To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead, JamBase teamed with Telefunken to produce the Songs Of Their Own 50-day tribute series featuring a daily cover of a Grateful Dead original song. Our grand finale 50th video, a Playing For Change Songs Around The World rendition of “Ripple,” will premiere the day of the final Fare Thee Well show in Chicago on July 5. With a focus solely on Grateful Dead original songs, we asked many of our favorite artists to record cover versions at the JamBase office in San Francisco, at one of the many venues around the Bay Area, at Telefunken's Connecticut studios and beyond. No song was allowed to be covered twice, and today’s participants The Brothers Comatose fared well on “Brokedown Palace”





It seems fitting for “Brokedown Palace” to be today’s Songs Of Their Own entry as its lyrics inspired the naming of the Fare Thee Well - Celebrating 50 Years Of Grateful Dead concerts beginning tonight in Santa Clara, California. "Brokedown Palace" was among the retsina-fueled songs penned by Robert Hunter one afternoon in London in 1970 along with "To Lay Me Down” and “Ripple.” Sung by co-author Jerry Garcia, "Brokedown Palace" made its debut in the middle of an acoustic first set at the Fillmore West in San Francisco on August 18, 1970. Recorded for the 1970 studio album American Beauty, the song came and went from setlists, sometimes going entire years between performances. After being played over 200 times, “Brokedown Palace” filled the encore slot at The Dead’s June 25, 1995 concert at RFK Stadium in Washington D.C.

A few weeks back we had San Francisco locals The Brothers Comatose come down to the JamBase office to record their cover of “Brokedown Palace.” Standing in a semi-circle, band mates Ben Morrison (guitar), Gio Benedetti (bass), Ryan Avellone (mandolin), Alex Morrison (banjo, vocals) and Philip Brezina (fiddle) played an acoustic rendition of the song in the same fashion it was first played nearly 45 years ago.




Head here to explore our Songs Of Their Own homepage featuring Max Creek, Jackie Greene, Strangefolk, Midnight North, Anders Osborne & Luther Dickinson, Keller Williams and more or watch each entry via the YouTube Playlist below.