The Ripple Effect: Deadheads share their stories

Summary

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NPR Music — The Ripple Effect: Deadheads Share Their Stories

Date: August 9, 2026
Hosts: Felix Contreras & Isabella Gomez Sarmiento

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Episode Overview

This episode of NPR Music spotlights the enduring legacy and communal spirit of Grateful Dead fandom. Hosts Felix Contreras and Isabella Gomez Sarmiento present The Ripple Effect, a tapestry of personal stories submitted by Deadheads across generations, backgrounds, and geographies. On the heels of the Days Between—the annual remembrance between Jerry Garcia's birthday and his death anniversary—they explore why the music and culture of the Grateful Dead continue to resonate, revealing a community built on connection, healing, and intergenerational joy.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why the Grateful Dead Still Ripple Through Lives

• The Days Between (01:32): Each year, Deadheads mark August 1-9 as a time for remembrance and celebration of Jerry Garcia. This year, it’s especially poignant: the first summer in decades without an original member touring.

• Multi-generational Impact: Fans recall life-changing road trips, passing the music to their children, and special family moments at shows.

  “During the show, my son turned to me—he was 10—and said, ‘This is the best concert ever.’”
  — Alexis Taylor (05:01)

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2. The Power of Personal Storytelling

Deadhead Memories Spanning Decades:

• Alexis Taylor (Park City, UT): Attending shows with her sister across the country since 1992, culminating in bringing her own kids to a Dead & Company show in 2023 (03:28–05:12).

• Adam (Salt Lake City, UT): Discovered the Dead while working long days on organic farms, emphasizing the music’s journey-like quality and sense of return to “warm flannel-lined nostalgia” (05:41–07:28).

  “They are always coming home to the familiar, warm flannel-lined nostalgia evoked by music rooted in folk tradition.”
  — Adam (07:08)

• Alan Arkosh (Los Angeles, CA): His backstage encounter in 1967 with Jerry Garcia, who serenaded him privately with “Mountains of the Moon” (08:15–09:45).

  “He sang the whole song to me there in the dressing room as I sat at his feet.”
  — Alan Arkosh (09:38)

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3. The Spirit of Adventure and Serendipity

• Tales of dropping everything to travel cross-country for shows, meeting Dead family (like Bear Owsley), and letting the band’s itinerant ethos shape lives (11:06–12:16).
• Felix reflects on missing out on that kind of adventure due to steady work, but Isabella points out he’s had his own Deadhead journeys—Amtrak trips to MSG and more (12:30–13:15).

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4. Fandom for All Ages

• Amelia, Age 10, Asheville, NC: Introduced through her parents and Asheville's Deadhead-friendly culture, “Friend of the Devil” became her lullaby (13:50–15:10).

  “It was like a lullaby for me, kinda... I really like Grateful Dead.”
  — Amelia (14:33)

• Felix shares he sang “Friend of the Devil” to his own children, illustrating how the music becomes family tradition (15:21–15:32).

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5. Harmony and Dissonance: When Loved Ones Don’t Get the Dead

• Felix notes that not everyone “gets it,” recalling how his partner eventually banned the Dead from the car (16:04).
• DNA: After 500 shows, his wife’s most memorable reaction was, “When they stop playing, it feels good” (16:49–17:41).

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6. Community, Healing, and Becoming a Deadhead

• David Pollo: Pinpoints the exact moment and song (“St. Stephen”) that made him a fan, showing how even brief, specific memories are touchstones (20:46–21:14).

• Jim Labrie: The lesson of patience and immersion at Dead shows—“Are you in a hurry?”—hooked him (21:43–22:49).

• Autumn Marie (Florida): Found healing and rebirth after loss through the local Deadhead community—a “lifesaver” after deep personal grief (27:45–30:10).

  “I believe the Dead community in my town saved my life.”
  — Autumn Marie (29:27)

  “It's not even about being at an official Dead show…but what you find with the people around you... being held by everyone around you as you’re all working through what you need to work through.”
  — Isabella (32:25)

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7. Legacies, Goodbyes, and New Beginnings

• Tracy Schroeder: Entered Dead fandom by marriage, attended 32 shows, and honored her late husband’s wishes for Dead songs at his memorial; the music became a family anchor through joy and grief (33:20–35:45).

  “Our first dance at our wedding was to ‘Sugar Magnolia’... Every time I hear a Grateful Dead song, I think of my husband... the joy it brought our marriage, our family, and the life we built together.”
  — Tracy Schroeder (34:10–35:16)

• Jordan Jacobovich: Describes passing the tradition on—American Beauty in childhood car rides, now singing “Ripple” to his own kids at bedtime (35:45–36:23).

  “A few decades later, and the Dead are still tucking us in.”
  — Jordan (36:20)

• Felix & Isabella reflect: “It always comes back to Ripple—in the series and in life.” (36:23–36:27)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On the #1 Deadhead tenet:

  “You just gotta…when you find that place in the river that’s flowing and you wanna dip into it, then you’ll find it.”
  — Felix Contreras (15:48)

• On patience and presence:

  “Are you in a hurry?”
  — An anonymous Deadhead to Jim Labrie (22:36)

• On communal experience:

  "It's like a secret handshake...there’s a shared communication, spirituality... It's very difficult to describe.”
  — Felix Contreras (30:10–31:33)

• The 300-Year Vision:
  Multiple Deadheads referenced Bob Weir’s conviction that the songs would last 300 years—as sense of collective stewardship and cultural continuity (38:43).

