Grateful Dead's music celebrated at Dark Star Jubilee

THORNVILLE – For many music lovers, 2015 is the year of the Grateful Dead.

Dead-related celebrations are scheduled throughout the country as the influential band celebrates its 50th anniversary.

Legend Valley, the famed Thornville outdoor concert venue that played host to the band on more than one occasion, is unfurling its Dead flag once again this holiday weekend, May 22-24, as part of the fourth-annual Dark Star Jubilee Music Festival & Campout.

The festival in many ways celebrates the music of the Dead, with Dark Star Orchestra headlining all three nights.

DSO, as many fans call the band, takes its name from one of the Dead's more famed compositions, the song "Dark Star."

The Dead used the song to "jam," or improvise, during their live shows.

DSO lives up to the song's esteemed history by placing an emphasis on live performances, musicianship and improvisation.

Like the Dead before them, the concert stage is a second home for DSO.

The Dead performed 2,340 shows, and DSO will eclipse the 2,500-show mark later this year.

Some of DSO's most revered live performances occurred inside Legend Valley's gently-sloping natural amphitheater during previous Jubilees.

For the fourth-annual Jubilee, the band is scheduled to take the stage for four hours on May 22.

One of the bands that will precede them is Melvin Seals & JGB.

Seals, a maestro on the Hammond B-3 Organ, performed with the Dead's legendary guitarist, Jerry Garcia, in the aptly-named Jerry Garcia Band until Garcia's death in 1995.

Today, Seals keeps Garcia's musical legacy alive while performing with JGB.

Mandolin player Jeff Austin, who fronts the Jeff Austin Band, is scheduled to perform after DSO on May 22, and Austin has been known to channel Garcia and the music of the Dead on his instrument of choice.

A number of other acts on the lineup also have some connection to the Dead, either by influence, performances with surviving members or a history of dropping Dead covers into their live performances.

Multi-instrumentalist Keller Williams, who is performing with The Keels at the Jubilee, is one such act. Williams performed as a member of the Rhythm Devils with Dead drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart, and he and The Keels have been known to drop Dead covers into their setlists, in addition to covers from everyone from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers to Jane's Addiction and Kris Kristofferson.

Guitar and mandolin player Peter Rowan also shares a connection with the Dead.

Rowan, who will be performing May 23 with Peter Rowan's Twang & Groove, formed Old & In the Way with Garcia and David Grisman, among others, in the 1970s.

The bluegrass supergroup influenced countless other bluegrass bands.

Even Los Lobos, who is scheduled to perform May 24 at the Jubilee, has a Dead connection, having opened for the Dead in the 1980s. Just YouTube Los Lobos/Grateful Dead "This Land is Your Land" to see the band performing with Garcia and Bob Weir of the Dead.

Most everywhere one looks on the Jubilee lineup there is some connection, some stronger than others, to the music of the Dead.

Robert Randolph & The Family Band, for example, enjoy — and downright excel — at musical improvisation, just like the Dead. The same could be said for Kyle Hollingsworth, the organ player for jam stalwarts The String Cheese Incident. Both the Kyle Hollingsworth Band and Robert Randolph & The Family Band are scheduled to perform May 24 at the Jubilee.

Outside of the Jubilee's lineup, the festival itself shares something in common with the Dead, or, more specifically, the community of fans that once followed around the Dead.

Like the so-called Deadheads, the Jubilee is a laid back affair, with camping neighbors quickly befriending one another and smiles and high-fives as common a sight as tie-died clothing.

What: Dark Star Jubilee Music Festival & Camp Out

Where: Legend Valley, Thornville

When: May 22-24

Who: The lineup includes Dark Star Orchestra, Los Lobos, Railroad Earth, Robert Randolph & The Family Band, Peter Rowan's Twang An' Groove, Keller and The Keels, Steep Canyon Rangers, Melvin Seals & JGB, Jeff Austin Band, Kyle Hollingsworth Band, etc.

How much: A three-day GA pass is $170 at the gate. A GA Saturday-arrival pass is $135 at the gate, and a GA Sunday-arrival pass is $80 at the gate. A kids pass is $40, and a GA RV pass is $75. Camping is included.

For more information: Go online at www.darkstarjubilee.com. The festival also has a Facebook page, which it updates regularly.