For the 50th anniversary reissue of Tiger Rose, we explore the lost story of Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia’s only full-length studio collaboration, the Dead lyricist’s 2nd solo album, produced by Garcia & performed by an all-star cast including Garcia, Mickey Hart, & Donna Jean Godchaux.
The history of lyricist Robert Hunter’s solo career as a recording artist and performer has remained somewhat obscured. Last year, the Deadcast dove into the tangled yarn of Tales of the Great Rum Runners, Hunter’s debut that included two full drafts before the final version released in June 1974. A few months after its release, just before Thanksgiving that year, he returned to Mickey Hart’s studio to record what became Tiger Rose, its title shared with a 1917 Broadway play, 1923 silent film, and rarely seen 1929 talkie.
As always, we build on the work of other Dead scholars, drawing from some of David Gans’s Robert Hunter interviews included in the majestic Conversations With the Dead. Many thanks to Corry Arnold for the invaluable Road Hog performance chronology, as well as look at Hunter’s musical lieutenant Rodney Albin. Some photos of Road Hog in action.
And while we’re on the topic of Robert Hunter’s solo career, peace to Larry Klein, bassist in Comfort and on Hunter’s earliest “solo” tours, who departed in January.
