''Rolling Thunder'' is the first solo album by

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...

drummer

Mickey Hart Mickey Hart (born Michael Steven Hartman, September 11, 1943) is an American percussionist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 until February 19 ...

. Although Hart had temporarily left the Grateful Dead at the time he made ''Rolling Thunder'', members of the Dead play on the album, along with several other well-known musicians from the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

music scene. Also featured are classical

tabla A ''tabla'' is a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. Since the 18th century, it has been the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, where it may be played solo, as an accompaniment with other instruments a ...

players Zakir Hussain and his father

Alla Rakha Alla Rakha Qureshi (29 April 1919 – 3 February 2000) was an Indian tabla player who specialised in Hindustani classical music. Widely revered as one of history's most iconic players of the tabla, he was a frequent accompanist of sitar player ...

. The album contains early versions of two songs co-written by

Bob Weir Robert Hall Weir ( ; né Parber, born October 16, 1947) is an American musician and songwriter best known as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the group disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with the Other Ones, later known as the Dead ...

that later became Grateful Dead concert staples – "

Playing in the Band "Playing in the Band" is a song by the Grateful Dead. The lyrics were written by Robert Hunter and rhythm guitarist Bob Weir composed the music, with some assistance from percussionist Mickey Hart. The song first emerged in embryonic form on th ...

"and "Greatest Story Ever Told" (called "Pump Song" on this album). The cover art for ''Rolling Thunder'' was created by Alton Kelly and

Stanley Mouse Stanley George Miller (born October 10, 1940), better known as Mouse or Stanley Mouse, is an American artist who is notable for his 1960s psychedelic rock concert poster designs and album covers for the Grateful Dead, Journey, and other bands. ...

's Kelly/Mouse Studios. The album was named after the

Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ), also known by the endonym Newe, are an Native Americans in the United States, Indigenous people of the United States with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshon ...

medicine man A medicine man (from Ojibwe ''mashkikiiwinini'') or medicine woman (from Ojibwe ''mashkikiiwininiikwe'') is a traditional healer and spiritual leader who serves a community of Indigenous people of the Americas. Each culture has its own name i ...

, shaman, teacher, and activist, Rolling Thunder, who was a friend of Mickey Hart and the Grateful Dead and whose voice is heard on the first track. In 1986, Relix Records reissued the album on vinyl, utilizing the original master recordings and color separations. In 1989, the album was released on CD on the Grateful Dead label. It was subsequently re-released by Relix.''Rolling Thunder'' on deaddisc.com
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Track listing

Side One

#"Rolling Thunder/Shoshone Invocation" (Rolling Thunder) – 0:46 #"The Main Ten (

)" (Hart, Weir,

Hunter Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, ...

) – 7:04 #"Fletcher Carnaby" (Hart, Hunter) – 4:14 #"The Chase (Progress)" (Hart) – 4:04 #"Blind John" (C.J. Stetson, Peter Monk) – 3:48

Side Two

#"Young Man" (Hart, Monk) – 2:41 #"Deep, Wide, and Frequent" (Hart) – 5:33 #"Pump Song" (Weir, Hart, Hunter) – 4:42 #"Granma's Cookies" (Hart) – 3:00 #"Hangin' On" (Stetson, Monk; arranged by Mickey Hart) – 3:17

Personnel

By track

Rolling Thunder Chant *Mike and Nancy Hinton –

marimba The marimba ( ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the mari ...

, Zakir Hussain – rain The Main Ten (Playing in the Band) *

John Cipollina John Cipollina (August 24, 1943 – May 29, 1989) was a guitarist best known for his role as a founder and the lead guitarist of the prominent San Francisco rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service. After leaving Quicksilver he formed the band C ...

–

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

– guitar,

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician who was the lead guitarist and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 196 ...

– guitar, vocals *

Tower of Power Tower of Power is an American R&B and funk based band and horn section, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing since 1968. The band has had a number of lead vocalists, the best-known being Lenny Williams, who fronted ...

–

horn section A horn section is a group of musicians playing horns. In an orchestra or concert band, it refers to the musicians who play the "French" horn, and in a British-style brass band it is the tenor horn players. In many popular music genres, the term ...

Stephen Stills Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Crosby, Stills & Nash; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and Manassas (band ...

–

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

*Carmelo Garcia –

timbales Timbales () or pailas are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing. They are shallower than single-headed tom-toms and usually tuned much higher, especially for their size.Orovio, Helio 1981. ''Diccionario de la música cubana: biográfic ...

