The Shakedown Archives

The Shakedown Archives
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The Shakedown Archives is Grateful Dead history, sourced from the books and the tapes. Each documentary takes one story (a song, a show, a person, a strange night in the band's thirty years) and follows it through the archive: interviews, setlists, liner notes, fan-club mailings and the recordings. Shakedown Conversations adds long-form talks with the writers, musicians and Deadheads who were there, or who have spent decades digging. First up: journalist Toby Rogers on the jazz underneath the Dead. New episodes weekly. Full videos and the Shakedown Observatory at theshakedownarchives.com.

  1. 1h ago

    Grateful Dead Sleep Stories | The Summer Bob Dylan Toured With the Grateful Dead, and Jerry's Dylan Songbook and more

    Tonight, two old friends who never quite worked out how to play together: Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead. A warehouse in San Rafael where they rehearsed one spring, a summer of six stadium shows, a live record almost nobody loved, and a songbook Jerry Garcia carried with him his whole life. The real story is in the rooms around the tour, the couch at the warehouse, the borrowed guitar, the scraps of paper, and the songs the Dead kept playing long after the stadiums had emptied. A long, calm story for a long night. CHAPTERS 0:00 Settle in 1:28 The warehouse at Club Front 6:44 The borrowed guitars 11:52 The crew calls him Spike 17:07 The leak and the tour in doubt 22:20 The Tom Petty tour at RFK 27:40 Rain, jazz and walking out 32:38 The rehearsal song list 37:51 Garcia on Dylan's folk days 43:20 It's All Over Now, Baby Blue 48:27 Garcia at the Warfield, 1980 53:48 Dylan songs in the Garcia Band 59:02 Bob Weir sings Dylan 1:04:16 Brent Mydland learns the songs 1:09:21 Garcia on pedal steel 1:14:17 Foxboro on the Fourth of July 1:19:34 JFK Stadium in Philadelphia 1:24:42 Giants Stadium and Morning Dew 1:29:49 Autzen Stadium in Eugene 1:34:43 Oakland Coliseum 1:39:54 Temples in Flame 1:44:57 The live album 1:50:13 Robert Hunter and Dylan 1:55:35 Dylan sits in again 2:00:47 Dylan after Garcia 2:06:00 Drifting off The Shakedown Archives Sleep Stories are long, calm, spoken-word journeys through the real history of the Grateful Dead, made to help you fall asleep and stay asleep. No jarring music, no ads breaking the spell, no bright screen. Just a quiet voice and two hours of true stories from the band, the scene, and the people who lived it. Perfect for insomnia, winding down, long nights, travel, or anyone who loves the Dead and wants to drift off inside the history. Dim the lights, get comfortable, and let it carry you off. If this helped you sleep, following the show is the one thing that keeps them coming. Sweet dreams. TAGS: bob dylan, dylan and the dead, jerry garcia, bob weir, brent mydland, robert hunter, club front, san rafael, 1987 stadium tour, sullivan stadium, jfk stadium, giants stadium, autzen stadium, oakland coliseum, dylan and the dead album, tom petty, temples in flame, baby blue, grateful dead sleep story, sleep story, sleep stories for adults, history for sleep, fall asleep fast, bedtime story for grown ups, boring history for sleep, calm history narration, long sleep story, stories to fall asleep to, insomnia sleep story, grateful dead history, deadhead

  2. 1d ago

    Grateful Dead Sleep Stories | The Detroit Soul Records Jerry Garcia Carried Into the Grateful Dead and more

