On the road with Dennis McNally and the Grateful Dead. Photo courtesy of www.dead.net

The Grateful Dead are a very big influence in my life. But it’s a curious thing to be a ‘Deadhead’ in Australia. Most people have heard of the Dead but have no idea if they are a heavy metal, rock ‘n’ roll, country, or a bluegrass group. They seem to exist as an attachment to a vague memory of the Haight-Ashbury San Francisco scene.

I reached out to long time publicist and Grateful Dead biographer Dennis McNally to discuss why the Grateful Dead are truly an American band, the rise of Dead cover bands, modern psychedelia and the popularity of the Dead and Company.

Dennis is the author of Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead, Jerry on Jerry: The Unpublished Jerry Garcia Interviews and many other books and articles.

You can find his work at https://www.dennismcnally.com