Significant longplayers from the past
14 June 2025
Californian rock legends GRATEFUL DEAD (1965–1995), forerunners of the 60s counterculture movement, led by the late Jerry Garcia (1942-1995) released their
5th LP WORKINGMAN’s DEAD on 14 June 1970, today 55 years ago.
The album title came about when Jerry Garcia commented to lyricist Robert Hunter that
the record was “turning into the ‘workingman’s Dead’ version of the band”. The photograph
of the LP’s cover was taken at 1199 Evans Avenue in San Francisco.
Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty, the companion longplayer that followed months later, were, according to drummer Bill Kreutzmann, both influenced by the Bakersfield sound. “We tried to be like a Bakersfield band – but one that still sounded like we were from 300 miles north of that town, we held to our psychedelic roots. Workingman’s Dead was all about discovering the song, American Beauty became all about having the harmonies
to do that”.
Readers of Rolling Stone Magazine voted it the best album of 1970, followed by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young‘s Déjà Vu and Van Morrison’s Moondance. Over the years it went platinum.
AllMusic: “The Grateful Dead were already established as paragons of the free-form,
improvisational, San Francisco psychedelic sound when they abruptly shifted gears for
the acoustic Workingman’s Dead, a lovely exploration of American roots music illuminating
the group’s country, blues, and folk influences.”
ALBUM