Fletcher Carnaby * Sam Andrew – guitar *John Cipollina – guitar *Robbie Stokes – guitar *Mickey Hart – drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

David Freiberg David Freiberg ( ; born August 24, 1938) is an American musician best known for contributing vocals, keyboards, electric bass, rhythm guitar, viola and percussion as a member of Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane, and Jefferson St ...

– vocals, bass,

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

*Tower of Power – horn section *Steven Schuster –

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

The Chase (Progress) *

– guitar *Mickey Hart – drums *Zakir Hussain –

Blind John *Steven Schuster – flute *

Grace Slick Grace Slick (born Grace Barnett Wing; October 30, 1939) is an American painter and retired musician whose musical career spanned four decades. She was a prominent figure in San Francisco's psychedelic music scene during the mid-1960s to the earl ...

– piano, vocals *Mickey Hart – field drum,

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion instrument, percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a Membranophone, membrane called a drumhead, ...

Greg Errico Greg Errico (born September 1, 1948) is an American musician and record producer, best known as the drummer for the popular and influential psychedelic soul/funk band Sly and the Family Stone. Career 1960s-1970s He was a founding member and ...

– drums *Tower of Power – horn section * Barry Melton – acoustic guitar, vocals *David Freiberg – acoustic guitar, vocals *

Paul Kantner Paul Lorin Kantner (March 17, 1941 – January 28, 2016) was an American rock musician. He is best known as the co-founder, rhythm guitarist, and a secondary vocalist of Jefferson Airplane, a leading psychedelic rock band of the counterculture of ...

– vocals Young Man *Barry Melton – guitar *John Cipollina – guitar *Robbie Stokes – guitar *David Freiberg – bass, vocals *Mickey Hart – drums *Bob Weir – vocals *

Phil Lesh Philip Chapman Lesh (March 15, 1940 – October 25, 2024) was an American musician and a founding member of the Grateful Dead, with whom he developed a unique style of improvised six-string bass guitar. He was their bassist throughout their 30 ...

– vocals *Carmelo Garcia – timbales,

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest ...

Deep, Wide and Frequent *Mickey Hart – drums *David Freiberg – bass *Robbie Stokes – guitar *Jerry Garcia – guitar *John Cipollina – guitar *Terry Haggerty – guitar (from Sons of Champlin) *

Bill Champlin William Bradford Champlin (born May 21, 1947) is an American singer, keyboardist, guitarist and songwriter. He formed the band Sons of Champlin in 1965, which still performs today, and was a member of the rock band Chicago (band), Chicago from 1 ...

–

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

*Tower of Power – horn section *Carmelo Garcia – timbales, congas Pump Song *Robbie Stokes – guitar *Bob Weir – guitar, vocals *Jerry Garcia – insect fear *Robbie Stokes – bass *Phil Lesh – bass *Tower of Power – horn section *Mickey Hart – drums, percussion *David Freiberg – piano, water pump Granma's Cookies *Jerry Garcia – guitar *Mickey Hart – drums *Zakir Hussain – tabla Hangin' On *Barry Melton – guitar *Robbie Stokes – guitar *John Cipollina – guitar *David Freiberg – bass, piano,

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

, vocals *Mickey Hart – drums *Tower of Power – horn section

Production

* Dan Healy, Rick Davis, John Wollman,

– engineers *

, Mickey Hart, David Freiberg, Dan Healy,

– mixdown *

Rock Scully Rock Robert Scully (August 1, 1941 – December 16, 2014, aged 73) was an American music manager, best known as one of the managers of the rock band the Grateful Dead from 1965 to 1985. Living in Haight-Ashbury as a graduate student prior to the S ...

– direction *Recorded at Mickey's Barn, Marin County, CA *Mixed at Alembic Studios,

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

Ed Thrasher Edward Lee Thrasher Jr. (March 7, 1932 – August 5, 2006), known as Ed Thrasher, was an American art director and photographer. He was the recipient of a number of Grammy Award nominations for his work on album covers and won a Grammy for Best Al ...

– art direction *Ron Rakow, Bruce Baxter – photography

Notes

References

Bendersky, Ari. "Mickey Hart Set To Save World Music", ''Rolling Stone'', December 13, 1997
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rolling Thunder Mickey Hart albums 1972 debut albums Warner Records albums