Chatham native tells Grateful Dead’s story through live recordings

Chatham-born author Ray Robertson is a self-professed Dead Head who has been immersed in the world of the legendary band Grateful Dead in recent years.

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This immersion has resulted in his latest book, All the Years Combine: The Grateful Dead in Fifty Shows, being released Nov. 7 by Windsor-based publisher Biblioasis.

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, Robertson, 57, spent countless hours listening to numerous live recordings of Grateful Dead shows to come up with the 50 he feels best tell the good and bad of the band’s story.

With a legion of Dead Heads – a moniker for devoted Grateful Dead fans – out there, Robertson knows, “I will get a lot of flak.

“There is no getting it right, because it isn’t the 50 greatest hits of the Grateful Dead,” he said.

Robertson believes the band peaked in the late 70s, but continued on for several more years.

“It’s really a story about success in North America, and how getting bigger isn’t necessarily getting better.”

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Noting the book only includes five shows after 1978, Robertson said, “That’s going to get a lot of Dead Heads’ backs up.”

He said a lot of people saw the Grateful Dead in the 1980s and 1990s that “I don’t think particularly was their best work.”

Robertson’s affinity for the Grateful Dead is evident in his recent novel Estates Large and Small, which is generously sprinkled with references to the band’s music.

The novel led to Robertson being asked this year to write liner notes for Grateful Dead music featured in the popular Dave’s Picks Vol. 45 along with 10,000 words for the band’s 15-box set Here Comes Sunshine 1973.

Robertson said Dave Lemieux, a fellow Canadian, who is the Grateful Dead’s legacy manager, contacted him after he read Estates Large and Small, and they hit it off. He already was writing All the Years Combine when Lemieux asked him to write the liner notes for the two Grateful Dead releases.

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“It was kind of a very Dead-centric year, 2023,” Robertson said.

In writing All the Years Combine, he said, “I am able to fill a gap I think exists in Grateful Dead writing.”

Robertson said he focuses on how the band started and evolved to be more interesting. Then as their fame and money increased, along with the size of venues, “everything changes and the music changes,” he added.

“So, I’m sure I’m going to offend a lot of Dead Heads, but if I don’t, I’m probably not doing my job,” Robertson said.

Robertson also chronicles his introduction to the band that began as a teenager when he won a mirror featuring the Grateful Dead at the former Jaycee Fair in Chatham. Then, he stumbled upon a book about the band while rummaging through the discount book bin at the former North Maple Mall. This led him to seek out his first Grateful Dead album Blues for Allah at the former Sam the Record Man store in Chatham.

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“It seemed like The Dead had been there all my whole life, first at the Jaycee Fair then at the mall and then I would hear their music here and there,” Robertson said.

He began a deep dive into the Grateful Dead’s music about 10 years ago after listening to the late lead singer Jerry Garcia’s solo work and realized he wanted to hear more.

He said Grateful Dead music “took me a long time to develop the ears to listen to.

“It’s kind of like it has been waiting there for me until I was ready,” he said.

Robertson will be in Chatham Nov. 10 for a book launch at Turns and Tales at 213 King St. W. with the doors opening at 7 pm Instead of doing a reading, Robertson said he will be interviewed on stage by Chatham musician Michael Schatte.

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