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Famous Deadheads & Cultural Reach

• Mentions of Bill Walton, Susan Sarandon, Nancy Pelosi, Andy Cohen, and other famous faces at Dead shows.
• Interview highlights: Andy Cohen shares his journey as a Deadhead, showing the band's reach far beyond typical music circles (25:49–26:37).

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The Enduring Deadhead Community

• The episode underscores the Grateful Dead’s impact across generations, lifestyles, and backgrounds. Personal stories reflect themes of healing, joy, kinship, and acceptance.
• Isabella and Felix reflect on reporting trips and moments that illustrated the deep, welcoming spirit among Deadheads, and the collective sense of responsibility to pass the legacy forward (37:21–39:34).

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Timestamps for Core Segments

• Days Between context: 01:32
• Alexis Taylor’s generational story: 03:28–05:12
• Adam’s farm-life reflections: 05:41–07:28
• Alan Arkosh’s Jerry Garcia encounter: 08:15–09:45
• Deb Trist / Dead Air radio journey: 11:06–12:16
• Amelia, 10-year-old Deadhead: 13:50–15:10
• DNA’s “when they stop playing...”: 16:49–17:41
• David Pollo’s “St. Stephen” moment: 20:46–21:14
• Jim Labrie’s “are you in a hurry?”: 21:43–22:49
• Autumn Marie’s healing via community: 27:45–30:10
• Tracy Schroeder’s family legacy & remembrance: 33:20–35:45
• Jordan Jacobovich’s bedtime “Ripple”: 35:45–36:23
• Final musings on community & legacy: 37:21–39:34

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The Ripple Effect in Closing

Through laughter, tears, and song, The Ripple Effect weaves together the collective Deadhead experience: music as a channel for connection across generations, a balm in times of grief, and a source of joy and togetherness. The community endures, always welcoming new members into the flow.

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Listen & Further Reading

Find stories, photos, and interviews—including with Andy Cohen—at npr.org/gratefuldead.

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Transcript

[Announcer]

Support for NPR and the following message come from 20th Century Studios. The Dog stars director Ridley Scott returns with a gripping post apocalyptic thriller starring Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley and Guy Pearce. Only in theaters and IMAX Aug 28.

[Felix Contreras]

From NPR Music, I'm Felix Contreras.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

And I'm Isabella Gomez Sarmiento.

[Felix Contreras]

Isa. I was dreaming about the Grateful Dead the other night, and I have been more than usual lately.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

What was the dream?

[Felix Contreras]

It was sort of work related. It was around, like, getting some audio for this project that we're doing, and it wasn't working. And some guy, random guy, just gave me a solution. It was like, it could have been a Grateful Dead song if everybody had names and characters. It was a little weird, like a

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

taper came to your rescue. He was like, no worries, dude. I have recording equipment you can use.

[Felix Contreras]

He's sort of like that. He was like a wise, sage guy who come by. He's like, I know the answer. If you do this and you fix this. And then I'm like, oh, cool. And then he just, like, he disappeared.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

That's amazing. I have also been having a lot of dreams related to the Dead, but mostly about being in the parking lot and, like, trying to find someone or trying to get to my car or trying to, like, do something. And everyone around me is just, like, chilling and selling tie dye socks and doing all their other stuff. And I can't figure out where I'm supposed to go. And then I just kind of give up and hang out and have the greatest time.

[Felix Contreras]

There's the lesson of life right there.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Yeah.

[Felix Contreras]

And I think the reason why all of this stuff is even in our dreams these days is because we're on the tail end of working on this amazing series, the Ripple Effect. The Grateful Dead's long, strange trip might keep going forever. We're also the tail end of Days Between.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

That's right. And, you know, Days between is something we celebrate every year. It marks from August 1, the celebration of Jerry Garcia's birth, all the way to August 9, the anniversary of when he died. But this summer has been a little bit different. It's the first one in decades where there hasn't been an original member of the Grateful Dead on the road. And we knew that people would still be looking for ways to get together. We knew people would still be wanting to listen to the music. So we decided to go out different parts of the country to talk to fans, talk to musicians, talk to archivists, and understand how the Grateful Dead built this massive legacy. And where it goes from here.

[Felix Contreras]

So we put together some podcasts, we wrote some pieces. There's a wonderful photo show online you can [e-mail] gratefuldead all in the purpose of trying to figure out what happens next with Grateful Dead music and the fans.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

But we also knew that there were so many pockets of Dead communities that we weren't going to be able to get into in our reporting. So that's why we put out a call out asking Deadheads to let us know what they love about the Grateful Dead's music, how they connect to the culture, and what they might say to people who are trying to dip their toes into the Grateful Dead extended universe and haven't quite been able to. So today we're going to listen to some of those responses, which I think Felix has been a really, really fun experience to dig into some of these voice memos we received.

