It's good day for Deadheads: Robert Hunter's lost manuscript headed for publication.
The Grateful Dead lyricist — who penned such gems as “Ripple,” “Box of Rain,” “Uncle John's Band,” “Eyes of the World,” “Dark Star” and more — died in 2019. Five years later, Hachette will release The Silver Snarling Trumpet: The Birth of the Grateful Dead — The Lost Manuscript of Robert Hunterreleased October 8.
Discovered by Hunter's widow, Maureen, Silver Trumpet chronicles the origins of the Grateful Dead in the San Francisco Bay Area. Hunter, who met and befriended Jerry Garcia in 1961, travels with the band to coffee shops, Kepler's Books and more.
“It's strange to think back to those days when it was perfectly natural for us all to sleep on the floor in a small room,” Hunter writes. “Those were days before practical considerations, matters of 'important importance', began to eat away at our minds. We were all poets and philosophers then, until we began to wonder why we had so few concrete concerns and went out looking for some.'
Silver Trumpet includes a foreword by John Mayer, an introduction by Dead biographer Dennis McNally, and an afterword by Brigid Meier, a longtime friend of Garcia and the band. “If you thought you were one of us, you were welcome to join,” he writes.
News of the manuscript arrives on the same day that Rhino announced an archival order of Hunter's solo catalog. They will reissue it if 1974 Tales Of The Great Rum Runners, is released on June 7 in honor of its 50th anniversary. The deluxe reissue contains 16 unreleased tracks and outtakes.
Almost a decade ago, Rolling rock sat down with Hunter at his home in San Rafael, California. “I think writing about the dead was the best thing I could have done,” he told us. “In fact, I remember at one point thinking, 'What was I thinking about being a novelist? This it's where it's at.”
from our partners at https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/grateful-dead-robert-hunter-lost-manuscript-1234999873/