Pre-Dead Songs

This lists songs played by members of the Grateful Dead before the Dead was formed. Some have been issued on Birth Of The Dead, Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, Before The Dead, and Folk Time. The list below covers only bands where tapes or setlists are known to exist. So it does not, for example, cover the Thunder Mountain Tub Thumpers, the Badwater Valley Boys or the Godawful Palo Alto Bluegrass Ensemble. See deaddisc.com for a full list of such bands.

The Warlocks, and The Emergency Crew
The Grateful Dead first started playing in 1965 as The Warlocks, until they discovered there was another band with that name. They recorded a demo for Autumn Records as "The Emergency Crew", now relased on Birth Of The Dead, before hitting on the name "Grateful Dead". This is a list of songs they are thought to have played, though there were probably many others:

Alley Oop (rehearsed)
Can't Come Down
Caution (Do Not Stop On The Tracks)
Cleo's Back
Don't Ease Me In
Do You Believe In Magic (with Phil on vocals)
Early Morning Rain
Get Off My Cloud
Gloria
Good Lovin'
Hully Gully
I Know You Rider
I'm A King Bee
In The Midnight Hour
It's All Over Now
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
Johnny B Goode
The Last Time
Like A Rollng Stone
Little Red Rooster
Love Minus Zero No Limit
Mindbender (Confusion's Prince)
Money (That's What I Want)
My Babe
New Orleans
Off The Hook
The Only Time Is Now
Overseas Stomp (Lindy)
Promised Land
Roly Poly
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
Searchin'
She Belongs To Me (with Weir on vocals)
Smokestack Lightning
Stealin'
Viola Lee Blues
Walkin' The Dog
Wooly Bully

For a discussion about the sources for this see The Songs The Warlocks Played

See also this list by Pigpen of songs the Warlocks might play.

Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions
The Tangent, Palo Alto, CA, July 1964 - released as Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions

Overseas Stomp
Ain't It Crazy
Boo Break
Yes She Do, No She Don't (aka "I'm Satisfied")
Memphis Tennessee
Boodle Am Shake
Big Fat Woman
Borneo
My Gal
Shake That Thing
Beat It On Down The Line
Cocaine Habit Blues
Beedle Um Bum
On The Road Again
The Monkey And The Engineer
In The Jailhouse Now
Crazy Words, Crazy Tune (aka "Washington At Valley Forge")
Band Interviews

Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions
The Tangent, Palo Alto, CA, on an unknown date in 1964.

Jerry Garcia talks ...
Yes She Do, No She Don't (aka "I'm Satisfied")
Ain't It Crazy (The Rub)

Aphalt Jungle Mountain Boys Top Of The Tangent, Palo Alto, CA, Summer 1964

These Men Of God
Roll On Buddy
Goodbye Old Pal
Back Up And Push

(all tracks released on Before The Dead)

Black Mountain Boys
There is some confusion over the dates of these performances, and indeed whether some of them may in fact have been by the Asphalt Jungle Mountain Boys. The dates below try to reconcile the tapes previously in circulation with the tracks released on Before The Dead.

March 7 1964
Sourwood Mountain
If I Lose
Homestead On The Farm
Pig In A Pen
Once More
Stoney Creek
Two Little Boys
Salty Dog Blues
Rosa Lee McFall
Teardrops In My Eyes
New River Train
Love Please Come Home
Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor
John Harty

Set Break
Nine Pound Hammer
Darling Alalee
Ocean Of Diamonds
Salt Creek
In The Pines
Banjo Breakdown
When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again
She's More To Be Pitied
Black Mountain Rag
True Life Blues
Instrumental
John Harty

March 6 1964
(This is the setlist on jerrygarcia.com, with all the tracks released on Before The Dead. A tape circulated with this date had a different setlist - see under "Fall 1963" below.)
Katie Kline
Walkin' The Dog
Paddy On The Turnpike (Boys, My Money's All Gone)
Love And Wealth
Sourwood Mountain
If I Lose
Homestead On The Farm
Stoney Creek
Salty Dog Blues
Love Please Come Home
Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor
Darling Alalee
In The Pines
Rawhide
Black Mountain Rag
True Life Blues
Medley: Devil's Dream - Sailor's Hornpipe

Spring 1964
Drink Up And Go Home (*

(There seem to be a lot of fragments from Black Mountain Boys dated January 1964. They may all be from the same show)
11 January 1964
Salt Creek (*)
Monroe's Hornpipe (*)
Rosa Lee McFall (*)
John Harty (*)

January 1964
Rosa Lee McFall
Sweet Adeline
Standing In The Need Of Prayer
John Harty

January 1964
Katie Kline
Little Georgia Rose
Whose Shoulder Will You Cry On

Fall 1963
(This was the setlist for a tape that has circulated dated 6 March 1964. But "Before The Dead" has what seems to be an extract dated "Fall 1963" - though it's possible these are the same songs played another night.)
Monroe's Hornpipe
Katie Kline
Homestead On The Farm
Barefoot Nellie (*)
She's More To Be Pitied (*)
Instrumental (Noah's Blues) (*)
Somebody Touched Me
Who Will Sing For Me (*)
Darling Alalee
John Harty (**)

Unknown date 1963-64
(The following songs appear only as a filler on other tapes. It's possible that "Drink Up And Go Home" is the version listed above under Spring 1964. And that the version of "These Men Of God" is really the version listed above by the Asphalt Mountain Boys.)
Drink Up And Go Home
These Men Of God
Devil's Dream

Notes
(*) tracks included on Before The Dead, not on the same dates or in the same order.
(**) this track isn't on all the circulating tapes. It might be from another night.

