Let There Be Songs To Fill The Air: MusiCares Honors the Grateful Dead (A Recap + Videos)
On Friday night, Jan. 31, the meek Los Angeles Convention Center got a dose of the Grateful Dead during the MusiCares’ Persons of the Year gala. The occasion paid tribute to the surviving members, Bobby Weir, Mickey Hart, and Bill Kreutzmann (who could not make the trip to the mainland and instead shared a video message), with an abundance of live performances.
Whereas MusiCares tends to lean on the side of a stately affair, providing a dignified environment to honor the very best music has to offer, the Dead have and will always do things differently. And this occasion was no exception, which is to say the night co-opted a nonconformist approach, a proper homage to 60 years of the San Francisco stalwarts.
The pre-Grammy weekend affair took a charitable angle, using the Dead’s sage “Touch of Grey” lyrics—“We will get by/ We will survive”—to evoke compassion and support for LA wildfire victims. Devastating winds in early January fueled flames that consumed homes and neighborhoods. The night’s efforts accounted for $9 million, a figure provided after the event.
With a stacked roster of 17 acts, the occasion still held space to properly honor selected pieces from the Dead’s songbook, which assisted in striking a prosperous and admired symbiosis between the honorees and lauded performers. At the helm was Don Was, the veteran producer and Weir’s Wolf Bros ensemble member, who served as the night’s musical director and led the house band featuring Goose’s Rick Mitarotonda and Grahame Lesh.
Let There Be Songs To Fill The Air
Musical performances began with groups ahead of solos: The War on Treaty teamed up with The Police’s Stewart Copeland and Mick Fleetwood for a Sunday staple/Grateful Dead co-opted traditional “Samson and Delilah.” With Tanya Blount and Michael Trotters’ aid, the song took on a gospel tone, striking a sonic ascent that reached the heavens and kept folks in the clouds during proceeding covers.
Next, My Morning Jacket joined songstress Maggie Rose to start the party on “One More Saturday Night.” Notably, Rose evoked her namesake and the band’s signature floral by donning a dress complete with red florets, presenting like a blonde Bertha–a motif that would persist through the wear of others, too.
Zac Brown and Marcus King provided the night’s rendition of “Bertha,” prompting anyone not already on their feet to rise and respond to the cathartic fan favorite.
@musicaresfoundation @Zac Brown & @Marcus King come together on the stage for a tribute performance of “Bertha” in honor of the @gratefuldead’s #PersonsoftheYear ♬ original sound – MusiCares
Attention turned to solo offerings, including Wynonna Judd, who applied her pipes to “Ramble on Rose.” She also mentioned Weir’s support throughout the years and his status as a family member after losing her mother, Naomi Judd, in 2022. The cover allowed Wynonna to retrace her tracks, having recorded the Dead classic with Weir for ANTI- Records in 2020.
For Norah Jones’ salute to the Dead, she jazzed up “Ripple” while seated at the piano and supported by Was, Lesh, Greg Leitz, and others. The rendition cast an added layer of elegance that seemed to part ways from the acoustic traditional in proper homage to the greats.
As the music continued, Béla Fleck and Noah Kahan teamed up for an interplay of guitar and banjo. Despite minor lyrical hiccups, the cover still surfaced a familiar folky twang akin to the Dead’s recordings and live performances.
Shifting to an electric format, Vampire Weekend sieged “Scarlet Begonias.” Notably, drummer Chris Tomson was hot off his Relix 50 appearance, where he performed with jam off-shoot Taper’s Choice. On both occasions, the backbeat wore his Miller Beer-inspired Lesh shirt in honor of the late bassist, who passed away in Oct. 2024.
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More unique performances of Dead originals and associated covers surfaced, arriving from Dwight Yoakam, who performed the city namin’ country-tinged “Truckin’” before Marren Morris revived the spirit of Jerry Garcia on “They Love Each Other.”
Also serving a look that was inspired by the Dead’s Bertha iconography, Sierra Ferrell wore flowers in her hair while delivering “It Must Have Been the Roses” with Lukas Nelson–another number that evoked a country lean.
A highlight of the occasion was Billy Strings’ arrival. The bluegrass golden boy gave an awe-inspired take on the tale of August West, better known as “Wharf Rat.” Friday night’s cover represented the latest take on the Grateful Dead’s 1971 release. Having first performed it in 2020, Strings continued to add the cover to his live shows in 2022 and 2023 before it was ultimately shelved, only to be dusted off on Friday evening, ending a nearly two-year lapse in plays.
Sammy Haggard provided the night’s rendition of “Loose Lucy,” a fitting choice, with the fan-loving course of “Singing Thank You/ For a Real Good Time!” Former Dead collaborator Bruce Hornsby took the night out of this stratosphere with “Standing on the Moon.”
The concert portion of the night brought forth War on Drugs, who took on the Lesh-associated “Box of Rain” before Mayer’s arrival. The Dead & Company guitarist played through perhaps the band’s most epic number, “Terrapin Station,” evoking the lyrical mastery of Robert Hunter’s thunderstorm-induced creation in a rather stripped-back format.
The night’s host, Grateful Dead superfan and king of the Housewives, Andy Cohen, meandered the packed house, at one point asked Mayer which of the band’s songs is the horniest, to which he responded, “Looks Like Rain,” referencing the line: “Did you ever waken to the sound of street cats making love?” Notably, “Looks Like Rain” was initially put out on Weir’s solo debut, Ace, before becoming a live staple for the Dead.
In time, the honorees, Weir and Hart took the stage, joined by their Dead & Company bandmates, Oteil Burbridge, Jay Lane and Jeff Chimenti for lauded takes on “Sugar Magnolia” and fitting closer, “Touch of Grey,” the the vast majority of attendees and musical participants making their way to stage’s edge to take part in the night’s concert experience.
Breaking up performances, video compilations of band history appeared, including homages to late members, Phil Lesh and Jerry Garcia. The children of Lesh, Garcia and Kreutzmann represented their famous fathers, in a move that further evoked the band’s community and family driven ethos.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, during Weir’s acceptance speech he imparted:
When I was a kid, dyslexia was a word that didn’t yet exist, but I had a good, stiff case of it. Schoolwork was an enormous challenge for me, so I spent the bulk of my school year doin’ what I could do: chasin’ the music I heard in my head, playin’ on various sports teams and, of course, causing trouble. Then I would spend my summers in the country — summer camp and that kinda stuff — and that eventually turned into a summer job working as a ranch hand, which as it turns out, was the only real job I’ve ever had outside of music. But in all of this, I learned early on that you’re gonna get a lot more done — a lot faster — if you can make a team effort of your tasks.
What we have here in SoCal these days is a rebuild that’s gonna take some time and effort — and an immense amount of teamwork. My guess is it’s gonna take a few years, but SoCal will be back, stronger and shinier.
Anyway, if making music is what you’re gonna be doing, you’ll find that you can make considerably more thunder if you can find folks to play with, and learn to work with and play off of them, and let them play you. That’s what the Grateful Dead did over the years, and success eventually came to us. All along, my old pal Jerry used to say, “You get some, you give some back.” And so we did. From early on it was more than apparent to us that we could be of substantial benefit to our broader community — and have big fun doing it. We also learned right away that it was an honor and a privilege to be in this position — something we never took lightly.
That brings us back to MusiCares, a beacon of hope in the music industry that provides financial assistance, mental health resources, recovery programs, and other support to artists and music technicians facing challenges. Their work ensures that the people who make music — from behind-the-scene professionals to household names — will be able to carry on.
I’d at least like to try to express my gratitude for tonight’s recognition — and the opportunity to support such a vital organization. Being honored with the Persons of the Year award is deeply humbling, but the true honor is having the chance to amplify the wonderful work being done here.
Now I’m thankful, of course, to and for all my band mates and songwriting partners over the years — but in the spirit of Music Cares, I’d like to thank Rex, Steve, Ramrod, Candace, Kid, Betty, Wiz, Robbie, AJ, Charucki and the rest of the crew members who have done what they’ve done over the years; they taught me (and us) the value of teamwork — whether they meant to or not — and like I say, teamwork is what it’s gonna take to rebuild this town.
Also, thanks to my wife Natascha and daughters Monet and Chloe for putting up with my singularity of focus. Not everyone has that kinda patience.
Thanks Bernie and Kraig, and the whole Activist team — Liz, Red, NashvilleMatt for the kind of creative management that’s beyond hard to find. You know who you are, and what it is you do. And special thanks to Synjen for his part in all this. I don’t expect we’d even be here tonight without y’alls’ efforts.
Gotta thank Jonathan Levine for finding places for me to play and sometimes people to play with.
And even big thanks to a record exec, Mark with Rhino, for getting what it is we’ve been up to in the first place, then figuring out how to bring new faces to the party. Wow.
And I don’t know where to start with tonight’s holy shit, amazing lineup, but I guess I gotta at least try. There are too many … blazing artists to start naming names here, so I’m just gonna take a minute and drop a line of thanks to the old friends — and a few new ones tonight — who took the time to come on down here and put their own spin on our songbook and to once again both light people up and at the same time provide assistance to those in our field who could use a little help.
Thanks to Don, tonight’s musical director; big job, but if tonight were solely about the music, he’s put together a show that would still be a very, very singular occasion. And special thanks to tonight’s symphony players, many of whom have had their own share of misfortunes due to the fires of late.
I can’t begin to tell you how deeply honored I am/we are to be joining the past recipients of this award; it’s no small thing to be held in similar regard as Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Paul McCartney and all the other time-honored artists who have been here.
Yeah, the road is a rough existence, as plainly evidenced by the simple fact that there aren’t all that many of my old bandmates here tonight to receive this recognition — but thank you, Grahame Lesh and Trixie Garcia, & Justin Kreutzmann for representing your dads here. And longevity was never a major concern of ours; lighting folks up and spreading joy through the music was all we really had in mind, and we got plenty of that done. And as I’ve said, being able to bring that joy while at the same time providing material assistance to those in need was always more than just icing on the cake.
Thanks for your kind attention to MusiCares for doing what they do.
May the music never stop.
