Happy Birthday Jerry! A Note From Trixie Garcia

Hi Everybody:

I wanted to send you some thoughts as I head out from the last Dead & Co. show at Shoreline to Red Rocks for the start of the last leg of this year’s Symphonic Celebration shows with our dear friend Warren Haynes. It’s always special to go to Red Rocks, but this year seems even more special as we celebrate Jerry’s birthday out there with Warren, the Colorado Symphony, the group of musicians who have put their heart and soul into this project, including Jacklyn Labranch, and a wonderfully special appearance by two of Jerry’s closest musical compatriots over the years, Melvin Seals, who will be joining Warren and the band for a special Third Set, and “Tiger,” the instrument that spent so many years hugging Jerry night after night (thanks to the Jim Irsay and the Irsay Guitar Collection).

Wow, that was a lot, and that is just one evening. Of course, the tour will continue on the east coast, including our first ever stop in New York City at Central Park Summer Stage on August 8th (you can see all of the dates at the bottom of this note). Beyond the tour, we have been up to so much, that I wanted to give you a glimpse of some of the other things that we have been working hard to get in your hands, hearts and souls.

We just received word earlier this week that Jerry will be honored with a Memorial Marker (“plaque”) in the Excelsior District by the City of San Francisco. This will be unveiled on Sunday, August 14th. If you want to come and be a part of this, you can check out the details here. Stick around and head over to Jerry Garcia Amphitheater at McLaren Park for the annual Jerry Day celebration that will be taking place that afternoon and evening. Our friends at The Rex Foundation have been hard at work on “Can’t Stop The Train” which will take place on August 17th at the Fillmore in San Francisco and will feature Phil Lesh joining Jake Peavy and the Outsiders for a night of music and celebration. And on the following night, August 18th, the San Francisco Giants will be celebrating their annual Jerry Garcia Tribute Night at AT&T Park.

And while the events seem to keep coming (and we are all working hard on a few more special events that we’re not quite ready to share with the world), I am most proud to let you know about all of the music that we are getting out to y’all! Our team has been working tirelessly to re-issue 34 albums of Jerry Garcia music across your favorite digital music services. That means that you are now able to stream your favorite Garcia songs on your music service of choice (currently available through Apple Music and Google Play and available on Spotify beginning on August 5th). You will also be able to download these releases through iTunes and Google Play. This means that you are able to pull up your favorite Pure Jerry releases or dive into “Run for the Roses,” or sit back and enjoy the classic “Tangled Up in Blue” from the “Jerry Garcia Band” set from the Warfield ’90 shows that has not been available in years! We really hope that you take some time to enjoy all of this wonderful music that is now available once again alongside the more recent archival releases.

Another project we are launching is called the Jerry Garcia collection, complete with website and store, we have found partners to archive and make available Jerry’s life work as a visual artist, there are hundreds of images that have never been seen before as well as the old favorites like Wetlands or Fish.

We are all really excited that you have supported our efforts over these years and continue to support Jerry and all of the wonderful art that he shared with us during his lifetime. It has always been our goal to make his life’s work available forever, and we will continue to do our best to make sure that we can all enjoy this art for a long time to come.

My Sisters, Uncle and I can’t thank you enough for everything you do to keep this community growing every day!

Thank you,
Trixie Garcia