Photo Credit: Marc Millman

This evening, May 9, Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh will take his ever-changing Friends lineup to San Francisco’s fabled Warfield venue. Ahead of the impending hometown show, the musician tapped tonight’s list of players, John Molo, Grahame Lesh, Nicki Bluhm, Holly Bowling, and Daniel Donato, for a practice session consisting of five staple songs. The Clubhouse Sessions—Episode I has been shared on YouTube. 

Initial hints leading to the latest bout of received content were alluded to during Lesh’s Nov. 3 stand at The Fillmore in San Francisco, when the artist spoke to his packed audience, “Thank you, folks. Before we play the encore, I want to invite you all to join me on a trip we’re planning. It’s called Terrapin Clubhouse, and we’re going to be doing all kinds of things at the Terrapin Clubhouse, which is not a physical space, mind you.”

The now-84-year-old stalwart continued, “You can find out more by going to terrapinclubhouse.com, and that’s where you’ll find information there and the little trips that are a part of it.” As for the YouTube channel, new content percolated yesterday, May 8, prior to the impending show, titled The Clubhouse Sessions—Episode I consists of nearly 30-minutes of band practice with takes on five revered songs from the Grateful Dead’s live and studio repertoire.

Opening the video is a Blume-led “U.S. Blues.” The bouncing From the Mars Hotel cut reflects the flourishing sonic camaraderie of this ensemble, who turn to the Dead’s self-titled 1967 set next, reviving “Beat It on Down The Line,” last performed in concert by the artist during a Terrapin Crossroads stand on April 14, 2021, making its video inclusion an unofficial bust out considering setlist.FM’s findings. 

From one classic tune with Grateful Dead association to the next, Donato takes the lead on “Brown-Eyed Women,” a co-writing from Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia, picking up the tune with a similar tempo to the original band’s Cornell ‘77 delivery. Notably, the video was released on the 47th anniversary of the band’s esteemed May 8 concert on the Upstate New York college campus, perhaps boasting an intentional sonic resemblance.

Trading vocal leads, Grahame follows through on Bobby Weir’s Ace originator, “Mexicali Blues,” before another up-tempo take, only this time on oozing fondness into “They Love Each Other,” and ultimately provoking the crooned reflective, “Lord, you can see it’s true.” 

For information on tonight’s concert at The Warfield, visit www.phillesh.net. 

 Watch Clubhouse Sessions—Episode I below.