Old & In The Way

Old & in the Way was a one-shot bluegrass band whose legacy lasted far longer than the band. Led by <a href="spotify:artist:4TMHGUX5WI7OOm53PqSDAT">Grateful Dead</a> member <a href="spotify:artist:3QDaXfnxfQqqJQK5lSdjLN">Jerry Garcia</a> (banjo, vocals), the band also featured <a href="spotify:artist:5udgy2xk333j33hKnwDz8O">David Grisman</a> (mandolin, vocals), <a href="spotify:artist:3kRUvBTtkaTGxDczyLC4fU">Vassar Clements</a> (fiddle), <a href="spotify:artist:52FOkBVb83F2QduWKRqmhm">Peter Rowan</a> (guitar, vocals), and <a href="spotify:artist:78wcNdGPVbyg6gPtNjjNC3">John Kahn</a> (bass). <a href="spotify:artist:3QDaXfnxfQqqJQK5lSdjLN">Garcia</a> formed the band in 1973 as a way to revisit his bluegrass roots and demonstrate his affection for the music. To round out the lineup, he recruited <a href="spotify:artist:3kRUvBTtkaTGxDczyLC4fU">Clements</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:78wcNdGPVbyg6gPtNjjNC3">Kahn</a> as well as <a href="spotify:artist:5udgy2xk333j33hKnwDz8O">Grisman</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:52FOkBVb83F2QduWKRqmhm">Rowan</a>, who were both West Coast session musicians who had previously played together in the band <a href="spotify:artist:4bRCPEdQ8XgpBJwXv1WzgM">Muleskinner</a>. Taking their name from a <a href="spotify:artist:5udgy2xk333j33hKnwDz8O">Grisman</a> composition, Old & in the Way played a handful of gigs, most of them at the Boarding House in San Francisco in October. An album, also called Old & in the Way, was culled from these shows but not released until 1975 on <a href="spotify:artist:4TMHGUX5WI7OOm53PqSDAT">the Grateful Dead</a>'s own record label, Round. The record combined standards and <a href="spotify:artist:52FOkBVb83F2QduWKRqmhm">Rowan</a> originals, which later became standards. Although the album was the only one the lineup released during the 1970s, the members continued to play together in various permutations over the next two decades, and the record continued to sell steadily. The group reunited after <a href="spotify:artist:3QDaXfnxfQqqJQK5lSdjLN">Garcia</a>'s death in 1995, releasing a second album (actually composed of 1973 recordings), That High Lonesome Sound, in early 1996. A third album of 1973 vintage appeared at the end of 1997. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi