05/15/2018
This well-written if pedestrian account of the Grateful Dead's post-Jerry Garcia years starts with Garcia's death in 1995 and finishes with the Fare Thee Well reunion concerts in 2015. Selvin (Altamont; Summer of Love), a longtime journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle, has covered the Dead nearly since their inception and did extensive research and interviewing for this book. The contributions of coauthor Turley are unclear. Perhaps the biggest drawback of the tale told here is that the story of the Dead after Garcia is less interesting than the story of the Dead with Garcia. This account is more about scattered individuals and a corporation dealing with a new business model than the evolution of a band. VERDICT For Deadheads only and not all will be interested. Better starting points would be Dennis McNally's definitive A Long Strange Trip, David Browne's So Many Roads; or Blair Jackson and David Gans's This Is All a Dream We Dreamed.—Derek Sanderson, Mount Saint Mary Coll. Lib., Newburgh, NY
04/09/2018
The San Francisco Chronicle’s pop music writer Selvin offers an exhaustive, warts-and-all story of how the Grateful Dead battled through the rough two decades following Jerry Garcia’s death. The narrative begins in 1995 with Garcia’s death and the surviving four Dead members trying to right their ungainly hippie enterprise. The messy relationships that had developed between the members of the quartet over the course of the previous three decades collapsed after losing the band’s “father figure.” Without Garcia’s nonconfrontational Zen attitude, bassist Phil Lesh, guitarist Bob Weir, and drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann descended into a thicket of business disagreements and personal irritations. Each took to the road independently, playing to dedicated crowds of Deadheads, with constantly revolving lineups. The soap opera battles achieve epic heights in this telling, such as one night when Lesh’s “mean, deliberate power play” forces fans to choose between his band and Weir’s. The narrative pays microscopic attention to each concert and every argument, but Selvin livens it up in sunnily composed passages, such as the triumphant 50-year celebration at Chicago’s Soldier Field: “it was not the Grateful Dead, only an earnest facsimile. To the audience, however, it was enough.” This is an enthusiastic but clear-eyed and enjoyably gossipy piece of modern rock history. (June)
"This phenomenon after its leader dies and how and what it became is a great and inspiring story."—Marty Balin, founder of Jefferson Airplane
"A deep—and deeply reported—dive into the highs and lows of the Grateful Dead world post-1995, Fare Thee Well is the in-depth postscript we need on life after Garcia. As the surviving members navigate their jarring new world, you'll be shocked, surprised, and unexpectedly moved."—David Browne, author of So Many Roads: The Life and Times of the Grateful Dead
"Fare Thee Well is a masterful summation of the agonies, trials, and tribulations that beset the Grateful Dead after Jerry Garcia passed away. It made me sigh with sorrow AND give thanks (virtually simultaneously) for such a gifted group of musicians. This book will appeal to every Deadhead on the planet. I loved it."—Sam Cutler, author of You Can't Always Get What You Want: My Life with the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead, and Other Wonderful Reprobates
"As always, Joel Selvin boldly goes where others fear to tread. Fare Thee Well is essential reading for all those who have followed the saga of the good old Grateful Dead to this point in time."—Robert Greenfield, author of Dark Star: An Oral Biography of Jerry Garcia and Bear: The Life and Times of Augustus Owsley Stanley III
"Fare Thee Well tells the tale of how the Deadheads rescued the Grateful Dead from themselves. Bereft of their heart leader after Jerry Garcia died in 1995, the love of Deadheads kept the music alive so that the phenomena is not merely enduring but growing—long, strange, and still a trip."—Dennis McNally, author of A Long, Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead
"I felt like the child of a divorce, but this book showed me I never needed to worry, not when I was under the power of something as great as the Grateful Dead."—Steve Parish, author of Home Before Daylight: My Life on the Road with the Grateful Dead
"A hundred years from now, Jerry Garcia may be remembered as a prophet and Bob, Mickey, Phil, and Billy as his disciples. Illuminating, astounding, and accurate, Fare Thee Well is a remarkable account of the successes and failures by the talented, individualist remaining members of the Grateful Dead since the death of their leader Jerry Garcia. I read it in one sitting."—Steve Miller, founder of the Steve Miller Band
"Most [Grateful Dead] books end with the 1995 death of Jerry Garcia. Fare Thee Well...takes the opposite approach...[it] examines every sad twist, turn, and betrayal involved in the Dead's various offshoot groups leading up to their 2015 Fare Thee Well reunion."
—Rolling Stone
"An unblinking and balanced look at the infighting, backbiting, rancor and resentments among the surviving 'core four' band members."—Paul Liberatore, Marin Independent Journal
"An enthusiastic but clear-eyed and enjoyably gossipy piece of modern rock history."—Publishers Weekly
"[Fare Thee Well] engages readers intrigued by the Dead's mystique. For Deadheads, sure, but also rock fans who may wonder where the road led after Jerry died."—Kirkus
"Well-written...[Selvin] has covered the Dead nearly since their inception and did extensive research and interviewing for this book."—Library Journal
"Selvin's history of the resurrection of the band after Garcia's death is at the same time a sad and (somewhat) heartening story."—Vintage Guitar
"Fare Thee Well is by turns sad, surprising, and uplifting, and a crucial addition to any Bookshelf of the Dead."—Houston Press
"Fare Thee Well tells Classic Rock's film noir story."—Daily Beast
"Selvin smartly steers clear of tie-dyed '60s mysticism, offering instead a reported look at the lives of the remaining "core four" members. It is a breezy history, not only of the many incarnations of Dead bands that popped up, but also of how the four men grappled with their own ambitions."—Washington Post
"Fare Thee Well is a detailed look at the post-Garcia careers of all remaining Dead members, rendered in engaging, storytelling fashion."—Under the Radar
2018-05-08
What happened after the long, strange trip ended—and then continued.When Jerry Garcia, the legendary guitarist and de facto frontman of the Grateful Dead, died in 1995, the surviving band members chose to dissolve the band that had toured since 1965. Deadheads the world over were despondent, but it didn't take long for the "Core Four"—bassist Phil Lesh, rhythm guitar player Bob Weir, and drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart—to resume playing in various configurations. In his latest book, San Francisco Chronicle pop music journalist Selvin (Altamont: The Rolling Stones, the Hells Angels, and the Inside Story of Rock's Darkest Day, 2016, etc.) digs into the ups and downs of the 20 years following Garcia's death. Die-hard fans will know most of the stories, but the author does a credible job navigating the countless permutations (RatDog, Further, the Other Ones, Phil and Friends, The Dead) and the revolving door of musicians (Warren Haynes, Bruce Hornsby, Steve Kimock, Trey Anastasio, among others) who played with the remaining members from 1995 through the momentous Fare Thee Well 50th anniversary shows in 2015. Those shows set a record for a concert by a single band, bringing in more than $50 million, demonstrating the remarkable staying power of the Grateful Dead. Though Selvin is "no Deadhead," he has seen his fair share of shows, and his job at the Chronicle brought him into contact with the members numerous times across the decades. He has also done his homework, interviewing all of the major—and many minor—players involved in the band's history. Much of the narrative is a litany of endless bickering among the surviving members, rocky terrain that the author handles capably, albeit in workmanlike prose. The book lacks the grace of a Greil Marcus, but the pages turn quickly enough to engage readers intrigued by the Dead's mystique.For Deadheads, sure, but also rock fans who may wonder where the road led after Jerry died.
