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DESCRIPTION: We explore how “Easy Wind” was the only song on Workingman’s Dead sung by Pigpen and the first Dead tune solely written by lyricist Robert Hunter, featuring rarely heard radio promo spots recorded by Hunter.

GUESTS: Bob Matthews, Rhoney Stanley, Eric Schwartz, Gary Lambert, David Lemieux, Mike Johnson, Brian Kehew

Easy Wind supplementary notes
By Jesse Jarnow

Eric Schwartz hosts KNON’s Lone Star Dead, the longest-running Grateful Dead radio show on the radio. He is also a collector of almost all things Grateful Dead. His collection of incredibly rare vinyl, yearbooks, and other Dead artifacts is viewable here.

Andy Zax has done some fantastic archival work researching Warner Brothers’ radio advertising spots in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, which he presented at the 2010 Pop Conference, which can be heard here. The spots were most often written by Stan Cornwyn and voiced by David Ossman of the Firesign Theatre, the radio surrealists that influenced the Bozos and Bolos of Europe ‘72. 

Jon McIntire was the Grateful Dead manager responsible for putting Robert Hunter on the band’s payroll in the spring of 1970, just as they were finishing up Workingman’s Dead, He passed away in 2012. Dennis McNally wrote a touching memorial and Robert Hunter himself contributed a poem, both readable here.

The Good Ol' Grateful Deadcast - Workingman's Dead 50, Episode 7 - Easy Wind

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