[Felix Contreras]

Yeah, you said there were hundreds that we split up and divided between ourselves. I think we both came away with the same impression, just being overwhelmed with the love of various things. The music, the fans, each other, the stories. Let's just get right into it because there's some really good stuff.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

So the first one that I want to play is from a woman named Alexis Taylor.

[Alexis Taylor]

Hi, my name is Alexis Taylor and I live in Park City, Utah. In 1992, I went to visit my sister at American University in Washington, D.C. and we got in her car with her boyfriend and a good friend of theirs who was a taper and and drove to Charlotte, North Carolina to see two shows. I was 15 years old and it changed my life. And my sister and I continued to see shows together whenever we could up until Jerry died in 1995. We were both devastated and we weren't sure what was going to happen, but by that time she was living in San Francisco and I was visiting her and we went up to Mill Valley. We had heard that Bob Weir was going to play at the Sweetwater Bar in Mill Valley where he lived. And after we saw him play there, we just knew that the music would go on and the band would continue to play together however they could. And we were just so grateful that they did. In 2023, we got together again, my sister and I, to see Dead and Company in Los Angeles. And we were able to bring our kids back to see them, which was just such a special moment for us, bringing my 15 year old daughter to see her first show when she was the same age as I was when I saw mine. And then during the show my son turned to me, he was 10 and he said, this is the best concert ever. And it just made my heart, I mean, you know, so happy. So, you know, we're so grateful that John Mayer joined them and hopefully he continues their legacy. He is such a special person and a special musician. We have hope for the future and that the music will never stop.

[Felix Contreras]

Lots of multi generational stories. I love that so much.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

I know. And talk about like, just moving across the country, right? She starts out in Utah, she goes to Washington, D.C. they go to North Carolina, they're in San Francisco, they're in Los Angeles. Like the way that travel and movement is baked into the Grateful Dead experience, and seeing the country is baked into the Grateful Dead experience is just so special.

[Felix Contreras]

Okay, I want to play one now. That really caught me off guard. It was very like, I didn't even expect this. Let's check it out.

[Adam]

Hi, my name's Adam. I'm calling from Salt Lake City, Utah. My first introduction to the Grateful Dead was the album not for Kids Only, a folk album by Jerry Garcia and David Grisman that my parents played for me when I was a kid. I continued listening to the duo in albums like Shady Grove and the Pizza Tapes, and eventually made my way over to the Grateful Dead as a teenager, who with the album Blues for Allah. When I really got into the Dead, though, was in my 20s when I started listening to live shows while working on organic farms. Farming can be monotonous work, and listening to Dead shows provided me with an engrossing journey to accompany my long hours of driving tractors or weeding and harvesting vegetables. It turns out many of my fellow farmers shared my love for the music, and so when we worked together, we would chat about which years we liked most and why, what keyboardists played in which era, or the numerous musical connections we could draw between the Dead and folk, country or Americana music. This is the heart of why I like the Dead and what I would tell people who have not yet discovered their inner the Grateful Dead are alive. They play incredibly rich and playful music, accompanied by engrossing lore and a strong community, culminating in endless possibilities for discussion. After years of banter around the Dead, I have come to discover the core of why their music hits my soul so strongly. While the music of the Dead is firmly rooted in a long standing folk tradition, they are not afraid to take their fellowship on a quest into the unknown, into places of discomfort that are almost too much to handle. Yet they are always coming home to the familiar warm flannel line, nostalgia evoked by music rooted in folk tradition, I hope that you, too, can listen to the dead, go on an incredible journey, and return home feeling warm again.

[Felix Contreras]

A journey.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Oh, my God.

[Felix Contreras]

Right?

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

And this idea of, like, being outside, being one with the land, you know? During the series, we went to Monte Rio in California, which is like a small, little rural town, to cover a performance by Phil Lesh's son, Graham Leesch. And I feel like a lot of the people that we talked to out there was a pretty rural area, and a lot of people talked about homesteading and farming and connecting that with the music and with the stories. I mean, it's just really. It does evoke, like, allure, like he said.

[Felix Contreras]

And he also mentioned the idea of a journey, and in his case, an inner journey, going to wherever it is that he wants to get to, as a lot of people do with the music.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Yeah. Okay, I'm going to take us back a little bit. This is an older story, and it's from a name some people might recognize.

[Various Callers (including Alan Arkosh, David Pollo, Jim Labrie)]

My name is Alan Arkosh, and I'm in Los Angeles, California. The first time I saw the Grateful Dead was in New York City at the Cafe Ogogo in 1967. In June of 1967, two years later, I was working at the Fillmore East. I was a member of the stage crew, and it was a Saturday afternoon, and my job was to bring the beer and soda up into the empty dressing rooms before the bands got there. It was about five o', clock, and I walked into the Grateful Dead's dressing room, and sitting there was Jerry Garcia all by himself, just playing guitar in the late afternoon backlight. I'm talking about the young Jerry Garcia, Wreath and smoke. So I apologize as a Jerry, I have to fill the coolers. And he said, man, do what you got to do in the nicest possible way. Now I'm feeling like I got to make some small talk. So I said to him, you know, I really like that album you just put out, Oxa Moxa, especially the song Mountains of the Moon. And I said, jerry, do you ever play Mountains of the Moon live? You think you'll be playing it tonight? And he said, no, man, it's. I love the song, but it's just not on our set list. And I said, all right, okay. And I went back to filling up the cooler, and all of a sudden, I heard his guitar play the intro to Mountains of the Moon. And he sang the whole song to me there in the dressing room as I sat at his feet.

