If you identify yourself as a “Deadhead,” or even if you have no idea what that term means, you have probably been exposed to music created or influenced by classic rock band the Grateful Dead.
The American Beauty Project: Music from the Grateful Dead will pay tribute to this iconic American band tomorrow night in Page Auditorium at 8 p.m. Their music is no stranger to Duke: The band performed in Wallace Wade Stadium in 1971 and multiple times in Cameron Stadium.
Leading the project since 2007, country/rock group Ollabelle performs with special guests Jim Lauderdale, Catherine Russell, Aoife O’Donovan and David Mansfield, all of whom work in Americana music. These performers will play songs from the Dead’s albums American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead, which are widely regarded as the two most “concise and [Americana] roots-based records that the Dead made,” Director of Duke Peformances Aaron Greenwald said.
Duke Performances is presenting the show as a part of the “Liars, Thieves & Big Shot Ramblers” series.
“[The project] seemed very appealing to me and it fit really well into the conversation we’ve been having this entire season,” Greenwald said. “As genres collapse there is an impulse to explore musical foundations.”
Aside from intertwining with the musical thematics being explored as a part of Duke Performances’ schedule, The American Beauty Project has its own agenda to achieve.
“We hope to keep the music vital... and to connect this era of music with the American roots music that exists now,” Jake Guralnick, the project’s manager, wrote in an e-mail.
This concert could be labeled as a “tribute,” but it is in fact something more. To do so, much of the history surrounding the Dead must be dispelled.
“It is not a Grateful Dead cover band,” Greenwald said. “This is really an earnest effort to get at the heart of the music that this band was making.... The impetus for these musicians was a desire to present [the Dead] outside of the overwhelming cultural trappings that inevitably came along with the Grateful Dead.”
The artists participating in this event have their own musical ties to the styles of the two performed albums: Ollabelle draws heavily from American forms of music like gospel, blues, bluegrass and country. Each of its members hail from different backgrounds and experiences, most notably singer Amy Helm, daughter of The Band singer and drummer Levon Helm.
Ollabelle strives to create an intimate atmosphere during their performances as well as to mature constantly as a group. In addition, they frequently collaborate with established guest performers, contributing their individual talent toward a unique, collective sound—such is the case with The American Beauty Project.
“[Their motivation] is love of the music and also a friendship and musical camaraderie between all of the artists,” Guralnick said.
Together, the groups involved will pull their set list from American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead, but not in a way to discourage the less devoted or unacquainted audiences.
“There are some incredibly devoted fans, but it’s not just for the Deadheads,” Greenwald said. “It gets at the quality of Americana musicians of American folk. The purpose of the project is to get at the real core of the quality of the music on the records.”
The American Beauty Project will be performed tomorrow at 8 p.m. in Page Auditorium. Tickets are $32, $26 and $18 for the general public, and $5 for Duke students and can be purchased from the Duke Box Office or at tickets.duke.edu. For a link to the stream of a live show by the Grateful Dead at Wallace Wade Stadium in 1971, visit Recess’ Twitter feed at twitter.com/chroniclerecess.
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