To some degree, though, that cultural impact also came with some baggage in terms of the way the media sometimes used dismissive language as a shorthand to describe the Grateful Dead and their fans. To what extent have you experienced that in Blackberry Smoke?

I obviously don’t like it when people are short-sighted and don’t see past the southern rock tag or label because that obviously brings to mind rebel flags and long ponytails and whatever else goes along with the Southern Rock tag. I don’t exactly know how to put it, but I would hate it if somebody hears the term Southern Rock applied to our music and then they closed their ears, just because of that. I definitely want people to listen to the songs, to the lyrics, the playing and the production. I just don’t want people instantly closing their minds and deciding that we’re not making music for them based on that southern rock tag.

Turning back to the DVD, you mentioned the experience of looking back and revisiting that collaboration. As you did so, what were your personal highlights?

I have two. One is “Ramble on Rose,” I think that’s my favorite song that we played that day. Then a close second was “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo.” We actually did that twice, we did it with Bob and then we did it without Bob. Those two were definitely my favorite.

Both of those are Jerry Garcia compositions and one thing Bob Weir was conscious of after Jerry passed away was to keep those songs alive by adding them to his own reptertoire.

I think that nobody loves and respects Jerry Garcia’s music more than Bob Weir. That was the feeling that I got, talking to him and playing those songs. He loves Jerry and he loves the legacy, and he loves those songs. One thing that really got me was when we started to play the songs with Bob and he was playing those Bob guitar parts. It was a mind-blowing experience just to be playing with him and hearing him do that. I think it made us play better. I hope so.

But he was very specific as well. I’ve got a very Southern accent and obviously Jerry did not. There were a couple of lyrics that I would slur a little, and Bob scolded me a little on that. He said, “Diction, you gotta watch that diction.” So he doesn’t take that lightly. It’s important to him that he’s a part of that legacy, and I would never do anything to disrespect that.

But that was a great experience, and he was very involved. He didn’t just come in the room and go, “All right, we’re playing ‘Ramble on Rose,’ here we go.” He’s very specific about tempo, for instance. But we had a blast. There was no pressure, it was really a treat.

In hindsight, I’m curious what, if anything, you took away from that experience and then applied to Blackberry Smoke?

I think it was just a continuation of letting the music breath, and being open-minded. And one thing that I can personally take from it and talking to Bob and Steve Parish and everybody that was involved with the Dead, is that they’re such a closely knit family-type organization. They’ve been doing it for so long together, it’s just unending. And that kind of thing gives hope for people, because obviously the industry is changing and people complain about streaming and there are so many things that can be a pain in the ass. But then you look at these guys and they were here way before any of these problems. They had problems of their own. They had the original rock and roll problems. They might have helped invent a few of them. But they can still sit there and tell stories about it with smiles on their faces because they just love it. They don’t have to continue to do this, but they do because they love it.

Do you think your time with Bob at TRI had any direct musical impact on your latest record?

I think that the Grateful Dead’s influence shows on a lot of our records, not just the new one. Obviously as a guitar player, if you’re a fan of the Dead, you will pick up Jerry licks. I think I’ve borrowed nuances from Jerry’s guitar playing over the years. As a fan of the Grateful Dead, there are many things I love about the Dead but I think what I love most are Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty, the song albums. There was obviously no jamming on those records, just their really great songs. There’s a ton of country songs on those records and that was not far removed from the music I learned as a Southern kid: Bill Monroe, Hank Williams, and then moving on to George Jones and Merle Haggard. So it’s very similar, coming from the same place.

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