Better Off Dead is more than a “tribute band.”
We come at the music collected and lovingly reimagined by The Grateful Dead and The Jerry Garcia Band with the same sense of discovery, care, and exploration as our heroes. The songs we play—all music associated with the Dead or Garcia in one form or another—come from a beautiful American lineage: blues, country, jazz, rock, and soul. It is music that belongs to all of us, and that so many of us learned from Jerry and the band as they made it part of their unique, democratic language of rhythm, melody, and harmony.
Better Off Dead aspires to play the music anew, often with fidelity to the past but just as often with the daring to forge our own path. We feel privileged to connect to the wonderful community of fans who love the Dead, and this grand and enduring tradition, as much as we do.