Grateful Dead tribute album will benefit Aids research

A compilation album which celebrates The Grateful Dead’s music will launch on May 20.

Aaron and Bryce Dessner from The National curated the record over the last four years. It features more than 60 artists and is almost six hours long.

All proceeds from the album, to be issued on 4AD records, will go to the Red Hot Organisation, which helps fight AIDS/HIV and related health issues around the world. More details can be found on the official website.

Contributing artist, TV On The Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe, says of The Grateful Dead: “They’re one of the great, ‘do everything’ bands, take from whatever you want and warp it into something new. I’m sure that some of the space rock and psyche DNA of the band has seeped into what we do.”

A one-off Day of the Dead live performance featuring several of the album’s contributing artists, including Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry and Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen, will also take place at Wisconsin’s Eaux Claires Festival from August 12-13.

This week it was announced that a 12-CD box set of The Grateful Dead’s previously unreleased shows from 1978 will be issued in May.

A Grateful Dead Tribute Day Of The Dead tracklist

Thunder (Vol.1)

  1. Touch of Grey - The War On Drugs
  2. Sugar - Phosphorescent, Jenny Lewis & Friends
  3. Candyman - Jim James & Friends
  4. Cassidy - Moses Sumner, Jenny Lewis & Friends
  5. Black Muddy River - Bruce Hornsby and DeYarmond Edison
  6. Loser - Ed Droste, Binki Shapiro & Friends
  7. Peggy-O - The National
  8. Box of Rain - Kurt Vile and the Violators (featuring J Mascis)
  9. Rubin and Cherise - Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy & Friends
  10. To Lay Me Down - Perfume Genius, Sharon Van Etten & Friends
  11. New Speedway Boogie - Courtney Barnett
  12. Friends of the Devil - Mumford & Sons
  13. Uncle John’s Band - Lucius
  14. Me and My Uncle - The Lone Bellow & Friends
  15. Mountains of the Moon - Lee Ranaldo, Lisa Hannigan & Friends
  16. Black Peter - Anohni and yMusic
  17. Garcia Counterpoint - Bryce Dessner
  18. Terrapin Station (Suite) - Daniel Rossen, Christopher Bear and The National (featuring Josh Kaufman, Conrad Doucette, So Percussion and Brooklyn Youth Chorus)
  19. Attics of My Life - Angel Olsen
  20. St. Stephen (live) - Wilco with Bob Weir

Lightning (Vol.2)

  1. If I Had the World to Give - Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy
  2. Standing on the Moon - Phosphorescent & Friends
  3. Cumberland Blues - Charles Bradley and Menahan Street Band
  4. Ship of Fools - Tallest Man on Earth & Friends
  5. Bird Song - Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy & Friends
  6. Morning Dew - The National
  7. Truckin’ - Marijuana Deathsquads
  8. Dark Star - Cass McCombs, Joe Russo & Friends
  9. Nightfall of Diamonds - Nightfall of Diamonds
  10. Transitive Refraction Axis for John Oswald - Tim Hecker
  11. Going Down The Road Feelin’ Bad - Lucinda Williams & Friends
  12. Playing in the Band - Tunde Adebimpe, Lee Ranaldo & Friends
  13. Stella Blue - Local Natives
  14. Eyes of the World - Tal National
  15. Help on the Way - Bela Fleck
  16. Franklin’s Tower - Orchestra Baobab
  17. Till the Morning Comes - Luluc with Xylouris White
  18. Ripple - The Walkmen
  19. Brokedown Palace - Richard Reed Parry with Caroline Shaw and Little Scream (featuring Garth Hudson)

Sunshine (Vol.3)

  1. Here Comes Sunshine - Real Estate
  2. Shakedown Street - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
  3. Brown-Eyed Woman - Hiss Golden Messenger
  4. Jack-A-Roe - This Is The Kit
  5. High Time - Daniel Rossen and Christopher Bear
  6. Dire Wolf - The Lone Bellow & Friends
  7. Althea - Winston Marshall, Kodiak Blue and Shura
  8. Clementine Jam - Orchestra Baobab
  9. China Cat Sunflower - I Know You Rider - Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks
  10. Easy Wind - Bill Callahan
  11. Wharf Rat - Ira Kaplan & Friends
  12. Estimated Prophet - The Rileys
  13. Drums -> Space - Man Forever, So Percussion and Oneida
  14. Cream Puff War - Fucked Up
  15. Dark Star - The Flaming Lips
  16. What’s Become of the Baby - s t a r g a z e
  17. King Solomon’s Marbles - Vijay Iyer
  18. Rosemary - Mina Tindle & Friends
  19. And We Bid You Goodnight - Sam Amidon
  20. I Know You Rider (live) - The National with Bob Weir

Former TeamRock news desk member Christina joined our team in late 2015, and although her time working on online rock news was fairly brief, she made a huge impact by contributing close to 1500 stories. Christina also interviewed artists including Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and worked at the Download festival. In late 2016, Christina left rock journalism to pursue a career in current affairs. In 2021, she was named Local Weekly Feature Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards.