Posted by Oteil Burbridge on August 1, 2017 Happy Birthday, Jerry!

When I’m old and grey, Jerry’s voice and playing will always remind me of my son’s childhood. Nigel was just 4 months old when I started really digging in to my first 100 Grateful Dead songs. While this music is the soundtrack to many people’s childhoods it is, for me, the soundtrack to parenthood.

It’s no secret that I love the ballads that this band has written. Getting to sing some of Jerry’s ballads has been a really transformative experience in my life. 

Hearing what I call the “available fragility” in Jerry’s voice when he sings those ballads is very healing. It reminds me that the good times are so incredibly sweet that it’s worth persevering through the hard winters of life. And that it’s necessary to embrace and accept your own fragility in those hard seasons and keep faith that spring is coming again.

Jerry’s voice and his guitar really does the trick whether you are feeling down or jubilant. He was a rare and precious soul and he let you see it all with your ears. That’s a rare and invaluable gift to possess. Thank you for sharing it with us all.

Happy birthday, Jerry. #Garcia75th