hart's Ranch Barn, Novato, CA, August 21, 1971

With members of the Dead, NRPS, Quicksilver Messenger Service, & a few other lithe collaborators including David Crosby, Barry Melton, Robbie Stokes, & Ned Lagin

In August of '71, the New Riders of the Purple Sage were putting the final touches on their first recording for Columbia Records. That same month, the band-with Jerry Garcia on pedal steel-performed a live outdoor set at Mickey Hart's ranch. The performance was recorded for a KQED-TV public television program, and promoted as "A Day in the Country." Hart's Novato home certainly wasn’t a concert venue, so the performance wasn't made available to the general public. More appropriately, lawn chairs and blankets were spread about in front of the barn and the Grateful Dead Family and friends served as the audience. It remains a mystery as to what became of the Channel 9 footage of the event.

Following the NRPS television outing, several musicians on site gathered for a spontaneous jam session. Nedbase—the definitive list of Ned Lagin's performances with the Dead—includes a short entry about the Novato Jam, including Ned's take on who was in attendance, the instrumentation, and the general vibe, which he referred to as "…a very high day for everyone." Also noted is that Phil Lesh made a soundboard recording of the improvised set, after which he and Ned listened to all the recordings together. Lesh made reel-to-reel and cassette copies for himself and Lagin. Phil's writing on the tape box lists: Stokes, Garcia, Lagin, Hart, Lesh, Crosby, Cippolina, and Freiberg, as well as some recording information.

The partial soundboard tape we have runs a little more than 100 minutes, and contains four tracks. The music begins with the last two minutes of the Other One jam. It's moody and Ned's piano is prominant with a staccato feel. This jam—albeit much too brief—neatly segues into a fairly unadorned version of The Wall Song. The take is over a half hour long and is primarily a jam on the main theme with occasional drops into the verses, which are mostly instrumental. Crosby and Garcia scat through the beginning of the tune and eventually sing parts of the third verse. At the 20-minute mark, the tempo kicks up a bit and they abandon the theme for a different groove for about 8 minutes, then return to the tune for the final 5 minutes of the jam. As soon as the playing ends, Jerry announces "I gotta go play" (20 miles away at the Inn of the Beginning where the NRPS were performing later that night), and that's all we have of Garcia.

The second jam starts off with an organ in the mix, and a piano is added a bit later. It's a mid-tempo jam that builds to a more robust tempo as the piece progresses. John Cipollina's guitar and Bigsby tailpiece vibrato bar is prominent in the mix, with his unique finger-picking style and trademark quiver. The jam eventually dwindles out, stopping just short of 18 minutes. From here, the rotating ensemble dives into the third cut on the tape, a jam Lagin affectionately dubbed "Blooz." It's a real beauty, and there's not a moment's respite from an abundance of solid, straight-a-head jamming. We hear Ned's organ, Phil's bass, and what appears to be 3 guitars adroitly weaving in and out of each other; they all attack the jam and Cippolina provides plenty of bite and distorted tone courtesy of his Maestro fuzzbox.

The last jam is a bouncy mid-tempo affair with three or four (or more) guitarists, two basses, a piano, and an organ (apparently labeled "R&R Jam" on Lagin's tape). The Nedbase post indicates that by this time in the session most of the other instruments were out of tune with the piano and organ. I concur although we don't have to endure much as the tape cuts after 5 minutes.

The Day in the Country is another recording in a long list of collaborative sets with Jerry Garcia. Much like the Hartbeats shows in 1968-69 that included the likes of Jack Casady, Elvin Bishop, Spencer Dryden, and Howard Wales, this backstage barn jam at Hart's ranch brings together a rich aggregate of players and styles. Listening to the musical experimentation and virtuosity of the all-star cast in this loose, aleatory format and setting is a real gas. It makes me wonder how many other spontaneous jams from this era were committed to soundboard reels. That said, here's to hoping there's some pro video and Bob Matthews audio of Jerry Garcia and the New Riders, playing outdoors on that sunny Saturday of August 21, 1971, waiting patiently in tape boxes for us. Until then, we'll have to live with what's on the archive.

Partial soundboard mix (mp3)