[Felix Contreras]

Oh, my God.

[Various Callers (including Alan Arkosh, David Pollo, Jim Labrie)]

I said, thank you, Jerry. And he Said later, man. And that started a friendship that continued until he passed away.

[Felix Contreras]

Mountains of the Moon, Electrome and Bend to Me. That was beautiful, man.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Yeah. And I don't know, Felix, if you're familiar with Alan Arkoosh. I knew that name sounded familiar, so I looked him up. He's a film director. He did have a very long friendship with Jerry Garcia. He was working at the Fillmore east in New York City while he was in film school at nyu. And then he went on to make the film Rock and Roll High School with the Ramones. Have you ever seen that movie?

[Felix Contreras]

Oh, my God, yes. Wow.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Yeah. And I saw that movie for the first time during the pandemic because a guy that I met into the parking lot of a Dead and company concert was like, you have to see this movie. The Ramones are the other great American rock band.

[Adam]

Wow.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

So it's like, that's full circle. All roads. Yeah, I know. All roads lead back to the Grateful Dead. And it's so lovely to hear from someone who had that kind of relationship with Jerry. So thank you, Alan, for sending us that beautiful story.

[Felix Contreras]

Okay, I wanna play a clip from a woman named Deb Trist. She is a member of the Grateful Dead family and a member of a family that. That you and I are part of. Issa, listen to this.

[Deb Trist / Tracy Schroeder]

In 1972, I was working at the New Yorker magazine and I met Bear Augustus Stanley at a repair store. He was the Dead's sound engineer at the time and invited me to three shows. They were performing in Jersey City. I met the band and a month later drove across country to California. Ended up working for the Dead in their office. Met my husband, who was one of their managers at the time. It was a life changing experience. And I now do a show called Dead Air on public radio in Eugene, Oregon. I was on KLCC NPR station for 35 years, and now am on KRVM, public radio, music oriented, also in Eugene. There's nothing like a Grateful Dead concert.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Oh, my God.

[Felix Contreras]

How cool is that?

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

That's really incredible. I love how so many of these stories start with someone being like, and then I just got in my car and drove across the country to go see this band.

[Felix Contreras]

You know, it's funny how, like, life could have ended up completely different. I've had a full time job since I was 19, so I couldn't just, like take off. Right. Which may have saved me, maybe prevented me from having other great adventures. But it landed me where we are now. But that's the whole idea. It's like I was never able to take one of those journeys and looking back and hearing some of these stories, like, wow, I wish I'd been able to do it at least once.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

But you have. Like, you always tell me about driving to Vegas with your buddies for the Dead show. You went to the Sphere. You saw them at Madison Square Garden.

[Felix Contreras]

Yeah, I guess I feel like you

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

did your share of cross country Dead in your own way.

[Felix Contreras]

Yeah, I did. Yeah. Thank you for pointing that out.

[Deb Trist / Tracy Schroeder]

Yeah.

[Felix Contreras]

I wasn't driving in a VW van, but was on the Amtrak to msg. So that worked.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

That counts. That counts for something. During this series, we've talked a lot about how this fandom is so multi generational, how, you know, you could have people who first listened to the dead in the 1960s, people who are encountering the Dead for the first time today, and just how impressive it is to watch music that so many different people can relate to from so many different walks of life. So I'm going to play us a little something from someone named Carrie Carpenter.

[Interviewer]

So NPR wants to know how you became a Deadhead. First of all, tell me your name and how old you are and where you live.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

My name is Amelia. I live in Asheville, North Carolina and I'm 10.

[Interviewer]

So tell me how you became a Deadhead.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Well, my parents love Grateful Dead a lot and Asheville is like one of the last hippie places on earth. I feel like. And like everywhere in Asheville has like a lot of hippie shops and like, I really like Grateful Dead.

[Felix Contreras]

When did you.

[Interviewer]

When did you first hear a Grateful Dead song that you really loved? Do you remember that?

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Probably when I was like one or two. What was the first one that Friend of the Devil.

[Interviewer]

What do you like about Friend of the Devil?

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

It's like, well, my dad always used to sing it to me. It was like Lullaby for me kinda. I was like, I don't know. I really like Grateful Dead. I lit up from, you know, I

[Felix Contreras]

was trailed by 20 hounds didn't get to sleep that night Till the morning came around Sit out one But I take my time A friend of the devil is a friend of mine I get home before daylight Just my gets asleep tonight. That is a wise 10 year old man.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

I know, I know. And you know, thank you to Carrie for asking Amelia those questions on our behalf. I just love hearing them go back and forth. I think it's so sweet. You're a dad.

[Felix Contreras]

Yes.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Did you ever play the Grateful Dead for the boys?