    Tonight, one long thread through the whole story of the Grateful Dead: the soul music. The Detroit records, the rhythm and blues and the Motown hits that Jerry Garcia loved, carried with him, and kept playing, one way or another, for thirty years. It came in through a record player in a borrowed room, through a disc jockey's son with a harmonica, and through bar sets in a lounge with no windows. Long after the hippie years, Garcia was still on the road with a Hammond organ and a pair of gospel singers. A long, calm story for a long night. CHAPTERS 0:00 Settle in 1:41 Junior Walker and Cleo's Back 6:43 Pigpen's father, the disc jockey 11:38 Blues bars in East Palo Alto 16:25 The Warlocks and In the Midnight Hour 21:08 Lovelight and Bobby Bland 26:12 Dancing in the Street 31:08 Good Lovin' 35:44 Hard to Handle 40:47 Otis Redding at Monterey 45:41 Merl Saunders and soul jazz 50:44 Live at Keystone 55:29 Dancing in the Street, 1976 1:00:32 Donna Jean at Muscle Shoals 1:05:49 Keith and Donna in the Garcia Band 1:10:55 Cornell, 1977 1:15:56 Terrapin Station and Clive Davis 1:20:54 Melvin Seals on the Hammond 1:26:05 How Sweet It Is 1:31:02 Jacklyn LaBranch and Gloria Jones 1:36:13 I Second That Emotion 1:41:36 Little Milton's soul 1:46:53 Don't Let Go 1:51:59 Iko Iko and New Orleans 1:57:08 The last shows at the Warfield 2:02:03 Drifting off The Shakedown Archives Sleep Stories are long, calm, spoken-word journeys through the real history of the Grateful Dead, made to help you fall asleep and stay asleep. No jarring music, no ads breaking the spell, no bright screen. Just a quiet voice and two hours of true stories from the band, the scene, and the people who lived it. Perfect for insomnia, winding down, long nights, travel, or anyone who loves the Dead and wants to drift off inside the history. Dim the lights, get comfortable, and let it carry you off. If this helped you sleep, following the show is the one thing that keeps them coming. Sweet dreams. TAGS: jerry garcia, motown, soul music, junior walker, cleos back, pigpen, otis redding, bobby bland, dancing in the street, good lovin, hard to handle, merl saunders, jerry garcia band, melvin seals, jacklyn labranch, gloria jones, donna jean godchaux, how sweet it is, i second that emotion, dont let go, cornell 1977, grateful dead sleep story, sleep story, sleep stories for adults, history for sleep, fall asleep fast, bedtime story for grown ups, boring history for sleep, calm history narration, long sleep story, stories to fall asleep to, insomnia sleep story, grateful dead history, deadhead

    Grateful Dead Sleep Stories | The Detroit Soul Records Jerry Garcia Carried Into the Grateful Dead and more

  3. 2d ago

    Bill Graham's Crowd Control Became a Six-Day Tent City

    Shakedown Street wasn't conjured out of thin air by hippies. In January 1978, a Bill Graham logistics man saw the same fifty faces at every show — and one porta-potty order accidentally built a subculture.Want to dig deeper? check out our memberships and get free access to the ShakeDown Observatory--our interactive journey through the 30 years of music--https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI4-lWlKDRdWQ6_k9zOn5yg/joinThat man was Peter Barsotti, working the winter run through Bakersfield, Fresno, Sacramento, and Stockton for Bill Graham Presents. The first fifty people in every line weren't similar people — they were the SAME people, following the Grateful Dead as a way of life. Barsotti told his boss, and Bill Graham — the toughest promoter in rock — gave a purely logistical order: open the lot the night before, put out some porta-potties, make sure there's water. Not a drum circle. Not a gathering of the tribes. Crowd control.Out of that decision grew everything. Time and space in an open parking lot turned into grilled cheese, bootleg tapes, and handmade jewelry — then a six-day tent city at the 1979 Oakland Auditorium run, where Graham started hiring the campers to work his own food operation. Dennis McNally and Blair Jackson documented how the busiest strip took the name of the Garcia–Hunter song, and how the whole thing held together on scale: a few hundred travelers who policed themselves.Then "Touch of Grey" hit in 1987, the lots filled with credit-card booths and people who couldn't name five Dead songs, and by 1989 — gridlock in Wisconsin, a letter from Giants Stadium, police who'd "totally lost control" — the Grateful Dead had to write an open letter begging their own fans to give up camping and vending, or lose the tour entirely. Jerry Garcia never wanted to be the mayor of a traveling city. This is how a porta-potty order made him one.CHAPTERS0:00 The Same Fifty Faces in Every Line1:15 Bill Graham's Porta-Potty Order2:10 The Watkins Glen Playbook3:00 What an Open Parking Lot Created4:00 The 1979 Oakland Tent City4:50 How "Shakedown Street" Got Its Name5:40 Small Enough to Police Itself6:10 "Touch of Grey" Breaks the Scene7:35 The Letter from Giants Stadium8:30 The Dead Ban Camping and Vending9:20 Begging the Deadheads to StopSOURCESDennis McNally, "A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead"Blair Jackson & David Gans, "This Is All a Dream We Dreamed: An Oral History of the Grateful Dead"Grateful Dead Archive, UC Santa Cruz — https://guides.library.ucsc.edu/gratefuldeadGrateful Dead Live Music Archive — https://archive.org/details/GratefulDeadGrateful Dead official — https://www.dead.net🎧 The Shakedown Archives tells the rise-and-fall stories of the bands and artists that defined an era — the music history nobody filed away.The music history nobody filed away.#GratefulDead #ShakedownStreet #Deadheads

  4. 2d ago

    Grateful Dead Sleep Stories | John Perry Barlow, the Wyoming Rancher Who Wrote Bob Weir's Cowboy Songs and more

    Tonight, out to the high country: a cattle ranch in the far west of Wyoming, in Sublette County near the little town of Pinedale, where a ranch kid named John Perry Barlow grew up and a guitar player named Bob Weir once spent a summer driving a tractor into ditches. The man who wrote the words to Mexicali Blues and Cassidy and Estimated Prophet really did fix fences and move cattle and worry about the price of hay. A long, calm story for a long night. CHAPTERS 0:00 Settle in 1:40 The Bar Cross Ranch 6:56 A Mormon ranching family 12:11 Fountain Valley School 17:35 Weir's summer on the ranch 22:43 Wesleyan and Timothy Leary 28:10 A novel in New York 33:25 Back to take over the ranch 38:32 The cabin and the Ace songs 43:34 Cassidy 48:40 Mexicali Blues 53:55 Black-Throated Wind 58:58 Looks Like Rain 1:03:40 Wake of the Flood 1:08:52 The Music Never Stopped 1:14:05 Estimated Prophet 1:19:15 Heaven Help the Fool 1:24:19 Lost Sailor and Saint of Circumstance 1:29:14 Feel Like a Stranger 1:34:06 Writing for Brent Mydland 1:39:23 Hell in a Bucket and Throwing Stones 1:44:46 How the words got written 1:50:05 Barlow and Dick Cheney 1:55:31 Selling the ranch 2:00:34 The Electronic Frontier and the WELL 2:05:32 Drifting off The Shakedown Archives Sleep Stories are long, calm, spoken-word journeys through the real history of the Grateful Dead, made to help you fall asleep and stay asleep. No jarring music, no ads breaking the spell, no bright screen. Just a quiet voice and two hours of true stories from the band, the scene, and the people who lived it. Perfect for insomnia, winding down, long nights, travel, or anyone who loves the Dead and wants to drift off inside the history. Dim the lights, get comfortable, and let it carry you off. If this helped you sleep, following the show is the one thing that keeps them coming. Sweet dreams. TAGS: john perry barlow, bob weir, bar cross ranch, pinedale wyoming, sublette county, cassidy, mexicali blues, estimated prophet, black-throated wind, looks like rain, the music never stopped, weather report suite, lost sailor, saint of circumstance, feel like a stranger, throwing stones, electronic frontier foundation, the well, brent mydland, grateful dead sleep story, sleep story, sleep stories for adults, history for sleep, fall asleep fast, bedtime story for grown ups, boring history for sleep, calm history narration, long sleep story, stories to fall asleep to, insomnia sleep story, grateful dead history, deadhead

    Grateful Dead Sleep Stories | John Perry Barlow, the Wyoming Rancher Who Wrote Bob Weir's Cowboy Songs and more

  5. 3d ago

    Grateful Dead Sleep Stories | Life Inside 710 Ashbury, the Grateful Dead House the Police Raided and more

    Tonight, one house: a tall old Victorian on Ashbury Street in San Francisco, a few blocks up the hill from the most famous corner of the sixties, where the Grateful Dead lived for a little while when the neighborhood around them was the center of everything. A kitchen, a crowded parlor, a flight of front steps. A hero of the Beat Generation slept in the attic, a Beatle knocked and found nobody home, and the people who lived there still can't agree on when they moved in. A long, calm story for a long night. CHAPTERS 0:00 Settle in 1:38 Through the back garden 6:39 The communal kitchen 11:56 Danny Rifkin and the paperwork 16:56 Rock Scully 21:55 Pigpen at 710 27:05 Neal Cassady in the attic 32:13 The Haight in 1966 37:18 The Psychedelic Shop 42:36 The Diggers 47:47 Owsley and the acid 52:53 The Human Be-In 58:20 Recording the first album 1:03:37 Mountain Girl upstairs 1:08:40 The Free Clinic 1:13:35 Monterey Pop 1:18:58 Summer of Love crowds 1:24:08 Chocolate George's funeral 1:29:23 Speed replaces acid 1:34:26 The raid on 710 1:39:29 The press conference 1:44:42 Death of the Hippie 1:49:46 The free show on Haight Street 1:54:47 Moving to Marin 1:59:42 710 Ashbury today 2:04:43 Drifting off The Shakedown Archives Sleep Stories are long, calm, spoken-word journeys through the real history of the Grateful Dead, made to help you fall asleep and stay asleep. No jarring music, no ads breaking the spell, no bright screen. Just a quiet voice and two hours of true stories from the band, the scene, and the people who lived it. Perfect for insomnia, winding down, long nights, travel, or anyone who loves the Dead and wants to drift off inside the history. Dim the lights, get comfortable, and let it carry you off. If this helped you sleep, following the show is the one thing that keeps them coming. Sweet dreams. TAGS: 710 ashbury, haight-ashbury, grateful dead house, danny rifkin, rock scully, pigpen, neal cassady, mountain girl, psychedelic shop, the diggers, owsley stanley, human be-in, summer of love, free clinic, chocolate george, 1967 drug raid, death of the hippie, grateful dead sleep story, sleep story, sleep stories for adults, history for sleep, fall asleep fast, bedtime story for grown ups, boring history for sleep, calm history narration, long sleep story, stories to fall asleep to, insomnia sleep story, grateful dead history, deadhead

