Article Contributed by Jamie Huenefeld
Published on 2026-08-05
August 1, 2026 carried a double load. Not only would Jerry Garcia have turned eighty-four, but this was also seventeen years to the season since Brooklyn Bowl first opened inside the old Hecla Iron Works building on Wythe Avenue in Brooklyn, NY. Peter Shapiro's Williamsburg room marked the occasion the only way that made sense, with two shows, both pulled entirely from the Grateful Dead songbook, and approached from opposite ends of the map. One came in through a laptop and a wall of synthesizers. The other came in on a fiddle and a dobro.
Deadtronica opened the night. The project pairs Aron Magner, keyboardist for the Disco Biscuits, with Cloudchord, the Austin, Texas producer and guitarist otherwise known as Derek VanScoten. Magner is a Deadhead with the résumé to back it up, having played alongside Bill Kreutzmann in Billy & The Kids since 2014. The two released their nine-song debut, Deadtronica Vol. 1, in November 2025. What they brought to Brooklyn was not a straight run through that record.
The opening was atmospheric, unhurried, more weather than song, with Magner working the piano before settling in behind a Yamaha Montage M8x. From that haze came "West L.A. Fadeaway," the In the Dark (1987) cut that also opens the duo's album, built around samples of Garcia's own vocals, a choice that landed differently on his birthday than it would have on any other night. A disco jam followed and flowed into "China Cat Sunflower," from Aoxomoxoa (1969). Magner leaned into the Yamaha, then triggered a sample of Ice Cube's "It Was a Good Day," and the room was dancing with intent. On Jerry's birthday, at a party seventeen years in the making, it certainly was a good day.
Then the synths opened up wide. Another hip-hop sample dropped, and the set stopped being a tribute and became a party. "Dancing in the Street," the Martha and the Vandellas number the Dead cut for Terrapin Station (1977), gave way to "Let the Good Times Roll," the Sam Cooke tune the Dead carried through their late years and never put on a studio record. "Althea," from Go to Heaven (1980), arrived under heavy synth with Garcia's voice threaded through it, and Cloudchord answered with raging live guitar, the element that keeps this project from being a DJ set with a Dead theme.
"Turn On Your Love Light," the Bobby "Blue" Bland cover that Ron "Pigpen" McKernan made the band's own, kept the floor moving. "Casey Jones" followed and dissolved into a disco-funk breakdown with Cloudchord working Ableton Live. He is a certified Ableton trainer, and it showed in how cleanly the sections locked together. Overhead, Magner made it pretty, running piano effects and then returning to the Yamaha. They closed with "Ripple," from American Beauty (1970), and Cloudchord turned to the crowd for the singalong. Five of the eight songs came from outside Vol. 1, which indicated that the catalog Magner and Cloudchord are working through is considerably deeper than one album's worth.
Where Deadtronica arrived by way of the dance floor, Keller Williams' Grateful Grass came in through the string band tradition, loosely, and by Williams' own cheerful admission, not traditionally at all. His standing description of the project warns off anyone hoping to hear these songs played the way the Dead played them, or hoping to hear bluegrass played the way bluegrass is played. Instead, Dead songs were played at their normal tempo with the music running double time underneath, and a room full of people singing along.
The current Grateful Grass core grew out of PettyGrass, Williams' Tom Petty project with The Hillbenders. The line up included Gary Rea on bass, his cousin Jimmy Rea on guitar, and Chad "Gravy" Graves handling dobro and banjo, with a rotating guest chair. For this run, that chair belonged to Tim Carbone of Railroad Earth, the second of two Carbone-featuring dates after The Hamilton Live in Washington, D.C. the night before.
They opened with "Eyes of the World," from Wake of the Flood (1973), and moved into "Brown-Eyed Women," a song the Dead never cut in a studio and released live on Europe '72. Graves switched from dobro to a banjo run straight into a speaker, and the tone change was immediate. "Cold Rain and Snow," the traditional that opened the band's 1967 debut, ran into "St. Stephen" from Aoxomoxoa, then "Candyman" off American Beauty and Bob Weir's "Mexicali Blues," from his 1972 solo record Ace.
