Blues For Allah

21” x 20” x 1 1/4”

Black walnut

The Blues For Allah cover art was created in 1975 by Philip Garris, a Bay area artist and calligrapher who contributed to the Grateful Dead creative circle, among others. He’s best recognized as the creator of The Fiddler that’s featured here, and his nice calligraphic hand-drawn ‘scared script’ drawn from Middle Eastern infuences. While not as ‘psychedelic’ in nature as other Dead inspired art, The Fiddler seems to suck one in for a deeper more thoughtful moment while trying to interpret the script.

The album release was a rather obscure piece of Dead work at the time. Half of the tracks never got much traction beyond release, and rarely if ever played live. Coming on the heels of acclaimed Wake Of The Flood in 1973 and Mars Hotel in 1974, it had big shoes to fill. Four tracks from the LP became hugely popular over time, and still so during the Dead & Company era: Help On The Way, Slipknot, Franklin’s Tower and The Music Never Stopped.