[Felix Contreras]

Yes, I used to sing funny. She Mentioned that because I used to sing Friend of the Devil to both of the boys when I was pushing them around in the stroller when they were different ages.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Oh, my gosh.

[Felix Contreras]

Yeah. That was one of the songs I used to sing around in the neighborhood when I was pushing them around. And I just talked to my youngest son, Joaquin. He's gonna be 23 this year. And I asked him, you never really got into the Dead? He says, well, I'm not ready for it yet. Said, okay, take your time.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

So he thinks eventually. Eventually he might be.

[Felix Contreras]

He's very musical. He listens to a lot of stuff. He listens to all the stuff that they listen to. The jazz, the blues, the folk. He just hasn't come around, just like you said. You just gotta. When you find that place in the river that's flowing and you wanna dip into it, then you'll find it.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Absolutely.

[Felix Contreras]

Okay. So my experience with the Grateful Dead, my partners have never been into the Grateful Dead at all. At one point, we were banned from listening to it in the car because it was just like, not compatibility. And sometimes that happens. That's kind of a common story for a lot of people.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

You mean she didn't want to listen to 40 minutes of Darkstar in the car with you?

[Felix Contreras]

Imagine that. What kind of personality flaw is that? And it happens sometimes. And I heard a testimonial from a guy I just had to play, and I think to protect his wife's identity, this guy only identified himself as just the letters, DNA. Check this one out.

[Various Callers (including Alan Arkosh, David Pollo, Jim Labrie)]

I was lucky enough to grow up in the northeast during the 1970s, in the New York station WNEW would play entire Grateful Dead shows. Live from English Town, from Capitol Theater. And then I got hooked immediately. I just felt like this was my music. I never felt that before. And saw my first show in 78 at Giant Stadium with 80,000 other people and never stopped going. Saw Jerry about 500 times. And my wife doesn't understand the band, really. One time I played a song for her that had a really long jam, and at the end she goes, oh, I finally understand the Grateful Dead. I was like, what is it? She goes, when they stop playing, it feels good.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Oh, my gosh.

[Felix Contreras]

I could just imagine the smirk on her face.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

You know, that's valid, though, I think the Dead is not for everyone. And something I really appreciated while we've been talking to Deadheads this summer is a lot of times we'll ask them this question of, like, what do you say to people who can't get into the Dead. Or what do you say to people who don't appreciate the music?

[Felix Contreras]

Right, right.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

And I think a lot of times people have been like, that's okay, man. You just can't force people into it. Like, you know, this really laid back approach of, like, you can try. You can share your favorite songs, but it's not. We're not evangelizing here. You know, like, you kind of gotta just let people find it in their own time.

[Felix Contreras]

Okay, Issa, Just as the dad always had a break in the middle of their shows, we need to take a break right now. We'll be right back.

[Announcer]

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[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

they are in perimenopause and menopause as though it was, like, embarrassing, which is insane. It's just something happening to your body.

[Announcer]

So one of the things that we're trying to do is destigmatize these topics.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Perimenopause and menopause are just women's health. So we try to educate women all the time.

[Announcer]

Maybe it's your hormones and we would

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

like to help you.

[Various Callers (including Alan Arkosh, David Pollo, Jim Labrie)]

Yeah.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

And I find women actually want to talk about it. It's one of the things they always comment at MIDI is that they finally feel heard. One of the ways that women find MIDI is actually from other women, and I think it's meaningful.

[Announcer]

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[Felix Contreras]

All the people in the back take one step back and another step back and another step back because your friends up front are getting crushed. If you know, you know. It's a Bob Weir announcement for the shows that for people getting crushed in the audience, okay.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

We've been going through all of these incredible responses that we've gotten from Deadheads over the last few weeks. We've gotten hundreds and hundreds of voice memos of people telling us what they love about the Grateful Dead, how they stay connected to the culture, what they tell People who are maybe trying to find their footing into the Deadhead world and haven't been able to. And I want to play us something from a guy named David Polo.

[Various Callers (including Alan Arkosh, David Pollo, Jim Labrie)]

My name is David Pollo from Marsville, Vermont. Well, I first saw the Dead at Woodstock. My first real Grateful Dead concert was until March 20th of 1970 at the Capitol Theater in Portchester. However, I became a Deadhead in November of 69 after Live Dead came out. At the time, I declared St. Stephen to be the heaviest song of all time, and it still is.

[Felix Contreras]

That's very specific.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Honestly, it stood out to me because it was so short. I feel like a lot of the voice memos have been these long stories, and I like the punctuality of, like, these are the dates, these are the shows, and this is my song.

[Felix Contreras]

St. Stephen with a rose in and out of the garden he goes country garden in the wind and the rain Wherever he goes the people all complain okay, I have one. This is Jim Labrie. This one's funny.

[Various Callers (including Alan Arkosh, David Pollo, Jim Labrie)]

I grew up in Phoenix, where a high school friend and I saw my first Dead show in 1980. I spent most of that night watching the crowd, paying very little attention to the music. Afterwards, I remember telling my friend that I didn't really understand what we had just seen, but I thought it was pretty cool. My second show was the following year, and I finally started to pay attention to the band. With some pointers from a Deadhead seated next to me during the second set, after a fantastic estimated profit, the Dead began playing He's Gone. But I was confused by the song being played at a much slower tempo than the version that's on Europe 72. I quickly asked my new friend, why are they playing it so slowly? He sort of half smiled and looked at me and said, are you in a hurry? Right then I was hooked.

