Old and in the Way

I love bluegrass; it may just be something that was instilled in me from a young age since I grew up in a mainly "southern rock/Grateful Dead/bluegrass and country" home, but I still enjoy listening to old bluegrass a little too much. And it's not just the Grateful Dead part of my early household, but Old and in the Way is my absolute, all-time favorite bluegrass group. Their entire catalogue is solid---they play original songs and standard bluegrass songs. Given, there are many "legendary" acts in bluegrass (Bill Monroe, Hank Williams, etc.), but Old and in the Way channels the best parts of these two artists and adds their own younger feel to it. They also do one of my favorite Rolling Stones songs, which is coincidentally my favorite cover of any song.

Old and in the Way formed in 1973, when Jerry Garcia asked mandolinist (and longtime friend) David Grisman to start a bluegrass band as a way to pay homage to his bluegrass roots. Vassar Clements, Peter Rowan (who was a member of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys from 1964-1967), and John Kahn were also added to the group and shortly afterwards they started playing a handful of shows around the San Francisco area. Their first album, Old and in the Way, was pulled together from all of these live performances done around their beginning, and was not released until 1975.
This eponymous bluegrass album includes the bluegrass-tinged cover of The Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses" and Peter Rowan's originals, including the now-bluegrass standard "Panama Red."

After Jerry Garcia's death in 1995, the remaining members released a collection of 1973 recordings, That High Lonesome Sound. A third album of 1973 songs, Breakdown appeared shortly thereafter. The first album is essential bluegrass listening; the other two are great listening, but I highly recommend the first to anyone.

Old and in the Way - Wild Horses
Old and in the Way - Panama Red