Shady Grove

1	Shady Grove 4:19
2	Stealin' 3:31
3	Off to Sea Once More 5:48
4	The Sweet Sunny South 3:25
5	Louis Collins 5:57
6	Fair Ellender 6:05
7	Jack-A-Roo 4:02
8	Casey Jones 4:07
9	Dreadful Wind and Rain 4:46
10	I Truly Understand 3:40
11	The Handsome Cabin Boy 6:13
12	Whiskey in the Jar 4:14
13	Down in the Valley 4:59

Barnes & Noble

When Jerry Garcia died suddenly, in 1995, one of the first recordings that came along to offer any real solace was Shady Grove. The Garcia who ambled over to "Dawg" Grisman's Marin County studio to jam in all styles of music from 1990 to '95 came alive again, musically speaking. And the vitality he displays on "Stealin," "Jackaroo," "Casey Jones" (no, not the Grateful Dead song -- it's an old blues tune), and the title track underscores the sad reality that he's gone. Garcia, of course, began his career playing folk, bluegrass, and old-time music before moving on to the Dead, while Grisman has become one of the key artists in the "new acoustic" movement of the last 25 years. The recordings that appear on Shady Grove were made mostly for fun, something that's apparent through the album's 13 tracks. Some are more polished than others, but all are played with both a sense of adventurousness and a respect for the rich tradition of these songs. The performances themselves, to say nothing of the richly detailed liner notes, offer one hell of an education in American roots music. Daniel Durchholz

All Music Guide

In the last five years of his life, Jerry Garcia frequently dropped in on his old friend, mandolin player David Grisman, to play and record the kind of folk, bluegrass, and old-timey music they had both begun their careers with in the early '60s. Grisman released two Garcia/Grisman albums on his Acoustic Disc label during Garcia's lifetime, and this is the first to be compiled since his death. In a note, Grisman writes, "I decided to organize this material by genre; this first volume is comprised of traditional folk songs and ballads." Indeed, among the 13 tracks here are versions of children's ballads and other ancient songs that formed the repertoire of some of the folk groups that both players belonged to. Grisman has included a lavish CD booklet containing thorough annotations by New Lost City Ramblers member John Cohen that trace the origins of each of the songs and detail Garcia and Grisman's backgrounds. One gets the sense that Cohen and Grisman are trying to provide a tutorial to Deadheads who may be puzzled. The effect of all the scholarship is to imply that the sessions are more deliberate than a hearing suggests, however. The playing is loose and spontaneous, and Garcia is not always in the best voice. Nevertheless, Grisman is right to begin his documentation of Garcia's last sessions with an album that ties directly into the guitarist's initial musical passions. William Ruhlmann