Grateful Dead's Black Muddy

Marc Muller · Post by **Marc Muller** » 18 Jul 2023 1:59 pm

My 1950 Fender Dual Professional starts at the solo section.

Black Muddy on my mind since recent anniversary of Jerry's last vocal with the Dead 7/9/95. Been doing for years with our unique note for note tribute Dead On Live, as it was my brother Steve's favorite, who passed away in 2020. Then, day after I started this production I got word Sam Cutler passed. Happened to finsh this the day of the last show of Dead and Company 7/17/23. It's a very special Hunter lyric that has us looking over this long strange trip of a life we lead.

For this production I dropped anything Dead tribute, note for note or otherwise, and just played like me, for better or for worse. Started guitar in 1968 and tried to pick up anything else that makes noise since. Blessed to have all these wonderful instruments and gear that sound so nice here. They practically play themselves. Blessed to have wife Cindy who's been putting up with the racket for 34 years.

Here's my take, along with a little studio tour, with a lovely 3rd verse and harmonies added by one of my favorite 2 daughters Erica Muller.
I hope you dig and thanks for listening!

https://youtu.be/33EREOA7OBY

Geoff Noble · Post by **Geoff Noble** » 19 Jul 2023 1:00 am

Nice, well played and produced. Nice assortment of instruments you have there.

Larry Dering · Post by **Larry Dering** » 19 Jul 2023 3:45 am

Marc, you did an excellent job on this. Not being a Dead fan I thought I would not be able to make it through the whole song. To my surprise it was well done and easy to listen to. I'm impressed with your work on this. Thanks for sharing.

Dennis A Brown · Post by **Dennis A Brown** » 19 Jul 2023 7:05 am

Marc, excellent performance, recording, and mixing. Back in the day, I wasn't really a GD fan, I was more a fan of Dylan, the Band, the Byrds, Jesse Colin Young, etc. But thanks to YouTube clips, I've developed an appreciation for the Dead and its offshoots. In some of the early clips, the Dead's vocal harmonies were more aspirational than achieved. That's not the case with your recording, however. Great vocals from you and Erica! Oh, and beautiful steel playing too.

Craig Stock · Post by **Craig Stock** » 20 Jul 2023 3:11 am

Great performance Marc, I also love the Realistic Weather Cube on your desk, I just pulled out my slim version the other day with decades old batteries in it and it still worked like a charm.