Album · The Grateful Dead
Workingman’s Dead by The Grateful Dead
Workingman’s Dead is an album by The Grateful Dead, released in 1970. 3 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 85 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Uncle John's Band”, on 37 lists with a best position of #53.
Workingman's Dead, cut in February 1970 and put out by Warner Bros. on June 14 that year, is the sound of the Grateful Dead trading the psychedelic freakouts for front-porch songcraft. Jerry Garcia and lyricist Robert Hunter wrote plainspoken American songs in the old style, and the band, Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, played them lean and close, with warm, ragged harmonies on top.
"Uncle John's Band" rolls out like a campfire hymn, "Casey Jones" chugs along on a bouncing shuffle, and "New Speedway Boogie" rumbles with unease. It was the first of two back-to-back records in this rootsy vein, with American Beauty right behind, and it has kept turning up on the big all-time album lists ever since.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Workingman’s Dead on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Uncle John's Band | 37 | #53 | – | 1991–2026 | |
| 2 | Casey Jones | 44 | #107 | – | 1982–2026 | |
| 3 | New Speedway Boogie | 4 | #198 | – | 2010–2026 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.