"Shakedown Street" was where the night's engine really caught. Carbone was crushing, his fiddle work carried a symphonic quality that sets this version of Grateful Grass apart from the ones built around mandolin-and-banjo firepower. Williams slayed on mandolin beside him. The band dropped into a vocal jam with everyone singing except Carbone, who kept sawing away underneath. Out of that came "Don't Let Go," the Jesse Stone tune that was a Jerry Garcia Band staple rather than a Dead cover. On Garcia's birthday, reaching into the JGB book was the right kind of nod.
"Wharf Rat" and "Attics of My Life" followed, the second of those a piece of American Beauty harmony writing that few bands attempt and fewer land. "Feel Like a Stranger" picked the tempo back up with Graves going absolutely wild. "The Other One" arrived, and the Anthem of the Sun (1968) engine room was rebuilt in acoustic instruments. "Bird Song," from Garcia's 1972 solo debut, flipped on a dime into "Cassidy," and "Cumberland Blues" brought the main set home with Graves back on banjo.
The encore was "Bertha," and then the night ended in a way nobody planned. A fire alarm went off, the show stopped cold, and staff moved the crowd out through every available exit. It was an abrupt finish to a long, generous evening. Ending Jerry's birthday bash while getting swept onto Wythe Avenue with a room full of people still singing maintained plenty of charm.
Williams stays out through the fall, though mostly in other configurations. Keller & the Keels play Grand Targhee Bluegrass Festival in Alta, Wyoming on August 7 and the Knitting Factory in Boise on August 8, a run that doubles as the 20th anniversary of Grass, the trio's first record together. He brings a solo set to the Wellmont Arts Plaza in Montclair, New Jersey on August 13, a free outdoor show, before Yasgur Road Reunion in Bethel, New York on August 14. Grateful Grass returns in September with shows at Van Hoy Farms Family Campground in Harmony, North Carolina on September 25, and The Outpost at the New River Gorge in Fayetteville, West Virginia on September 26. For details on these dates and more, visit kellerwilliams.net.
Deadtronica has a show scheduled on August 27 in Asbury Park, NJ and will perform at the Woodkey Festival on August 28-29. Afterwards, their next appearance is on Jam Cruise in February 2027. Hop on over to their tour page for more upcoming show announcements.
Check out more photos from Deadtronica and Keller Williams' Grateful Grass.
Band: Deadtronica
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Venue: Brooklyn Bowl
Date: August 1, 2026
Set One: West L.A. Fadeaway [1] > Jam > China Cat Sunflower > Dancing in the Street [2] > Let the Good Times Roll [3] > Althea > Turn On Your Love Light [4] > Casey Jones > Disco Funk Jam > Ripple
Notes:
[1] Performed with samples of Jerry Garcia's vocals.
[2] Written by Marvin Gaye, William Stevenson and Ivy Jo Hunter; first recorded by Martha and the Vandellas.
[3] Sam Cooke cover, copyrighted as "Good Times."
[4] Bobby "Blue" Bland cover.
Band: Keller Williams' Grateful Grass
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Venue: Brooklyn Bowl
Date: August 1, 2026
Set One: Eyes of the World > Brown-Eyed Women > Cold Rain and Snow [1] > St. Stephen > Candyman > Mexicali Blues > Shakedown Street > Vocal Jam > Don't Let Go [2] > Wharf Rat > Attics of My Life > Feel Like a Stranger > The Other One > Bird Song > Cassidy > Cumberland Blues
Encore: Bertha [3]
Notes:
[1] Traditional, arranged by the Grateful Dead.
[2] Written by Jesse Stone; a Jerry Garcia Band staple.
[3] Set cut short by a venue fire alarm immediately following the encore.
