Rhys Morgan discovered the Grateful Dead in the autumn of 1976, during a student exchange year at UC Santa Cruz. Someone in his dormitory played a tape of the May 1977 shows and he never recovered. He went home to Cardiff, got a job at the public library, and spent the next forty years trading tapes by post with collectors in Philadelphia, Portland, and San Francisco. His collection is organized chronologically in acid-free archival boxes in his attic — one box per month of 1977, each tape in a labeled Norelco case with a handwritten J-card. He has never been back to California.
1977 is the year most Deadheads point to first. The tempos slowed. The spaces between the notes opened up. Garcia's tone turned warm and liquid, and Keith Godchaux's piano added jazz voicings that gave the jams a new kind of patience. Betty Cantor-Jackson was behind the board for most of it, and her soundboard recordings captured the band with a clarity that made the tapes essential among collectors. The spring tour — April through June — is where the reputation was built. Cornell on May 8 is the most famous, but the shows before and after it were just as extraordinary. The fall brought a darker, heavier sound. The December Winterland shows closed the year with authority.
Every J-card in the collection has been photographed. They are available in the app.
Feb 26, 1977 Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, CA
Mar 18, 1977 Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA
Mar 19, 1977 Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA
Apr 22, 1977 The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA
Apr 23, 1977 Springfield Civic Center, Springfield, MA
Apr 25, 1977 Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ
Apr 27, 1977 Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ
Apr 29, 1977 The Palladium, New York, NY
Apr 30, 1977 The Palladium, New York, NY
May 4, 1977 The Palladium, New York, NY
May 5, 1977 New Haven Coliseum, New Haven, CT
May 7, 1977 Boston Garden, Boston, MA
May 8, 1977 Barton Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
May 9, 1977 War Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo, NY
May 11, 1977 Civic Center Arena, St. Paul, MN
May 13, 1977 Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL
May 17, 1977 Memorial Coliseum, Tuscaloosa, AL
May 18, 1977 Fox Theatre, Atlanta, GA
May 19, 1977 Fox Theatre, Atlanta, GA
May 21, 1977 Lakeland Civic Center, Lakeland, FL
May 22, 1977 Sportatorium, Pembroke Pines, FL
May 25, 1977 The Mosque, Richmond, VA
May 26, 1977 Baltimore Civic Center, Baltimore, MD
Jun 8, 1977 Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA
Jun 9, 1977 Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA
Sep 3, 1977 Raceway Park, Englishtown, NJ
Sep 28, 1977 Paramount Theatre, Seattle, WA
Oct 1, 1977 Paramount Theatre, Portland, OR
Oct 2, 1977 Paramount Theatre, Portland, OR
Oct 7, 1977 University of New Mexico Johnson Gym, Albuquerque, NM
Oct 9, 1977 McNichols Sports Arena, Denver, CO
Oct 11, 1977 Lloyd Noble Center, Norman, OK
Oct 28, 1977 Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall, Kansas City, KS
Oct 29, 1977 Evans Field House, Northern Illinois U, DeKalb, IL
Oct 30, 1977 Assembly Hall, Bloomington, IN
Nov 1, 1977 Cobo Arena, Detroit, MI
Nov 4, 1977 Cotterell Gym, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY
Nov 5, 1977 Community War Memorial, Rochester, NY
Nov 6, 1977 Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena, Binghamton, NY
Dec 27, 1977 Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA
Dec 29, 1977 Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA
Dec 30, 1977 Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA
