Happy Belated Birthday Pig Pen
A quick happy belated birthday to Ron “Pig Pen” McKernan, who would have been 65 yesterday. Pig Pen’s bluesy vocals and organ playing helped define the Grateful Dead as one of the most important bands of our time. In fact, it was Pig Pen who convinced Jerry and the rest of the gang to go electric, transforming the acoustic, folky Warlocks into the psychedelic beast known as the Grateful Dead. Pig Pen was the dominating force behind early Dead staples like “Turn On Your Lovelight,” “In The Midnight Hour,” “Mr. Charlie,” “Good Lovin’,” and “Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks).” While the band would continue to evolve (veering towards more cowboy songs and later more jazz), and Pig Pen eventually overshadowed by Garcia and Weir, there’s no denying that the early Dead sound was heavily influenced by him. After his untimely death in 1973, the band would never be the same. Here are a few classic Pig Pen moments.