[Felix Contreras]

Now he's gone, Dog is gone.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Do you have a song, Felix, that, like, there's a particular show or a particular performance of it that really stands out for you in that way? It just sounds different, or something about it really calls to you?

[Felix Contreras]

Not really. It's mostly, like, moments, right? Like, I was able to see Dead and Co at a Halloween show at Madison Square Garden, and a bunch of stuff happened and people were dressed. It was just this amazing, amazing scenario. Just getting into the building, and then while we're sitting there, the lights went down like the show was gonna start. And then a single spotlight, like, focused right in the middle of the floor. And there was this really tall dude standing there, and it was Bill Walton, the basketball. The pro basketball guy, who was famously a very, very big, big, literally big, tall Deadhead. And the crowd went crazy. They just erupted, and he just sort of waved his hand. It was so nice, man. And then they. About 20 minutes later, the band came out and killed. But that was. Moments like that were just really, really special.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Well, you know, what I remember about that show is that that show was, like, a couple of weeks after I had first met you, and we were. And then I remember I ran into. We had talked about the Grateful Dead in the office. That was how we were getting to know each other. And then I ran into you on a Friday. On a Thursday or a Friday. I ran into you in the office, and you were like, I'm thinking of going to see Den Company at Madison Square Garden. And I was like, felix, you should totally do it.

[Interviewer]

You should go.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

And you were like, you think? So I had to, like, take the train up. And then you had something else going on that weekend. You're like, then I have to come back right away. And I was like, just go. You should so go. And then you did.

[Felix Contreras]

I did. I took the train up and I went to the show and had another, like, 2am bus on the way back. I slept on the bus. Because you're right, something else was happening that week. I remember that. That show because of that Bill Walton incident and because of the horrendous ride to and from the most uncomfortable bus ride ever. But it was definitely worth it.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

You were on the bus. Literally.

[Felix Contreras]

Yeah, we land the bus.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

You know who I also saw at a Dead and Company show one time was Susan Sarandon, like, standing right. It was like she was right behind John Mayer, like, off stage. But I could see her the whole time. She was so locked in.

[Felix Contreras]

I was at a Dead and Company show here in D.C. and I was with a friend of mine, and somebody told us, yeah, we just saw Nancy Pelosi walking through the. Through the lobby. She was a huge. Dead is a huge Deadhead.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Wow.

[Felix Contreras]

Yeah.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

And, you know, it's not just Bill Walton, Susan Sarandon, Chloe Sevignier, all these. All these famous people that hang out at shows. I think another one that became very pervasive over the years at the Dun Co. Shows was Andy Cohen. Felix, how familiar are you with Andy Cohen's work?

[Felix Contreras]

You know what? Not very much at all, man.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

You got to get on the Housewives. You got to get on the Housewives grind.

[Felix Contreras]

If he's a Deadhead, I got to acknowledge his work, man.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Exactly. So he's like a reality TV mogul. He hosts a show on Bravo. Watch what Happens Live with Andy Cohen. He. He does the New Year's Eve specials with Anderson Cooper, and he is executive producer of the Real Housewives franchise. And for years, there would be these videos of him, especially at the Sphere shows. People would, you know, take videos of him sort of dancing around wearing his Grateful Dead shirts, having the time of his life. And we got to talk to him about his relationship to the Grateful Dead. I found it really moving that Andy Cohen had a lot of, like, really sweet little anecdotes to tell us about his time following the Dead through different parts of his life. And for anybody that wants to read more about his journey, that interview is on our [e-mail] Grateful Dead.

[Felix Contreras]

Yeah, as I said, I'm embarrassed to admit that I wasn't familiar, even though he's all over popular culture. But you know, Felix, that's not the first time Felix was ignorant of popular culture in my entire life. But after the conversation with him, you know, obviously I'd like to know more about his work, but also about how the band just impacted everyone from across all strata. Like, just different. We heard from a farmer. We heard from this guy that, you know, the TV professional, like, just regular people. The conversation with him really impressed me about how everybody has a different way into the band, but the reaction is. Is all more or less the same. Very loving, very accepting, and. And you feel like you have a place. That's what I got out of the conversation.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Yeah. And I think everybody talks about that community, like, being together, experiencing the music in a group. I feel like we haven't really talked to many people who didn't bring that up organically as we were talking to them about what the Dead means to them. I feel like the word community is something that just came up again and again. And on that note, I'm going to play you my last clip. This is from someone named Autumn Marie.

