Enter Keith Godchaux

Episode Duration: 01:15:32

The Deadcast opens its 4th season with one of the most unlikely but totally true stories in Grateful Dead history: how Keith & Donna Jean Godchaux approached Jerry Garcia at a bar and announced that Keith was the Dead’s new keyboardist, going deep into Godchaux family history.

READ THE FULL TRANSCRIPT OF THIS EPISODE

Guests: Brian Godchaux, Donna Jean Godchaux MacKay, Greg Anton, Sandy Rothman

Supplemental Materials

 

by Jesse Jarnow
 

Nobody in the Grateful Dead knew Keith Godchaux before he and his wife Donna Jean turned up at one of Jerry Garcia’s side gigs and informed Garcia that Keith was the Dead’s new keyboard player. And, as it turned out, he was. As improbable and unlikely and outright impossible the story seems, it also seems to have really happened like that. The Grateful Dead Guide and their comment section ran down many of the relevant details, but this episode adds several turns to the story.

 

But who was Keith Godchaux? Where did he come from? A cipher even to his bandmates and coworkers, the shy piano player from the East Bay came with an incredibly deep musical education that prepared him perfectly for the Dead’s improvisation despite never having played in a rock band before. 

 

We go deep into the story of Keith Godchaux with his younger brother Brian, also an excellent musician who appeared on 1975’s Keith and Donna. More recently, in addition to appearing with the Heart of Gold Band, Brian has been playing in a duo with Sandy Rothman, an anchor of the Bay Area bluegrass scene going back to the early ‘60s as a member of the Black Mountain Boys and later, the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band. Together, they recorded The Red Fiddle and the Silver Banjo. In the mid-’60s, Sandy played lead electric guitar in a garage R&B band that rehearsed in the Godchaux family garage, featuring Keith on bass, Ray Scott (later of the Keith and Donna Band) on guitar, drummer Peter Ostwald, and vocalist Steve Carvalho.

 

Newspaper clippings courtesy of Brian Godchaux.

 

Godchaux

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    Baklava
    8 months ago
    Thanks for this Keith-centric episode

    Got into the Dead 50 years ago during the Keith & Donna era. Keith has always been my favorite Dead pianist/keyboardist -- his playing was so articulate. I have wanted to know more about him for many years, so I am grateful I came across this podcast and episode.

  • Default Avatar
    Scarlet1417
    2 years 4 months ago
    Where can I get a copy of 7…

    Where can I get a copy of 7/10/80 hog?

  • CrazyNate
    2 years 6 months ago
    Quiet Keith

    Great show gang. A real pleasure to hear Brian discuss the family and mind of his big brother. No spoiler, there's a classic "miracle ticket" story about Keith's parents that will put a smile on your face. Picked up Brian and Sandy's, "The Red Fiddle & Silver Banjo". Looking forward to playing that on my show Lucid. Put an ear to the genius of Keith Godchaux. Way to go Jarnow!

The Deadcast opens its 4th season with one of the most unlikely but totally true stories in Grateful Dead history: how Keith & Donna Jean Godchaux approached Jerry Garcia at a bar and announced that Keith was the Dead’s new keyboardist, going deep into Godchaux family history.

READ THE FULL TRANSCRIPT OF THIS EPISODE

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01:15:32
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Brian Godchaux, Donna Jean Godchaux MacKay, Greg Anton, Sandy Rothman
Supplemental Materials

 

by Jesse Jarnow
 

Nobody in the Grateful Dead knew Keith Godchaux before he and his wife Donna Jean turned up at one of Jerry Garcia’s side gigs and informed Garcia that Keith was the Dead’s new keyboard player. And, as it turned out, he was. As improbable and unlikely and outright impossible the story seems, it also seems to have really happened like that. The Grateful Dead Guide and their comment section ran down many of the relevant details, but this episode adds several turns to the story.

 

But who was Keith Godchaux? Where did he come from? A cipher even to his bandmates and coworkers, the shy piano player from the East Bay came with an incredibly deep musical education that prepared him perfectly for the Dead’s improvisation despite never having played in a rock band before. 

 

We go deep into the story of Keith Godchaux with his younger brother Brian, also an excellent musician who appeared on 1975’s Keith and Donna. More recently, in addition to appearing with the Heart of Gold Band, Brian has been playing in a duo with Sandy Rothman, an anchor of the Bay Area bluegrass scene going back to the early ‘60s as a member of the Black Mountain Boys and later, the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band. Together, they recorded The Red Fiddle and the Silver Banjo. In the mid-’60s, Sandy played lead electric guitar in a garage R&B band that rehearsed in the Godchaux family garage, featuring Keith on bass, Ray Scott (later of the Keith and Donna Band) on guitar, drummer Peter Ostwald, and vocalist Steve Carvalho.

 

Newspaper clippings courtesy of Brian Godchaux.

 

Godchaux

Enter_Keith_Godchaux

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Great show gang. A real pleasure to hear Brian discuss the family and mind of his big brother. No spoiler, there's a classic "miracle ticket" story about Keith's parents that will put a smile on your face. Picked up Brian and Sandy's, "The Red Fiddle & Silver Banjo". Looking forward to playing that on my show Lucid. Put an ear to the genius of Keith Godchaux. Way to go Jarnow!

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Got into the Dead 50 years ago during the Keith & Donna era. Keith has always been my favorite Dead pianist/keyboardist -- his playing was so articulate. I have wanted to know more about him for many years, so I am grateful I came across this podcast and episode.

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Season 4
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