It’s not easy carrying on the legacy of … anyone. Whether you’re a musician, lawyer, son, daughter, politician or actor — carrying on the legacy of someone is a daunting task.
Melvin Seals is doing just this, and he’s carrying on the legacy of one of the most iconic names in music history — Jerry Garcia. A former member of the Jerry Garcia Band, Seals has been ferociously touring the music of Garcia (as well as his own) for decades in his own band (Melvin Seals & JGB) as well as guesting on tours and concerts for the likes of Oteil Burridge, and Phil Lesh. He is one of the top artists carrying on Garcia’s vaunted legacy.
We caught up with Seals as he was on his tour bus heading to our backyard, The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ to talk about carrying on Garcia’s legacy, how his shows transcend age, and some new music on the horizon.
You’ve mentioned before regarding the JGB that the mission is to carry on the legacy of Jerry Garcia and his music. What does that mean to you personally?
Well, that might be a difficult question to answer correctly. What I can tell you is that he introduced me to a completely different style of music. I was doing other stuff, you know, R&B, gospel, jazz, some Broadway plays. I was doing multiple things, but when I met Jerry and got with him, my world was turned around. And since then, since Jerry, I have only been doing one style of music. This sort of jam band, Jerry, Grateful Dead music. Everything else almost shut down on me. Not that I’m not capable, it’s just my life is here now. Keeping it going is something I feel like I need to do.
I heard an interview with Jerry, not sure of the interviewer, something on TV, and they asked him what he would want to leave when he was no longer here. I remember specifically that he said he would like to believe the music would live on, and it would go on. And you know, not to rain on anyone’s parade or anything like that, but after he died, no one was doing anything. It kind of shut down for a while. Everyone was doing the opposite of what he said, and that kept going through my head, that he wanted the music to live on. So I just had the idea to get it together and go out and do the music.
It was difficult, because you have folks who would want to hear the music but Jerry wasn’t there, and felt like you shouldn’t do the music anymore. You know, standing in front with their arms crossed. But he wanted the music to live on, and now it has blossomed into all these different jam bands and different scenes. They may not be directly playing their songs, but they all come from the family, out of that scene. There are more festivals than ever now, with all these talented young bands doing their own thing. So that’s the legacy as I see it.
So what do you think it is about that music in particular that keeps people interested in preserving it and forming this sort of culture around it?
Well, first off it’s fantastic music. Like I said, I knew nothing about it back then. I knew the name, the Grateful Dead, because of course I lived in San Francisco. You’d hear the names, you know, Jerry Garcia or Mickey Hart, it was their birthday or something, and they would play the Oakland Coliseum, and the neighbors wouldn’t like those crowds. So I knew the name, I knew who they were, but not the music. In fact, when I met Jerry, I didn’t know who he was! I was looking around the room in my mind wondering which one was Jerry!
But this music turned my world around, and I talk to these kids that come out now, and they’re the kids of the fans who went to see Jerry. These kids weren’t around for Jerry, you know, maybe not even thought of. But I’m playing this music and I’m looking in their faces and they’re singing every word! Every song! So there’s something about that style of music that people want. I enjoy it of course. I enjoy doing many other things, but I am quite content with this world. Just the other night, a lady brought her friend to the show who wasn’t into that Grateful Dead scene, and by the end of the show she said sign me up! It just warms your heart, it’s good for you.
You’ve played with countless legendary musicians over your career. Do you ever find your playing is influenced by the configuration you’re with at a given moment?
I do adjust. If I’m fortunate enough to hear the keyboard playing before me, something they lay down, I would try to start there. Ironically, it was very strange, because when I got with the Jerry Garcia Band, it was Merl Saunders who was really around. So I wanted to hear those tracks, and they literally wouldn’t let me! They didn’t want me to hear Merl because they wanted Melvin. And had I heard Merl, I would’ve given them what he was doing. So what I came up with, with no guidelines, Jerry said “That’s what I want.” It was more gospel, you know? Gospel, rock and roll, a little blues, but heavily gospel playing, and that’s what he wanted. But I will try to emulate someone else if I hear it. If I don’t, I just go for what I think the song needs.
Jerry’s music itself was pretty malleable and song structures would not necessarily follow the same direct path with each performance. Do you find that you tend to play around with the songs as well?
There are songs that I go into the repertoire and change a bit as a producer. I am a producer and writer of a number of years. I hear some things differently, and if I was there when Jerry was laying it down, I would maybe say “let’s try something like this.” And there are maybe four or five songs where I came up with the ending that they ended up liking and running with. But there are some songs now, like “Knockin On Heaven’s Door,” I put an intro on there, that when I play it, you don’t know it’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.” I will change maybe the rhythm or beat, or give something a reggae feel, but for the most part, I leave the songs alone. I do play with them though and give them a little life or whatever I think they need. If people like it, great, if they don’t, back to the drawing board.
What’s got you excited with your current musical situation?
What’s getting me excited right now is I am for the first time going to work on a solo record. As a matter of fact, when I get off this tour I’m getting in the studio. I’ve been hearing something lately that I don’t think has been done. A little mixture of this and that, with the Deadhead Jerry music mashed into this other thing, and I think it is something that I would like to pull off. So I am looking forward to doing something that I think will be fresh and new. I am going to do that as a record, put that out, and see if there’s some interest, a little side project.
One last thing here: as we discussed earlier, over your tenure as a musician, both before, during, and after your time with Jerry, you’ve played with who knows how many A-list artists. Is there anyone you haven’t played with that you would like to?
Oh, there are some folks I would’ve loved to play with, like Aretha Franklin, Donny Hathaway, but most of them are dead and gone now. But I would have loved to have played with some of them. Some of that music that we talked about, this music scene now, it’s bringing back some of that style of what they did. Some of the young folks are emulating that and bringing it back. So what I want to do and see and hear is a lot of that same stuff I grew up on, with a modern sound. That’s what we’re talking about.
Anything else you’d like to say?
If the fans haven’t heard us lately, come on out and take a listen. They’ll be surprised.
*Live photos of Melvin Seals & JGB at The Stone Pony — Credit Matt Heasley/The Pop Break
Melvin Seals is currently on tour, click here for tickets.
3/11 – Rusty Nail – Stowe, VT
3/13 – The Westcott Theater – Syracuse, NY
3/14 – Narrows Center for the Arts – Fall River, MA
3/15 – The Cabot – Beverly, MA
3/16 – Flying Monkey Movie House & Performance Center – Plymouth, NH
3/17 – Hawks and Reed Performing Arts Center – Greenfield, MA
3/18 – Buffalo Iron Works – Buffalo, NY
3/20 – Woodlands Tavern – Columbus, OH
3/21 – The Vogue Theatre – Indianapolis, IN
3/22 – Park West – Chicago, IL
3/23 – Madison Theater – Covington, KY
3/24 – The Parliament Room at Otus Supply – Ferndale, MI
3/26 – The Ardmore Music Hall – Ardmore, PA
3/28 – 10 Mile Ride – Frisco, CO
3/29 – Be On Key Psychedelic Ripple – Denver, CO
3/30 – Be On Key Psychedelic Ripple – Denver, CO
3/31 – Be On Key Psychedelic Ripple – Denver, CO
4/5 – WinstonsOB – San Diego, CA
4/7 – Skull & Roses Festival – Ventura, CA
+ more dates TBA soon!