Pigpen & Peter Albin
The Tangent, 1964

John Henry
Hoochie Coochie Man

The Second Story Men
The Tangent, Palo Alto, CA, 1963

When The World's On Fire (*)
McKernan's Blues (akaHardLuck Woman > Katie May)
Jenny Jenkins (*)
Rocky Mountain Blues
Billy Grimes The Rover (*)
Jubilee (*)

(*) The Second Story Men consisted of Pigpen, Rodney Albin, Peter Albin and Ellen Kavanaugh. It doesn't sound as if Pigpen played on these four songs, and played solo on the other two.

Jerry And Sarah Garcia
The Tangent, Palo Alto, CA, 4 May 1963 plus undated Public Radio broadcast

Deep Elem Blues (*)
Will The Weaver (*)
I Truly Understand (*)
All The Good Times Are Past And Gone
Long Black Veil (*)
The Man Who Wrote 'Home Sweet Home' Never Was A Married Man (*)
Black Mountain Rag
Keno The Rent Man
Foggy Mountain Top (*)

Notes
(*) tracks included on Before The Dead.

Wildwood Boys
Top Of The Tangent, Palo Alto, CA, 23 February 1963

Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms)
Introductions
Jerry's Breakdown
Standing In The Need Of Prayer
Mule Skinner Blues
Saturday Night Shuffle
Pike County Breakdown
Come All Ye Fair And Tender Maidens (Little Sparrow)
We Shall Not Be Moved

(all tracks released on Before The Dead)

The Zodiacs
1963/4

[The Zodiacs were a short-lived band with Troy Weidenheimer (lead guitar), Pigpen (vocals and harmonica), Sherry Huddleston (rhythm guitar) and Ron Ogborn (bass and drums), with Garcia occasionally sitting in on bass - and seemingly Bill Kreutzmann later on drums. No tapes exist. The songs we know about come from an interview Pigpen did with Hank Harrison in 1970, included in his book "The Dead".

Searchin'
Walkin' The Dog
San-Ho-Zay
Sen-Sa-Shun
Plus other un-named Jimmy Reed and Coasters tunes.

There's also a separate reference to the Zodiacs having played The Stumble

Hart Valley Drifters
College of San Mateo, CA, 10 November 1962

Tuning
Intro > Handsome Molly
"Cousin Elmer is back"
Pig In A Pen
Banks Of The Ohio
"Cousin Elmer"
Roving Gambler
Nine Pound Hammer
Salty Dog Blues

Fall 1962, KZSU Studios - released as Hart Valley Drifters

Band Introductions
Roving Gambler
Ground Speed
Pig In A Pen
Standing In The Need Of Prayer
Flint Hill Special
Nine Pound Hammer
Handsome Molly
Clinch Mountain Backstep
Think Of What You've Done
Cripple Creek
All The Good Times Are Past And Gone
Billy Grimes The Rover
Paddy On The Turnpike (Boys, My Money's All Gone)
Run Mountain
Sugar Baby
Sitting On Top Of The World

Garcia & David Nelson
College of San Mateo, CA, 10 November 1962

Intro ("honest Jerry Garcia")
The Miller's Will
Deep Elem Blues
Will The Circle Be Unbroken
I Truly Understand
"Cousin Elmer"
The Raging Sea
Cannonball Blues
The Cuckoo
Man Of Constant Sorrow (Jerry Garcia a capella)

Garcia solo
College of San Mateo, CA, 10 November 1962

Tuning
Little Birdie
Walkin' Boss

Pigpen, Garcia and Mike Sector
Unknown venue, June 1962(?)

Careless Love
In The Pines
Goin' To Chicago
Ninety Nine Years
Blue Goose

Sleepy Hollow Hog Stompers
Jewish Community Center, San Carlos, CA, 11 June 1962

Run Mountain
Billy Grimes The Rover
Cannonball Blues (*)
Devilish Mary
Buckdancer's Choice
Little Birdie (*)
Sally Goodin (*)
Hold The Woodpile Down (*)
Crow Black Chicken
Johnson Boys (*)
Shady Grove (*)
Hop High Ladies
The Sweet Sunny South (*)
All Go Hungry Hash House
Man Of Constant Sorrow (*)
Rabbit Chase
Three Men Went A-Hunting

Notes
(*) tracks included on Before The Dead.

Garcia with unknown bluegrass band
Burlingame, CA, January 1962

The Willow Garden (*)
Look Up, Look Down That Lonesome Road (*)
Railroad Bill (*)
The Wagoner's Lad (*)
Katie Cruel (*)
Pay Me My Money Down
East Virginia Blues
The Good Old Rebel
The Very Unfortunate Man

Notes
(*) tracks included on Before The Dead.

Garcia and others
The Chateau, Menlo Park, 18 November 1961

Greenback Dollar
Long Black Veil
[Matty Groves]

Garcia, Leicester & Hunter
Carlos Bookstall, San Carlos CA, July 1961

Poor Ellen Smith
Wildwood Flower
Brown's Ferry Blues (*)
Jesse James (*)
Late Last Night (aka "No One To Stand By Me")
All The Good Times Are Past And Gone
Darling Corey
The Ballad Of Harry Pollitt (aka "Bolshevik In Hell")
Cannonball Blues

Notes
(*) tracks included on Before The Dead.

Garcia, Nelson & Thompson
Unknown, early 1960s

Rawhide
Jody's Hormpipe

Bob and Jerry
Brigid Meier’s Sixteenth Birthday Party, Menlo Park, CA, May 26 1961

Santy Anno
I Got A Home In That Rock
Oh Mary Don't You Weep
All My Trials
I Was Born Ten Thousand Years Ago
Blow The Candles Out
Rake And Ramblin' Boy
Trouble In Mind

(all tracks released on Before The Dead)