Leading up to the final Fare Thee Well - Celebrating 50 Years Of Grateful Dead concert at Soldier Field, JamBase teamed with Telefunken to produce the Songs Of Their Own daily video series. In honor of the band’s 50th anniversary being celebrated this year, Songs Of Their Own featured some of our favorite musicians covering 50 Grateful Dead original compositions. With so many willing participants we ended up recording more than 50 songs, and like a must-hear filler on a bootleg tape, we’re sharing those videos as The Other Ones. As usual, no song was allowed to be covered twice, and today’s participants Dead Set figured out “Terrapin Station.”
Taking up the entire second side of its namesake 1977 LP, “Terrapin Station” made its live debut when the Dead performed it to open their February 26, 1977 concert at Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino, California. Recorded for the album with an orchestra and choir, the song is a suite of seven compositions, laid out on the record as “Lady With A Fan,” “Terrapin Station,” “Terrapin,” “Terrapin Transit,” “At A Siding,” “Terrapin Flyer” and “Refrain.” Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia wrote the majority of the song but drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann are also credited. Hunter also wrote additional compositions as part of the suite which were never recorded or played live. Performed over 300 times by the Grateful Dead (but never the full suite on the LP), “Terrapin Station” was last performed in the second set at the band’s penultimate show at Soldier Field on July 8, 1995. “Terrapin” made another second set appearance at Soldier Field during the final Fare Thee Well concert on July 5.
Burlington, Vermont’s Dead Set got their start at Club Metronome above the famed Nectar’s as a regular Tuesday night Grateful Dead jam session. Employing a rotating cast of performers, the lineup of Zach Nugent (guitar, vocals), Josh Dobbs (keyboards), Ed Grasmeyer (bass), Ryan Clausen (drums), Travis LaMothe (drums) and Jeff Martinson (guitar, vocals) assembled together at Telefunken Studios in South Windsor, Connecticut to record this nearly 15 minute take on “Terrapin Station.”