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On The Road Again
Composer: Traditional / Will Shade

On The Road Again was performed a few times by the Grateful Dead in 1966 having been in the repertoire of the pre-Dead group Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions. They next performed the song in acoustic sets in the last few months of 1980 and, mainly in electric sets, during the 1981 to 1984 period. It was then dropped from the repertoire. In total it was performed about 40 times.

The song was also played by The Other Ones, Furthur, Ratdog, Phil Lesh & Friends, and the Bob Weir Campfire Tour Band.

Most recordings credit Will Shade, of the Memphis Jug Band, as the writer of the song. Others list the song as traditional. The Lovin' Spoonful version of the song, though credited to John Sebastian, is based on the Memphis Jug Band song.

There are a number of other songs with this title.



Memphis Jug Band

no info Single (On The Road Again / A Black Woman Is Like A Black Snake), 1928
info Memphis Jug Band, 1981
info Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 2 (1928-1929), 1990
no info Times Ain't Like They Used To Be: Early American Rural Music, Vol. 1, Various Artists, 1997
info Memphis Jug Band, Vol. 2, 1998
info The Essential Memphis Jug Band, 2001
info The Best Of The Memphis Jug Band, 2001
info The Roots Of The Grateful Dead & Jerry Garcia, Various Artists, 2001
info He's in the Jailhouse Now, Memphis Jug Band, 2003
info Memphis Jug Band / Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers, 2005
info The Roots of the Grateful Dead, Various Artists, 2008

Other recordings

info The Even Dozen Jug Band, The Even Dozen Jug Band, 1963
info Do You Believe in Magic, The Lovin' Spoonful, 1965
no info Single (Do You Believe In Magic / On The Road Again), The Lovin' Spoonful, 1965
no info Introducing the Sonics, The Sonics, 1966
no info On The Road Again, Furry Lewis w/ Bukka White and Gus Cannon, 1969
info It Must Be A Breakdown, The Grand Poo-Bah Beaner Band, 1976
no info Beale Street Saturday Night, Various Artists (Mud Boy & the Neutrons), 1979
info Bleecker & MacDougal: The Folk Scene Of The 60s, Various Artists (Even Dozen Jug Band), 1984
no info Maintaining My Cool, The Sonics, 1991
no info Do You Believe in Magic/Hums Of, The Lovin' Spoonful, 1995
no info The Very Best of, The Lovin' Spoonful, 1998
no info Collector's Edition, Vol. 2, The Lovin' Spoonful, 1999
no info Greatest Hits, The Lovin' Spoonful, 2000
info Live at the Florence Little Theater, The Blue Dogs, 2002
info 3/13/98 Cedar Cultural Centre, The Big Wu, 2002
no info The Jerden Years 1966-69, The Sonics, 2004
no info The Best of, The Lovin' Spoonful, 2004
no info Singles As & Bs, The Lovin' Spoonful, 2006
info 7/2/15, Chicago, IL, Infamous Stringdusters & Keller Williams, 2015

 
Grateful Dead

info Reckoning, 1981
info Dead Ahead, 1981
info So Many Roads (1965-1995), 1999
info Dick's Picks, Vol. 32, 2004
info Beyond Description, 2004
info The Tomorrow Show: Tom Snyder's Electric Kool-Aid Talk Show, 2006
info Live Albums Collection, 2013
info 30 Trips Around The Sun Box Set, 2015
info The Warfield, 10/9/80 & 10/10/80, Grateful Dead, 2019
info The Story Of The Grateful Dead, 2020

Garcia / Weir / Kahn / Kreutzmann / Hart

info Sing Out!: BCT, April 25, 1981, Various Artists, 2024

Mother McCree's

info Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, 1998
info Jerry Garcia: Collected Artwork: Ltd Ed CD, 2005
info Jerry Garcia: Collected Artwork: Clts Ed CD, 2007

Furthur

info Feb 5, 2010, Miami, FL
info Feb 17, 2010, Buffalo, NY
info July 7, 2010, Ottawa, ON
info September 17, 2010, Eugene, OR
info February 13, 2011, Broomfield, CO
info March 25, 2011, New York, NY

Ratdog

info Lowell MA, August 12, 2007
info Buffalo, NY, March 4, 2014
info Knoxville, TN, March 14, 2014
info Madison, WI, June 12, 2014

Dark Star Orchestra

info DSO Live: Jan 26, 2004, Charlottesville, VA, 2004

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