“Box of Rain” by The Grateful Dead

"Box of Rain" opens the Grateful Dead's 1970 album American Beauty, and it's a first: the earliest Dead recording with Phil Lesh singing lead. Lesh wrote the music, down to every vocal turn, because he wanted something to sing to his dying father, and Robert Hunter said the words poured out as fast as he could write them.

It's pure back-porch Americana, folk and country roots showing, with Lesh strumming acoustic guitar, guest David Torbert on bass and David Nelson of New Riders of the Purple Sage picking lead on a Telecaster. Jerry Garcia sits at the piano, and Bob Weir and Garcia wrap harmonies around Lesh's plain, earnest voice. Tender, unhurried and quietly devastating, it's the Dead as a family band.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.