Back in February, the Grateful Dead launched a new monthly series titled, A Beginner’s Guide to the Grateful Dead Live. The initial post explained, “Start ’em young, start ’em old. Don’t know where to start ’em? We’ve got a brand new episodic series featuring some of your favorite Dead Heads and key members of the community who will help guide the way. Each will offer five live takes that they would recommend for new fans and the reasons why. Journey along through many different eras, many years, and soon you’ll find you’ve found the moments that make you dance, make you cry, make you smile, smile, smile.”

Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux hosted the initial episode, followed by Tom Hamilton, Rich Mahan and Chris Benchetler. Volume 5 of A Beginner’s Guide to the Grateful Dead Live has just been posted and it features actor Chris Witaske, who plays Pete Katinsky (Sugar’s husband) on The Bear, which will conclude its run when Season 5 premieres via Hulu on Disney+ this evening at 9 PM ET. Witaske also has appeared on Love and Free Bert, was a member of the Chicago Second City cast who appeared with Phish during “Harpua” on 7/21/13.

Witaske is a longtime Deadhead, who explains, “I picked these 5 for a Beginners’ Guide, because I feel like each track quietly teaches a different “thing” about the Grateful Dead—jazz improvisation (Bird Song), groove (Althea), Americana storytelling (Jack Straw), emotional depth (Standing on the Moon), and epic journey (Terrapin).”

A Beginner’s Guide to the Grateful Dead Live Vol. 5 can be streamed via Spotify and YouTube. To read Witaske’s description of each track, visit Dead.net.

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