Grateful Dead’s ‘Dave’s Picks Volume 48’ to feature Bill Walton liner notes

A previously unreleased concert from the Grateful Dead is coming out on CD later this month, featuring liner notes by a famous celebrity Deadhead.

Dave’s Picks Volume 48 will feature the band’s complete November 20, 1971, concert from UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion, with Basketball Hall of Famer Bill “Grateful Red” Walton, who attended the show, sharing his memories in the notes.

“Basketball and music have always been alike for me, the celebration of life and all other good things,” Walton, who played for the UCLA Bruins, shares. “UCLA and the Grateful Dead embody the highest levels of this celebratory joy. At UCLA, it was endless fun, every day, in every way. We couldn’t wait to get there, to get going — though it was never as much fun as when the Grateful Dead came to play with and for us.”

Chosen by Dead archivist David Lemieu, the two-CD concert features performances of such Dead classics as “Casey Jones,” “Sugar Magnolia,” “Bertha,” “Ramble On Rose,” an over 23-minute jam on “The Other One” and more.

The set also comes with a third CD featuring a concert from October 24, 1970, at Keil Auditorium in St. Louis, Missouri, with performances of such songs as “Not Fade Away,” “Good Lovin,’” “Dancing In The Street” and others.

Only 25,000 numbered copies of Dave’s Picks Volume 48 are being produced. They are available for preorder now and will ship October 27.

In other Grateful Dead news … fans can now get their hands on the first-ever Grateful Dead vape pen from Grenco Science. The Grateful Dead x G Pen Dash is covered in the band’s colors and features their signature imagery, including the Grateful Dead skeleton. It’s available at gpen.com.