Gloomy Tunes: Grateful Dead, “Cold Rain and Snow”

Thinking of our East Coast friends, who are digging out from under their second snowstorm in as many weeks. Today’s storm features something with the especially scary name of  “Thunder Snow,” which sounds like the name of an alt-right superhero created so white supremacists can do battle with Black Panther. (His super power? Stealthiness—Thunder Snow can only be heard a few feet before he attacks.) On the streets, Thunder Snow is basically a winter thunderstorm, which means lots of cold rain and snow.

That reminded us of the Grateful Dead’s cover of Obray Ramsey’s Appalachian ballad.  Now before you turn up your nose at the merest mention of the Dead, think again. This “Cold Rain and Snow”  sounds nothing like the music most people associate with the Dead. From their 1967 debut, it’s the sound of a hopped up electric jug band playing what would now be called a “roots rock” repertoire. A taut two minutes and thirty-two seconds, its thin guitar sound, swirling organ, amphetamine-fueled tempo, and Jerry Garcia’s whining vocals, if the track wasn’t identified, it could easily be mistaken for a track from the garage-rock compilations “Nuggets” or  the “Pebbles” series. Stay warm and dry, and remember that Opening Day is only three weeks away.

Steven Mirkin

Steven Mirkin’s diverse career has taken him from politics to pop culture to high art, offering him a front row seat to some of the most fascinating events and personalities of our time: writing speeches, fundraising appeals and campaign materials for Ed Koch, John Heinz and independent presidential candidate John B. Anderson; chronicling the punk/new wave scenes in New York and London; interviewing musicians such as Elton John, John Lydon and Buck Owens; profiling modern masters Julian Schnabel, Paul Schrader and Jonathan Safran Foer; and writing for TV shows including 21, The Chamber, Let's Make A Deal, and Rock Star: INXS.