How many tape traders back in the day labeled New Minglewood Blues as “MingleWeir Blues” on their tape labels? The tape days were before my time, but I always found the designation amusing.

As far as Bobby’s blues numbers New Minglewood Blues is one of the more palatable ones for me. It’s a decent filler song in the setlist and as long as Weir isn’t playing slide it can be pretty good. I always got a kick out of how Bob pandered to the audience with this song as well in the “T for…” line. Any time you can guarantee a roar from the crowd is good showmanship, right?

There are only a small handful of versions of New Minglewood Blues that really stand out to me. I think you can tell a lot of a given show by how well the “filler” songs are played. When they’re hot the show is hot and the anticipated songs are that much better. So here’s a solid filler song from a killer show.

Know of a good Minglewood? Let me know in the comments.

Phil kicks the song off with a big slide down the neck and it’s off to the races. Jerry weaves some staccato, spunky lines throughout the verse and Keith’s block chords fill out the sound nicely. Jerry’s solo makes use of his blues tool kit, adding in some chromatic figures to keep things interesting and ties sections together. Keith really shines in the second instrumental section, too. Check out some of the little figures he plays just after the three minute mark. Garcia plays some cool sliding figures right around the four minute mark (not with the slide though). At that point it’s all over but the shouting and the band moves on to their next number.

Complete Setlist 10/9/76