Stephen Malkmus (Pavement, The Jicks):
I’d like to work out "That’s it for the Other One" off Anthem of the Sun (and Two From the Vault)we could all get out of our heads in that west-coast peace-jam style. Garcia keeps it pretty bluesy on this one. The meandering seems to have a point. Top tune!!!

Jake Cinninger (Umphrey’s McGee):
I was just playing today, backstage, "Crazy Fingers" with Keller Williams. That’s one of the more complex, chordal arrangements. I’m really into the way that song sort of flowers out, and I used to do it with my old band, Ali Baba’s Tahini. So that one, definitely, to solo on and play overthat one feels like something I’d be into. That, or something simple like, "They Love Each Other." Anything really, you know?"

Chad Urmston (Dispatch, State Radio):
Something off Mars Hotel like "Unbroken Chain," "China Doll," "Ship of Fools…" or maybe "Ramble on Rose" or "Jack-a-Roe." In High School my brothers and I all slept in a loft above the kitchen "China Doll" never failed to lull us to sleepthat’s a good thing. ‘Cause in big families, sometimes sleep is hard to come by.

Charlie Hitchcock (Particle):
I’d cover "Shakedown Street.." It’s probably the closest in style to my band Particle and would be cool to remix into a dance style track.. I’d do it instrumental and add dance beats to it and simplify the structure of it.. One can’t really beat that stuff at its own game, so I’d want to make something new out of it.

Michael Franti (Spearhead):
Well, what I would do if I was doing a tribute to the Grateful Dead there’s this quote that I read that was attributed to Jerry Garcia and I’m going to probably butcher it but what he said was, "Don’t try to be the best of the best. Just try to be the only one who does what you do." And what I would do is I would take that quote and I would make my own song out of it, in the spirit of being the only one to do what I do.

Reid Genauer (Assembly of Dust):
I would want to play/sing on "Eyes of The World." That song has always spoken to me. To start the groove is contagious. More importantly though—at least to me—the words are spine chilling. "Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world" I’m not 100% sure what that means but it touches me none the less.

Scott Metzger (RANA):
Holy shit, this is tough. Of all the great songs that the Dead played I would most like to sit in on "Sugaree." The lyrics are totally classic Dead—-an outlaw on the run, one step ahead of the cops that are always after them, and the melody and chords work so well together it’s scary. The band was always killing under the solo section at the end and it was one of those tunes that they could really stretch out on if they were feeling it, but always kept that bluesy feel to it without going all the way out into space.

Scott Murawski (Max Creek):
I would want to play on "Help/Slip/Franklin’s." The reason why is because I feel that this composition, as well as some of the other Blues for Allah material, represents the most collaborative work of the Dead. To my ears (which have been completely shot for years!), it seems like you can hear the influences of all of them in each piece, more so than on any of their other recordings except for maybe the very early stuff. I also feel that Garcia’s guitar work is some of the edgiest, and at the same time, technically complex, that I’ve heard on any of the recordings. And I like that! Besides, I think it would be a total BLAST to blow over the "Slipknot" jam!!

Tom Hamilton (Brothers Past):
"Terrapin Station," hands down. A beautiful composition that presents a great challenge. The original studio version sounds nice, but very "produced" and sterile. After The Dead took this beast on the road, "Terrapin" reached certain emotional peaks and connections that the recorded version could not touch. I’d take the bull by the horns to bring that honesty and intensity into the studio and hope to come out with a more emotional and modern masterpiece that captures the potential of this song.

Special thanks to Adam Alperowicz

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