Album of the Day

The Grateful Dead’s fourth studio album opened with a Robert Hunter classic: “Uncle John’s Band.” The tune was already a concert favorite by the time the band recorded it for Workingman’s Dead (1970), turning it into one of the Dead’s signature songs. With Hunter and bandleader Jerry Garcia at the helm, the LP found the group in a remarkably focused state; moving away from freeform jamming into tighter song structures with soaring vocal harmonies, the Dead’s version of folk-rock was still decidedly freaky. Fifty-three years later, and this predecessor to the almighty American Beauty hasn’t lost a step. Workingman’s Dead is Americana at its heaviest.