[Interviewer]

My name is Autumn Marie, and I'm calling from New Smyrna Beach, Florida. I did not grow up a Deadhead. I was exposed to Grateful Dead music. But I was young and graduated high school the year that Jerry Garcia died. So I was certainly impacted by that, but not like some of my friends who are just really into it. I listened enough that when I married my husband, we included a quote from Pigpen, two Souls in Communion, Body and Mind in our wedding imitation. And Ripple was one of our dance songs. So it definitely moved me. But just as a listener, and I definitely had an appreciation for the skillful tunes. And of course, I loved the covers. And my mom was a huge fan of the blues, so I recognized a lot of those. I experienced a lot of losses beginning in 2020 with COVID and everything that followed. And my mom and mother in law both died within a year of each other. And way too young and unexpectedly, my husband and I were experiencing a really profound grief and just felt like our lives were falling apart. We both went to some really good therapy and made some really good goals. And one of those was being to go out and see music locally once a month, just to get out there and enjoy ourselves and meet some people, people who didn't know our sad stories and to maybe make some new stories. And it turns out there is a huge and tremendous dead scene where we live. What started as music once a month has grown to be a community of people who really love each other and who really enjoy dancing. And now it's more like once a weekend. I would call myself a Deadhead now because I have grown and healed immeasurably by the joy in the music and the love that the listeners have and the anticipation of waiting for the next song that will be played and how excited everybody is about anticipating the next song. I believe that the dead community in my town saved my life. And I feel a little teary when I say that, but it is very true. I started over with them with trust and hope that this small thing, which started as just a couple of hours of music a month, could inspire some energy and curiosity and make some new connections. And it has done so much more. Last weekend, I met this community three nights in a row, and we couldn't wait to say we're looking forward to seeing each other next weekend for the beginning of the days between. Thank you, npr, for inspiring these beautiful memories and sharing these beautiful stories.

[Felix Contreras]

You know, that's what I get paid to talk about this stuff. And sometimes just this, especially when it comes to. To this band, it's very difficult. And what I get out of listening from all the. The clips last night and the last couple nights and then today is just like, we all have the same people who are into the band. We all have the same reaction all the way across. And. And it's very difficult to describe. I think everybody's words put, give us a hint. But it's just the tip of the iceberg, because that connection to the music, to the crowd, to the community, it's so profound. And it's. It's like. It's like a Secret handshake. You know, you see a bumper sticker on a car or something, and you just. Again, you can't describe it to someone else and then have them appreciate it. They have to experience themselves if they're going to experience it. But I think that one of the things I learned from doing this series and talking people and talking musicians and everybody else is that it's. You just know. You know, that's. That doesn't describe anything in particular, but you just know. It's like there's a shared communication, spirituality, you know, connection. You just know. And that's what I'm getting out of these stories.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Yeah, it's a really deep kinship. And I like that you say communication, because I think so often when we talk about the Grateful Dead as a band, as the people on stage as. And the jamming and the improvisation, so much of it is led by how they're able to communicate with one another. But I think the way that that's something that's really happening between the people in the audience and the people in the community. I love this story so much because it's not even about being at an official Dead show, or necessarily about. Like, it is about listening to the songs, but it's really in what you find with the people around you and having that shared experience and how meaningful that can be, especially at a time of loss. I mean, what. We talked about this a little bit, Felix, when we were reporting the series, but I lost someone very close to me right before we started reporting on this. And it was someone. It was my Deadhead buddy. It was the person I used to go to shows with. And I knew it was probably gonna be really difficult to spend the summer, like, listening to this music and engaging with that again. But it was so healing. Like, I had so many moments at shows where, like, a song just spoke to me differently or a song reminded me of him in a different way. And I think that, like, feeling like you're being held by everyone around you as you're all kind of working through what you need to work through is really, really powerful. And I'm so grateful for all of the people who shared stories about those experiences, because going through them over the last couple of days, there were a lot that had to do with this idea of loss and grief and, like, healing and finding a new beginning. And I think that that just. That says more than we ever could. I think about the power of the music.

[Felix Contreras]

With that in mind, I think I want to wrap this up. I'm going to play two Clips that reflect both an end and then a beginning on this journey with Grateful Dead music. The first is from Tracy Schroeder.

[Deb Trist / Tracy Schroeder]

This is Tracy calling from Durham, New Hampshire. The first time I heard the Grateful Dead, it was at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City in the late 70s. I had gone to see Waylon Willie with friends and there was this warm up band. I didn't know them. They took forever, played drums forever. And then it started to rain, further delaying Waylon and Willie. I was not a fan. Years later, when I married my husband, a serious Deadhead, my friends reminded me of that performance. I realized I might have to change my opinion or at least come to some sort of acceptance. In our almost 32 years of marriage, I went to 32 Grateful Dead concerts, many Dead cover bands, and several Dead and company shows. Our first dance at our wedding was to Sugar Magnolia. We traveled with good friends to the West Coast, Canada, Paris and London to see them. When the band would do six night runs in Boston, my husband and his best friend, both doctors, would drive the hour to see them all six nights, never missing a day of work. I didn't have that kind of energy. Nor did our friend's wife. We called ourselves the Dead Ettes, following our men from show to show. Somewhere along the way, I came to more acceptance. I came to really like them and look forward to their concerts, though maybe not to the extent of a true Deadhead. My husband had the best smile, and nothing made him light up more than a Dead concert. Even if I hadn't come to enjoy the music, I would have loved the band just for that smile. Our daughter's first exposure to the Dead was at a concert in San Francisco while I was pregnant with her. She was incredibly active during Drums in Space. As she grew up, we took her to many concerts Dead related. My husband loved sharing the music and his passion with her. My husband passed away six years ago. When he was sick. He asked that four songs be played at his memorial service. Broke down Palace Ripple, Attics of My Life and Franklin's Tower. At his service, Grateful Dead music played as people walked in, many of them at our request, wearing tie dye. During her eulogy, our daughter shared how watching everyone walk in reminded her of a Grateful Dead concert. Now every time I hear a Grateful Dead song, I think of my husband. I think of the joy the music brought him and the joy it brought our marriage, our family, and the life we built together. I may always think of myself as just a Dead Ed rather than a true Deadhead, but the Grateful Dead Will forever hold a special place in my heart.