    Grateful Dead Sleep Stories | Life Inside 710 Ashbury, the Grateful Dead House the Police Raided and more

  6. 4d ago

    Grateful Dead Sleep Stories | Before the Dead: Jerry Garcia's Banjo Years, the Coffeehouses, and the Jug Band and more

    Tonight, back before the beginning: a few small towns on the Peninsula south of San Francisco in the first years of the sixties, where young people with banjos, washboards and borrowed guitars slept in cars, crowded into coffeehouses, and played old songs for whoever would listen. Folk songs, bluegrass, and a jug band. A bookstore that let people stay all day, a room above a pizza parlor, and a music shop where a banjo teacher waited on New Year's Eve. A long, calm story for a long night. CHAPTERS 0:00 Settle in 1:56 The Tangent in Palo Alto 7:00 Kepler's Books 12:11 Garcia leaves the Army 17:14 Robert Hunter and Jerry 22:21 The Chateau in Menlo Park 27:20 Learning banjo from records 32:34 The Hart Valley Drifters 37:55 Black Mountain Boys 43:20 The trip east in 1964 48:41 Pigpen's record collection 53:59 Pigpen at the Tangent 59:05 Bob Weir on New Year's Eve 1:04:08 Forming Mother McCree's 1:09:35 The Kweskin Jug Band 1:15:06 Dana Morgan Music 1:20:25 Sara and Jerry 1:26:01 Phil Lesh at KPFA 1:31:18 The Boar's Head 1:36:28 Monterey Folk Festival 1:41:37 Doc Watson 1:46:59 Hunter's early songs 1:52:04 Perry Lane and Kesey 1:57:21 The jug band tapes 2:02:31 The jug band breaks up 2:07:27 Drifting off The Shakedown Archives Sleep Stories are long, calm, spoken-word journeys through the real history of the Grateful Dead, made to help you fall asleep and stay asleep. No jarring music, no ads breaking the spell, no bright screen. Just a quiet voice and two hours of true stories from the band, the scene, and the people who lived it. Perfect for insomnia, winding down, long nights, travel, or anyone who loves the Dead and wants to drift off inside the history. Dim the lights, get comfortable, and let it carry you off. If this helped you sleep, following the show is the one thing that keeps them coming. Sweet dreams. TAGS: jug band, mother mccrees uptown jug champions, jerry garcia banjo, robert hunter, pigpen, bob weir, phil lesh, the tangent, keplers books, the chateau, dana morgan music, boars head, hart valley drifters, black mountain boys, sandy rothman, david nelson, palo alto, folk revival, bluegrass, grateful dead sleep story, sleep story, sleep stories for adults, history for sleep, fall asleep fast, bedtime story for grown ups, boring history for sleep, calm history narration, long sleep story, stories to fall asleep to, insomnia sleep story, grateful dead history, deadhead

    Grateful Dead Sleep Stories | Before the Dead: Jerry Garcia's Banjo Years, the Coffeehouses, and the Jug Band and more

