One of the most-alluring entries in the Grateful Dead family discography is even more so with the arrival of Not for Kids Only (Deluxe Edition).  

Making its vinyl debut, Jerry Garcia and David Grisman’s 1993 quasi-children’s LP is outfitted with four alternate versions – two previously unissued – on side four. 

Sharing vocals and playing guitar and banjo (Garcia) and mandolin (Grisman), the duo combine whimsy (“Jenny Jenkins,” in original and alt versions) with grown-up fare like “When First Unto this Country.” With drums, percussion, mouth harp, fiddle and piano (on the previously unreleased “Shenandoah”) adding color to the palette, songs about inheritance (“The Miller’s Will”) come off as playfully as “There Ain’t No Bugs on Me.”

True to its title, NFKO impacts me more now than it did as a kid in my 20s, when it seemed more like a weird detour on the ongoing long strange trip. Now that I’m older than Jerry and the Dawg were when they recorded the thing, I feel the melancholic pull of looking back to easier years more deeply, more humanly. 

Others may experience the same thing. This deluxe edition is the perfect excuse to find out.