Never Get Yo Cornbread Made

LN jg1995-01-13.jgb.all.aud-vasseur-ladner.21484.shn2flac

I almost never listen to 1995. I mean to. And then I did. But then, it turns out that I had already listened to the second set of this show, so the novelty factor was reduced by half.

On the flip side, the "study in contrasts" possibilities are wide; in this case, it looks like a November 2015 listen found me, not dissatisfied, but resigned:

I enjoyed this, overall. It was not a ripoff. Jerry's guitar play is fine, if mixed very low. The arrangements are pretty interesting, but the execution suffers without David Kemper in the chair. Garcia is flubbing like 50% of the lyrics, and there are a few moments where he seems completely to lose himself.

On this listen, I find myself appreciating some creative success in "Don't Let Go" and noting that he probably remembers more of the words to 4th Street than I do.

Old Jerry singing "never get yo' cornbread made" just destroys me - a gentler, faux-blacker version of Dylan's "sure got a lot of gall | to be so useless and all" rant in "Visions Of Johanna".

Jerry Garcia Band
The Warfield
982 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
January 13, 1995 (DOW)
Vasseur shnid-21484 shn2flac

--set I (8 tracks, 7 tunes, 65:48)--
s1t01. crowd [0:41]
s1t02. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [6:53] [0:15]
s1t03. They Love Each Other [10:47]
s1t04. Simple Twist Of Fate [13:09]
s1t05. Run For The Roses [06:34]
s1t06. Ain't No Bread In The Breadbox [14:41]
s1t07. My Sisters And Brothers [03:55]
s1t08. Deal [8:51]

--set II (8 tracks, 7 tunes, 65:02)--
s2t01. crowd [1:34]
s2t02. Harder They Come [10:33]
s2t03. And It Stoned Me [9:53]
s2t04. Evangeline [5:51]
s2t05. Don't Let Go [14:11] [0:07]
s2t06. Lazy Bones [8:45] ->
s2t07. Positively 4th Street [7:58]
s2t08. Midnight Moonlight [6:07]

! ACT1: JGB #23
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, v;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: Donny Baldwin - drums;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - backing vocals;
! lineup: Gloria Jones - backing vocals.

JGMF:

! R: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [x:xx] = recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name is an attempt at getting the "real" time of the event. So, a timing of [x:xx] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19950113-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/21484 (this fileset); http://etreedb.org/shn/79638 (s2 Schoeps).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/ZW52vfHTbjs

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2013/02/warfield-982-market-street-san.html

! band: URL http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html

! historical: First shows of 1995, let's see how ol' Jer sounds.

! R: field recordists: Chuck Vasseur and Janet Vasseur

! R: field recording gear: 2x Neumann KM54 > DAT

! R: lineage: DATx > CDRx > WAV > SHN (1/2004) > shn2flac (5/14/2017).

! R: seeder Comments: Another outstanding audience recording from the Vasseurs - Jerry fans for all eternity thank you Chuck and Linda [sic] :-)

! R: seeder comments: Strong performance of the seldom played (4th performance post-1980) and often cat-called, "Positively 4th Street" which JGB pulls out of the proverbial playlist closet. I can see Jerry sneering when he spouts "what a DRAG it is ..." Sublime final performance of another relative JGB rarity, Lazy Bones.

! R: seeder comments: There were a few millisecond dropouts before the start of a few tracks which were removed using SF6.

! R: seeder comments. Thanks to J.Powell for providing a lineaged CDR source. DAE (EAC0.9b4,offset corrected, secure mode, track quality > 99.9%) > removal of silence at set boundaries (SF6.0) > tracking (cdwav) > sector boundaries confirmed (shntool) > SHN(shorten3.4) via C.Ladner. misSHN in the rain, 1/04.

! P: s1t02 HSII - Listening in 5/17, when I don't listen to much 1995, I hear the appeal of this stuff for all involved. His guitar lacks power, his voice is way down in the mix, but still functioning.

! P: s2t02 HTC always a litmus test, because it's mostly always there. Il manque son souffle. Flubbing lyrics after singing this tune like 300 times. What are you gonna do? Now going to FF to Don't Let Go about 2 minutes in.

! P: s2t05 DLG there is absolutely nothing wrong with this DLG. It's a creative success. It has all kinds of range, the guitar isn't burning off both my ears with pure power, but the tones are appropriately, at turns, gritty, spacy, driving, etc. Nice chunka-chunnka-ing 10ff, a step closer to DLG theme with little crosscut sawing happening. NB that John hasn't done much that's audible. I sure would love to hear a stage monitor perspective, because I imagine he was just playing for Jerry at this point? I have no complaints with Donny Baldwin's drumming, either.

! P: s2t06 LB: I am expected to love this, and I want to. But, out of the gate I cannot. The guitar approach 3 is interesting, but I am not compelled, it felt a little awkward. @ 6:44 corn bread verse starts off warbly, but he delivers it beautifully, tellingly, knowingly. "Never get yo cornbread made | sleeping in the evening shade". He sings the break, but he's not particularly audible. Same with the next verse: "Lazy bones | talkin' in the shade | how you spect to make a dime that way? | Never make a dime that way" - old, tired Jerry is great on those lines.

! song: "Positively 4th Street" (s2t07): 2/23/80, then 3/1/91, 4/18/93, 4/24/93, 1/13/95. Jerry had to reach up to the top shelf to grab Dylan's snide and splenetic rant - I hadn't been aware when it started that it had become such a rarity. He'd try it again on March 4 and April 15, 1995 - I'd like to check those out (update: done! 3/4, 4/15). Positively 4th Street is one of those that Garcia loved and never gave up on - Tough Mama being a 70s Dylan analog.

! P: s2t07 4th Street: As Chris Ladner notes, this was a breakout after almost two years, and the hometown crowd knows it. It's a little off between guitar and vocals out of the gate, he has just started with some random verse as far as I can tell - very late Dylanesque! The combination of him just singing scraps and the vocals low in the mix --not unrelated-- makes it hard to hear the lyrics, but whatevs. This feels like bonus time with ol' Jer. Flubs next attempt at a verse, late 2. He remembers a lot more of the words than I would.