It was a jam-session atmosphere on Sept. 25, 1971, when an unnamed-but-well-known quintet performed two shows at San Anselmo’s Lion’s Share. 

The emcee introduces the band as Jerry Garcia, Tom Fogerty, Merl Saunders and Friends. Garcia quickly pipes in to clarify John Kahn (bass) and Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann are the friends. 

All but one song from the gigs is out as GarciaLive Volume 22, credited to Garcia and Saunders and featuring 90 minutes of the sound of Garcia transitioning away from his role as solely the Dead’s frontman and toward the polymathic approach that would carry him toward Old & in the Way, Legion of Mary and the Jerry Garcia Band as the ’70s unfolded. And hearing him play alongside a traditional rhythm guitarist in the form of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Fogerty is revelatory on its own as Garcia develops mainstream rock ‘n’ roll chops on the fly. 

Fogerty shares co-lead vocals with Garcia on “Baby What You Want Me to Do,” delivered in a slow shuffle not dissimilar to “Deal.” Saunders, meanwhile, is the bandleader on originals like the instrumental “Save Mother Earth,” which segues into a wordless reading of John Lennon’s “Imagine” that is nearly impossible to identify as John Lennon’s “Imagine.” 

Garcia, Fogerty, Saunders, Kahn and Kreutzmann sound most like a working band on the slow-build balladry of “Biloxi,” which closes show No. 1 and show No. 2 opener “Hi-Heel Sneakers,” which previews the arrangement of “Big Boss Man” Garcia would bring to the Dead the following decade. 

Another Saunders instrumental, “Man-Child,” foreshadows “Space” before dropping into “Summertime.” Like “Imagine,” it’d be difficult to peg this as the Gershwin number if not for the title, but it proves these cats could play the blues with authority.