Doug Irwin is an American luthier who designed five custom guitars for Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. [1] The guitars he built for Garcia included Eagle (Alembic), [2] Wolf, [3] Tiger, [4] Wolf Jr. (headless) and Rosebud. [5]
Doug also built more than 50 other guitars and basses including a bass for Pete Sears and a bass for Phil Lesh. Two other guitars are documented as being built by Irwin: Rosewood and a Les Paul type guitar. These two guitars appear in the one and only D. Irwin Guitar Company sales brochure.
After the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995, Jerry's will directed that his Irwin-made guitars be returned to Doug Irwin. After a legal battle with the remaining members of the Grateful Dead, the parties settled and agreed that Doug would receive "Wolf" and "Tiger" and GD Productions would keep "Rosebud" and "Wolf Jr." (Wolf Jr. is sometimes referred to as "headless" and was never played by Jerry in concert). In the agreement Doug was to sell Tiger and Wolf at auction. Wolf went for $789,500 including the buyer's premium, Tiger sold for $957,500 including the buyer's premium. It is believed that at the time, Tiger's price was the highest ever paid for a guitar at auction.
Eagle, the first guitar that Doug Irwin built under his own name, and the first Irwin guitar purchased by Jerry Garcia was auctioned via Bonhams on May 8, 2007, for $186,000, inclusive of the buyer's premium. [2]
Jerome John Garcia was an American musician best known for being the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 1960s. Although he disavowed the role, Garcia was viewed by many as the leader of the band. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 as a member of the Grateful Dead.
Robert Hall Weir is an American musician and songwriter best known as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the group disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with The Other Ones, later known as The Dead, together with other former members of the Grateful Dead. Weir also founded and played in several other bands during and after his career with the Grateful Dead, including Kingfish, the Bob Weir Band, Bobby and the Midnites, Scaring the Children, RatDog, and Furthur, which he co-led with former Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh. In 2015, Weir, along with former Grateful Dead members Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, joined with Grammy-winning singer/guitarist John Mayer, bassist Oteil Burbridge, and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti to form the band Dead & Company. The band remains active.
Modulus Graphite is an American manufacturer of musical instruments best known for building bass guitars with carbon fiber necks. The company, originally called Modulus Graphite, was founded in part by Geoff Gould, a bassist who also worked for an aerospace company in Palo Alto, California, and coworker Jerry Dorsch. When they split, Jerry started Graphite Guitar Systems in Washington state.
Dozin' at the Knick is a recording of the Grateful Dead performing live in concert at the Knickerbocker Arena in Albany, New York. It was recorded March 24–26, 1990, and was released in 1996. The album was certified Gold by the RIAA on March 28, 2000. Fans of the Dead frequently refer to the album as "Dosin" at the Knick.
Postcards of the Hanging is a compilation album by the Grateful Dead. It consists entirely of Bob Dylan covers, performed live in concert, along with a rehearsal performance of "Man of Peace" featuring the Grateful Dead backing Dylan himself. Bob Weir sings lead on five tracks, Jerry Garcia on three, and Phil Lesh on one ; Weir and Garcia also alternate on one. Another Dylan covers collection, Garcia Plays Dylan, includes several performances by the Grateful Dead, but mostly by the Jerry Garcia Band and other Garcia side projects. An album of live performances containing Dylan and the Grateful Dead performing together was released in 1989 as "Dylan & the Dead."
Laurence Shurtliff was an American music executive and roadie. He was President of Grateful Dead Productions, Inc., from 1976, the year that the Grateful Dead incorporated, until the death of guitarist Jerry Garcia in 1995. He also was the Grateful Dead's "head roadie" and equipment manager during and prior to those years, and began his first role with the band as tour truck driver in 1967.
The Wall of Sound was an enormous sound reinforcement system designed in 1973 specifically for the Grateful Dead's live performances. The largest concert sound system built at that time, The Wall of Sound fulfilled lead designer Owsley "Bear" Stanley's desire for a distortion-free sound system that could also serve as its own monitoring system.
Tiger was Jerry Garcia's main guitar from 1979 to 1989. It was designed and built by Sonoma County luthier Doug Irwin. The instrument was commissioned by Garcia in 1973 following delivery of Wolf, his first major Irwin-built guitar. Upon commissioning the instrument, Garcia enjoined Irwin to "make it the way he thought was best, and don't hold back."
Three from the Vault is a live album by the Grateful Dead. It contains the complete show recorded on February 19, 1971 at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York. It was released on June 26, 2007.
Road Trips Volume 2 Number 4 is a two-CD live album by the American rock band the Grateful Dead. The eighth in their "Road Trips" series of albums, it was recorded on May 26 and 27, 1993, at the Cal Expo Amphitheatre in Sacramento, California. A third, bonus disc included with some copies of the album was recorded at the same two concerts. The album was released on August 25, 2009.
Spring 1990 is a live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains six complete concerts, on 18 CDs—one concert from each venue of their spring 1990 tour. It was released on August 31, 2012.
Dave's Picks Volume 6 is a three-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains two complete concerts: one from December 20, 1969, at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco and the second from February 2, 1970, at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis. It was produced as a limited edition of 13,000 numbered copies, and was released on May 1, 2013.
Pure Jerry: Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium, San Rafael, California, February 28, 1986 is a live album by Jerry Garcia and John Kahn. As the title suggests, it was recorded at the Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium in San Rafael, California, on February 28, 1986. It contains the entire concert from that date, on one CD. The eighth and penultimate entry in the Pure Jerry series of archival concert albums, it was released on March 25, 2009.
Dave's Picks Volume 19 is a three-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains the complete concert recorded on January 23, 1970, at the Honolulu Civic Auditorium in Honolulu, Hawaii. It also includes bonus tracks recorded the following night at the same venue, keyboardist Tom Constanten's last show with the band. It was produced as a limited edition of 16,500 copies, and was released on August 1, 2016.
Garcia Live Volume Seven is a two-disc live album by the Jerry Garcia Band. It was recorded at Sophie's in Palo Alto, California on November 8, 1976. It was released on August 19, 2016.
Dave's Picks Volume 23 is a three-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains the complete concert recorded at McArthur Court at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon on January 22, 1978. It was released on August 1, 2017, in a limited edition of 16,500 copies.
Dave's Picks Volume 25 is a three-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains the complete concert recorded on November 6, 1977, at Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena in Binghamton, New York. It was produced as a limited edition of 18,000 copies, and was released on January 26, 2018.
Dave's Picks Volume 38 is a three-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains the complete concert recorded on September 8, 1973 at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. It also contains two bonus tracks recorded on the previous night at the same venue. Some copies of the album include a bonus disc with eight more songs from the September 7 concert. It was released on April 30, 2021 in a limited edition of 25,000 copies.
Lyceum Theatre, London, England 5/26/72 is a four-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains the complete concert recorded at the Lyceum Theatre on May 26, 1972 – the last show of the band's Europe '72 tour. It was released on July 29, 2022.