In Memoriam pays tribute to those who have left this world, and the songs they left us to remember them by.
It seems only fitting that a band known as the Grateful Dead would have so many songs about death. In fact, whenever a member of the Dead universe passes, there’s no shortage of songs to pay tribute to the one newly departed.
Such was the case with the passing of Phil Lesh on October 25, 2024. In the hours and days afterwards, many bands took to the stage with heartfelt tributes to the Dead’s bass player. Perhaps most notable was the jamband Phish, who, that same night, performed a cover of “Box of Rain,” a song co-written by Lesh and Robert Hunter.
The song holds the distinction of being the last track the Grateful Dead ever performed live before the passing of Jerry Garcia. Lesh added it to the band’s July 9, 1995 setlist at Soldier’s Field because he felt the song “Black Muddy River,” another song about death, was too melancholy to end the show and the tour on.
While Lesh will first and foremost always be remembered for his time in the Dead as one of the most innovative rock n’ roll bass players of all time, it’s what he did in the 29 years after Jerry’s passing that might be his greatest legacy.
Lesh kept the spirit of the Dead’s music alive by playing and collaborating with multiple generations of musicians. He helped ensure that not only would the Dead’s music live on, but that there would be many great musicians to play the music in the band’s open-ended style.
“I continue to seek out multiple musical partners, in a quest for that elusive chemistry that comes and goes as it wishes,” Lesh wrote in his 2005 memoir. “Sometimes ‘it’ happens onstage, or sometimes in rehearsal, but it always leaves me breathless and wonder-struck.”
The roster of musicians with whom Lesh collaborated with through his musical projects such as Phil Lesh and Friends, the Phil Lesh Quintet (aka the Q), the Terrapin Family Band and others is like a who’s who of jamband, roots, alt-country rock and bluegrass musicians of all ages. He also made it a family business, bringing his sons Grahame and Brian Lesh into the act and occasionally joining them in their various musical endeavors. In fact, there is a club near me in the Philadelphia suburbs called Ardmore Music Hall which has a massive photo of Phil taken after he appeared alongside Grahame’s band Midnight North in 2021.
Playing alongside Lesh was considered a huge honor for his younger musical collaborators and they often talked of his musical prowess, and his endurance on stage well into his eighties. “My dad still has tons of energy at the end of the second set, when it’s longer than we’ve planned,” Grahame said in a 2021 podcast interview. “He’s still doing two sets and we’re all more tired than him, and I’m 34.”
As a member of the Dead, Lesh performed on many great cover songs, which routinely turn up on Cover Me’s “Best of” lists. With all his various post-Dead projects, Lesh played seemingly countless covers from outside the Dead’s catalog, often dipping into the blues and classic rock songbook. Listening to these covers, there’s always that moment, where the crowd recognizes the tune. You can hear the excitement in their cheers. Even though they know the song is a cover, they’re hearing something that’s never been played that way before. That’s a legacy worth celebrating.
I can think of no better way to pay tribute to Lesh’s life and music than to highlight a few of these covers. There are many others, so please share your favorites in the comments section.
