Photo by Dino Perrucci

Though he’s often shied away from a direct association with the Grateful Dead, Steve Kimock has mastered the group’s canon through his time playing with The Other Ones, Phil Lesh & Friends, RatDog, Kingfish, Heart of Gold Band and Vince Welnick’s Missing Man Formation. On New Year’s Eve, Kimock performed with Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann and his current project 7 Walkers at Reading, PA’s The Silo. Kimock joined the group throughout its second set, which consisted of “New Speedway Boogie,” “Wharf Rat,” “King Cotton Blues,” “Eyes of the World,” “New Orleans Crawl,” “ “Someday You’ll See,” “Bottle Up and Go,” “Sugaree” and “Turn on Your Lovelight.”

On January 1, Kimock also performed two shows at the 3rd anniversary celebration of New York’s Sullivan Hall. The guitarist played with a special band assembled for the night featuring Kreutzmann, 7 Walkers/Meters bassist George Porter Jr. and keyboardist Nigel Hall. The musicians ran through a mix of songs from the Grateful Dead, Meters, Kimock and Hall canons, including “Sugaree,” “The Other One,” “Cissy Strut,” “People Say” and “Turn on Your Lovenight.” Kreutzmann was the first core member of the Grateful Dead to perform at the club, which was known as the Lion’s Dan before reopening with a new look and sound system in early 2008.