-Mostly SunnyLow -Mostly SunnyHigh -Mostly SunnyA lot of people love Jerry Garcia's guitar playing, singing and music. What was he like offstage?
He was perhaps the most intelligent person that I've ever been around and he was very conscious and he really taught me how to get out of myself and reach for something that is other than just what is your normal fare, daily living. He really taught me so much more than anyone ever. Not only about music but about life and it's hard to even talk about, but the other thing that was so unique about Jerry was he was one of the most generous musicians I've ever been around. I sat for years and watched him be so kind and giving to other guitar players or just other people that would come and want to speak to him. He had that kind of big-hearted generosity that he freely gave to anybody and everybody. He was amazing. He's one of the best humans that I've ever known. [Laughs.]
Do you bring back any mementos from the Grateful Dead's Egypt shows that you still have today?
Oh, absolutely. I've got several necklaces. I brought back a cartouche that said "Donna Jean" on it in hieroglyphs. I brought back three dresses, two of which were in the Grateful Dead exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and one is in the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.
You were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 with the Grateful Dead and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame this year. How do those two honors compare for you?
Of course they're both an incredible honor. Being in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is something a small portion of musicians get to be inducted into, that's an incredible thing. And being inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame has a little bit more meaning for me in that there's nothing better than being acknowledged by your home state and by your peers from when you grew up. Here we are lo these many years later and we're still friends and still playing music together. There's nothing like that. It's deep. It's way deep with those roots. So I'm very, very honored.
What's next for you musically?
We, the Donna Jean Godchaux Band recorded our last album at Nutthouse Recording Studio here in Muscle Shoals and so it was a great treat to come back here and it's the best solo work, the best solo album I've ever record.
The "Back Around" album, from 2014, right?
Yes, "Back Around." I'm not going to tour any more, I'm done with that but I do special concerts with friends of mine, for instance in April I'm playing the New Orleans Jazz Festival with some friends of mine from California (the band Axis Tilt). And I'll do special things, like it's always fun for me to sit-in with the Dark Star Orchestra. I will probably record some more but I'm done with the spending weeks on the road. [Laughs.]
I found the entire Keith & Donna album on YouTube. Is that album maybe a lost treasure more people should seek out from your career? It's a cool album.
It is cool. It was recorded in our home studio in Stinson Beach, California and Garcia was there and played on most of it, all of it I guess. It was just a very organic thing. The only song on there I think Keith and I didn't write was "River Deep and Mountain High" and it was some of the songs that ended up on the "Keith & Donna" album that when we met Jerry, Keith and I had a reel-to-reel tape player that we had recorded a couple of the demos of the songs and those were the songs we played Jerry the first that we met with him. And that's when he really wanted me to sing with the band. So the "Keith & Donna" album is very obscure and it's not perfect at all but it's very cool and real.
What do you strive for when you sing or do you just clear your mind and go for it?
Well what I try and bring to any vocal that I do is something that is real and authentic to me and my voice and something I'm feeling with my hear, my spirit and hopefully that is something that translates to the listener. I think if you start from that point you've got a pretty good thing going. If you try to sound like someone else and it's not you it's going to fall flat and it's not going to be authentic. That's something I reach for every time: for my voice to be as clear and real as possible.
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