  7. 4d ago

    How Bob Marley’s Rejection Led To Grateful Dead’s Iconic ‘Scarlet Begonias

    How Bob Marley’s Rejection Led To Grateful Dead’s Iconic ‘Scarlet Begonias #scarletbegonias #gratefuldead #bobmarleyWhy? Marley couldn’t reconcile joining a label called ‘Grateful Dead’. But that rejection led to something far greater: the creation of one of the Dead’s most beloved songs, “Scarlet Begonias”.In this video, I get deep into the creative process behind the song, exploring:🎸 How Marley’s influence still seeped into the Dead’s sound,🎤 The evolution from “Bristol Girls” to “Scarlet Begonias,”🎧 The innovative studio techniques that made the song stand out,🎶 And how the song morphed live to become an epic jam session that spanned years.Join us for an exploration of music history, creative partnerships, and how a simple “no” led to something extraordinary.🔗 Stay Connected With Us.🔔𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬.https://www.youtube.com/@TheShakedownArchives/?sub_confirmation=1 =============================🎬Suggested videos for you:▶️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zlc1Gu0hKg ▶️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0qCdDOv23E ▶️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zavZHQLZ2N4 ▶️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6osgPK2LI8M ▶️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEMOrIY1aCU =================================#scarletbegonias #gratefuldead #bobmarley #musichistory #jamband #rockmusic #musiccreationHow Bob Marley’s Rejection Led To Grateful Dead’s Iconic ‘Scarlet BegoniasContact for inquiries, questions and comments: inquiries@theshakedownarchives.com© 2025 The Shakedown Archives

  8. 5d ago

    Grateful Dead Sleep Stories | Why the Dead Needed Two Drummers, Billy, Mickey and the Rhythm Devils and more

    Tonight, two drummers: a boy in a garage in Palo Alto, and a boy in a closet in Brooklyn with his father's old sticks, who ended up side by side at the back of the same stage for the better part of thirty years. Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, and the strange, rolling thing people came to call the Rhythm Devils. Almost nobody in this story agrees on who introduced them or what night the second drummer first sat down. A long, calm story for a long night. CHAPTERS 0:00 Settle in 1:32 A garage in Palo Alto 6:29 The Warlocks at Magoo's 11:56 Kreutzmann and the Acid Tests 16:52 Mickey Hart in Brooklyn 22:02 The Air Force in Spain 27:19 Meeting at the Count Basie show 32:45 Mickey sits in at the Straight 37:53 Drum City in San Carlos 43:06 Playing in eleven 48:02 Alla Rakha and Ali Akbar Khan 53:32 Olatunji and African drums 58:48 Lenny Hart leaves 1:04:09 One drummer again 1:09:06 The barn in Novato 1:14:43 Winterland farewell, 1974 1:19:50 Diga Rhythm Band and Zakir Hussain 1:25:15 Apocalypse Now 1:30:20 The Beam 1:35:29 The drum duet 1:40:38 Space 1:45:51 The Beast 1:51:12 Planet Drum 1:56:09 Kreutzmann's memoir 2:01:21 The Rhythm Devils return 2:06:17 Drifting off The Shakedown Archives Sleep Stories are long, calm, spoken-word journeys through the real history of the Grateful Dead, made to help you fall asleep and stay asleep. No jarring music, no ads breaking the spell, no bright screen. Just a quiet voice and two hours of true stories from the band, the scene, and the people who lived it. Perfect for insomnia, winding down, long nights, travel, or anyone who loves the Dead and wants to drift off inside the history. Dim the lights, get comfortable, and let it carry you off. If this helped you sleep, following the show is the one thing that keeps them coming. Sweet dreams. TAGS: rhythm devils, bill kreutzmann, mickey hart, billy and mickey, two drummers, drums and space, the beast, the beam, planet drum, lenny hart, zakir hussain, alla rakha, olatunji, diga rhythm band, apocalypse now, rolling thunder, grateful dead sleep story, sleep story, sleep stories for adults, history for sleep, fall asleep fast, bedtime story for grown ups, boring history for sleep, calm history narration, long sleep story, stories to fall asleep to, insomnia sleep story, grateful dead history, deadhead

    Grateful Dead Sleep Stories | Why the Dead Needed Two Drummers, Billy, Mickey and the Rhythm Devils and more
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About

The Shakedown Archives is Grateful Dead history, sourced from the books and the tapes. Each documentary takes one story (a song, a show, a person, a strange night in the band's thirty years) and follows it through the archive: interviews, setlists, liner notes, fan-club mailings and the recordings. Shakedown Conversations adds long-form talks with the writers, musicians and Deadheads who were there, or who have spent decades digging. First up: journalist Toby Rogers on the jazz underneath the Dead. New episodes weekly. Full videos and the Shakedown Observatory at theshakedownarchives.com.

Information

  • Creator
    The Shakedown Archives
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    129
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © The Shakedown Archives
  • Show Website
    The Shakedown Archives

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