Photo Credit: Frank W. Ockenfel

John Mayer recently assumed the role of guest DJ on SiriusXM’s Grateful Dead Channel (23). During his time on the airwaves, the Dead & Company guitarist divulged his listening habits and pre-show ritual, as well as the profound experience of hearing the Dead’s June 16, 1985 rendition of sister songs, “Scarlet Begonias” into “Fire on the Mountain.” Mayer will continue serving as the station’s guest DJ at select times through Sunday, April 13. See the complete schedule below. 

Mayer appeared on SiriusXM’s Grateful Dead channel amid the station’s month-long free-listening initiative. Speaking to listeners, he explained, “I thought that I would run down nine of my favorite Grateful Dead tracks and in some cases a Grateful Dead Universe tracks by one of the band members and these are the songs that got me into the music, kept me into the music, and keep me really straight down the road of trying to play this music correctly night after night before I hit the stage, so you don’t know this, but now you do.”

He continued, “There isn’t a night that goes by that I don’t listen to at least one of these tracks before I take the stage so that I can do my best at bringing you to your happy place, so let’s all go to our happy place together with this first track, a great ‘China/Rider’ from 5/19/74 and it’s one of these tracks where you can just move your attention around from instrument to instrument player to player and just discover something great if you kind of solo their part in your mind.

It’s also one of these tracks that I play in the dressing room before I go on stage. You may see me in the final minutes before I go on stage walking around with my iPhone playing music. It’s probably gonna be this song because I get to center up with the exact spirit of the band and it’s recorded so well. Before I take the stage, I just like to last minute hear one more impression of Jerry’s playing and the bands playing before I go on stage so I can just get in that spirit, and this is one of those songs that will absolutely do it. It’s “China/Rider” from May 19th, 1974, Portland, Oregon, on the Grateful Dead Channel.”

Speaking about his initial listening experience to the June ‘85 capture of “Scar” > “Fire,” Mayer said, “I was on the way to a girlfriend’s house on the corner of Outpost and Franklin. I’m now moving my hands to draw the streets. That’s how important and impactful this song was. I remember exactly where I was, and it is a one-of-a-kind rendition of ‘Scarlet Begonias’ into ‘Fire on the Mountain’ because it’s almost a reggae dub version.

It feels very DI, this recording, which means it feels like direct from the board and Jerry and the boys, if I may, sound as if they’re playing in tempo with Jerry’s delay pedal on his guitar, which is kind of the basis of dub music is that it’s playing off of a delay pedal. This is Space Age. I love this version. It is from 6/16/85 in Berkeley, I believe the Greek Theater,” he says. 

Listen to Mayer’s aforementioned SiriusXM content below.

John Mayer Guest DJ Broadcast Schedule:

Monday, April 7 – 5pm ET

Tuesday, April 8 – 10am ET

Wednesday, April 9 – 4pm ET

Thursday, April 10 – 8am ET

Friday, April 11 – 12am ET

Saturday, April 12 – 3pm ET

Sunday, April 13 – 9am ET