LISTEN: Chicken Wire Empire, “Friend of the Devil” (Grateful Dead Cover)

Artist: Chicken Wire Empire
Hometown: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Song: “Friend of the Devil”
Album: Verry Garcia EP
Release Date: March 10, 2023

In Their Words: “The Midwest brings people to bluegrass from a variety of different angles, and we found that the Grateful Dead was a bridge between the different creative roads that ultimately brought our group together. David Grisman’s iconic descending mandolin riff at the top of the Dead’s 1970 recording ‘Friend of the Devil’ is a shining example of the way bluegrass music influenced the band’s sound. The riff is a theme that reminded us of the fiddle tune ‘Whiskey Before Breakfast,’ so we weaved a full pass of the tune into our cover to further explore that bridge between traditional roots music and the sound of the Grateful Dead.” — Carter Shilts, Chicken Wire Empire

Photo Credit: Stephanie Charpentier-Brusubardis