[Felix Contreras]

And now I play a clip that was just so that I don't cry on the mic, but now I want to play a clip that's on the other end of that. The beginning from Jordan Jacobovich. Hi, this is Jordan from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Because my parents controlled the radio in the car, the Grateful Dead were the soundtrack of my childhood. I remember lying across the backseat of our Chrysler Town and Country, falling asleep to American Beauty on the drives home from my grandparents house. Now I'm a dad and my kids won't go to bed without a song. Most nights they request track six from American Beauty.

[Various Callers (including Alan Arkosh, David Pollo, Jim Labrie)]

Ripple.

[Felix Contreras]

A few decades later, and the Dead are still tucking us in.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Oh my gosh. It always comes back to Ripple in

[Felix Contreras]

the series and in life. If my words did glow

[Various Callers (including Alan Arkosh, David Pollo, Jim Labrie)]

with the

[Felix Contreras]

gold of the sunshine and my tombs were played on the heart of the strum, Would you hear my voice come through the music? Would you hold it near as it were your own? It's a hand me down, Felix.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

We spent the summer going to different Dead shows, different kinds of gatherings, different parts of the country. I'm curious if there was a moment that stands out to you from those reporting trips. Just anything that you remember seeing or anything that's really stuck with you from that time out on the road talking to Deadheads.

[Felix Contreras]

It was early on when we started doing the reporting. I was outside of a venue in Baltimore for an Otel Burbage show. And of course he's a bass player and he played with dead and company. And this guy, older guy, seen him in his 60s, and he's like, yeah, this is the first summer in 60 years when an original member hasn't been out on the road. And we framed this whole series about what happens next. But the way he put it, like these consecutive summers that he'd been out on the road. And it just. That's when it hit me. 60 years is a very, very long time. And these are a lot of fans who have been at some point, either the whole time or off and on, stopping to be a parent and then coming back later on again. The way that people interact with the music and the musicians in this scene, it's left a very deep impression on me, to be honest. It's a very different appreciation for the people you're standing next to at a show. And as somebody said, at some point it says, yeah, it's the happiest crowd she's ever been in. Lots of smiles, everybody's having a good time. You bump into somebody. And it's like, oh, my God, I'm so sorry. You know, it was like, it's a different thing than any other, any other musical experience that I've had for any other band.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

Totally. I think something that really stuck out to me was how much everybody kept referencing the 300 years.

[Felix Contreras]

Yeah.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

You know, Bob Weir's vision that these songs were going to last 300 years. And it was something he had said to us in an interview, if you. But I think at every single show, at least five people must have mentioned that every time I want to talk to somebody. And the way that everybody seems to feel like they play some kind of role, they have some kind of collective responsibility in fulfilling that vision. And in the 300 years, like, it just really speaks volumes to how expansive the music and the culture is and how much people want to see it paved forward. You know, it was just incredible. Every single time someone would be like, well, you know, Bobby said 300 years. So we're here, we're doing our part. We're gonna keep going.

[Felix Contreras]

I wonder where he got 300 years from. Is there some kind of spiritual, cosmic reference? I'll have to ask him whenever I run into him in the next life,

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

in the next one. I'm sure he'll tell you. I'm sure he'll have a lot of stories to tell you.

[Felix Contreras]

To leave this broken down palace on my hands and my knees I will roll, roll, roll make myself a bed by the wall this side in my time, in my.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

That brings us to the end of our series, the Ripple Effect. If you want to check out the stories, you can go to npr.org gratefuldead thank you so, so much to everybody who submitted voice memos, written stories, everyone who took their time to let us know what they love about this band and this culture.

[Felix Contreras]

Also, thank you to the wonderfully talented people here at NPR to help this together. Our audio editor is Noah Caldwell. Our editors on this series are Hazel Sills and Jacob Gant. Nicole Werbeck is the director of NPR Visuals. She was in charge of the wonderful visuals from the photographers all over the country. Jackie Lay made the wonderful artwork for this series so nice. I wish I could put it on a T shirt. Soraya Muhammad is executive producer for NPR Music. And Sonali Mehta is executive director of NPR Music.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

And finally, we just want to say a huge thank you to all of the musicians, fans, archivists, everyone we interviewed for this series. We're so, so grateful for you.

[Felix Contreras]

Grateful. I get it.

[Isabella Gomez Sarmiento]

I'm Felix Contreras and I'm Isabella Gomez Sarmiento.

[Felix Contreras]

Thank you for listening.

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