It’s REALLY Hard to Sing When You’re Crying, So…There’s Nothing To Do But Smile, Smile, Smile

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings Live at The Capitol Theatre 2026-04-11

When I saw Gillian Welch and David Rawlings just about one year ago at Carnegie Hall, their set was a masterclass in old timey Appalachian style country bluegrass and murder balladry. But quite honestly the one tune which bowled me over completely was a cover version of one of my least favorite Grateful Dead songs of all time, “China Doll”, off of their (The Dead’s) vastly under rated Mars Hotel album. Gillian & David injected life and a poetic energy into the composition which I’d never heard or experienced before in any Grateful Dead version. As such when I first saw that the duo would be performing a set at Newport Folk Festival commemorating the Dead’s Reckoning LP, (Reckoning was an acoustic compilation of tunes by the Dead recorded back in 1980 at a run of shows at New York’s Radio City Music Hall as well as San Francisco’s Warfield Theatre) I immediately got a severe case of FOMO. That fear was alleviated almost instantaneously when I heard that they would be doing a limited number of shows including 3 nights at the historic Capitol Theatre up in Port Chester, NY.

After sitting in excruciating Saturday evening New York metro traffic, my friend Matt and I arrived at the theatre just before showtime to an overflowing crowd. I’ve been to sold out shows at the Cap in the past and Saturday’s crowd seemed much larger than usual. A crowd, that seemed like the majority of which had actually SEEN Jerry play. It was clearly an older, very old school Grateful Dead centric crowd. Anyway, to the delight of this group of fanatics, Gillian, David and bassist Paul Kowert (of The Punch Brothers, a bluegrass band which is known for its virtuosic, almost classical, interpretation and presentation of their progressive bluegrass repertoire) opened with “Bertha”, the best song ever written about a meandering table fan.

And from there the trio were off to the races. As you can see from the setlist below, the set was one Grateful Dead classic after another, each presented with impeccable musicianship as well as an energetic vigor that lifted the crowd to heights one could never have imagined. I will be the first to admit that I came into this show with sky high expectations, something which goes against the grain of my ethos of managing expectations to avoid disappointment. Nonetheless, this show met, exceeded and quite honestly blew the doors off of all of those expectations. From the Elizabeth Cotton penned “Oh Babe It Ain’t No Lie”, a deep cut off of the Reckoning disc to to the always cathartic (to me at least) “It Must Have Been The Roses” to the movingly poignant set closer “Cassidy”, I for one would have been totally content if Set One had been the entire show, it was THAT good. But like Dead shows themselves, set one is just a warmup, a precursor to what is to come.

Not surprisingly Gillian, David and Paul came out for set two, completely on FIRE. Rawlings is one of the best flat pickers out there and what he did at the onset of “Cumberland Blues” was nothing short of sheer beauty. His ability to capture Jerry’s electric guitar feel on his unmiked 1935 Epiphone Olympic acoustic throughout the evening, and especially on “Cumberland” was mesmerizing. Of course I would be remiss if I neglected to mention the impeccable vocals offered up by both Gillian as well as Rawlings throughout the evening. For most of the night the two would trade off lead vocal duties but for “Cumberland Blues” they would, as the Dead always did, sing as a duet throughout and the duo crushed it.

“Brown Eyed Women” followed and Gillian’s velvety rich contralto on lead vocal had those of us in attendance transposed to that tumble down depression era shack with saw dust on the worn down floor boards sipping on daddy’s smoking hot moonshine whiskey.

As movingly beautiful as this pairing of two of the best americana inspired songs from the great American songbook of The Grateful Dead was, it paled in comparison to what would follow a few songs later when Gillian would emotionally torch the building with her hauntingly mournful and solemn vocals on “Brokedown Palace”. The Dead would more often than not save “Brokedown” as a set closer since its dirgelike pace and tragic story could (and often would) drain the energy out of the room. And one had to wonder how Gillian & David would be able to restore any kind of energy in the Capitol after delving into this one so early in the set. But before I get into that, let me just say that the juxtaposition of Gillian’s heartfelt lyrics and Rawling’s astounding picking brought to mind what the great jazz historian Phillip Schapp used to call the “american sing/song tradition” when he would describe the style of back and forth between the great Billie Holiday and her long time collaborator on alto sax, Johnny Hodges. Johnny would pretty much mimic Billie’s vocal phrasing on the saxophone after each lyrical line, something which was quite new and innovative when they were doing it back in the 1930’s. Anyhow, this sing/song style came to light beautifully throughout “Brokedown Palace” as Rawlings would follow each bone crushingly poignant and tear inducing vocal from Gillian with an equally heart breaking guitar fill. The song would eventually conclude with nary a dry eye in the room, to the extent that Gillian herself would comment that it’s really hard to sing while one is balling up and crying on stage.

The curiosity of how these incredible musicians were going to bring the energy back into the room after such an emotionally draining prelude was soon assuaged as the trio jumped right into “He’s Gone”. Now don’t get me wrong, this Garcia/Hunter penned tune isn’t exactly “One More Saturday” night if we’re talking about energy but as mournful as the story is, “He’s Gone” is a song that elicits hope with its sing-a-long bridge of “nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile!”

And then there was the encore. “Althea” is one of those understated Dead classics which, in my humble opinion, never gets its true merit in the pantheon of Grateful Dead tunes. (Probably due to it having been part of the largely forgetable Heaven Can Wait album I’m sure). With its Hamlet laced imagery, the song is, like so many other Hunter/Garcia penned tunes, a moving and beautiful song. Welch and Rawlings performed it perfectly.

The following song might have been the only miscue of the evening for me. “Althea” is not a rocking tune and I felt that the crowd needed to be picked up emotionally just a bit after its conclusion. The trouble is, what followed, “To Lay Me Down” took us deeper into the abyss and Welch’s somewhat over repetitive recitation of the chorus, to my ears was a bit of a bummer.

But fear not, what followed was inspiring to say the least. We would get “Saint Stephen” into “Not Fade Away” into “Morning Dew” in what was the best acoustic space one could possibly ever have imagined. During this incredible jam, bassist, Paul Kowert kept teasing “Lovelight” the idea of which seemed to Rawlings to be quite intriguing, but unfortunately it looked like neither Rawlings nor Gillian were prepared to sing the song so alas we merely got the teasing of the tune before the three moved into a wonderful version of “Morning Dew”. And unlike The Dead when they transfixed the crowd at Barton Hall in ‘77, Welch & Rawlings were wise enough to end things with Dew rather than coming back out with a superfluous “One More Saturday Night”.

That being said, what a Saturday night it was! Now I wish the following analogy was my own idea but I can not lay claim to it as it was my buddy Matt’s synopsis that works so well that I will bring it up here nonetheless. The Grateful Dead, certainly after Jerry’s passing but especially now with Bobby’s moving on to better things, has become a cottage industry of tribute/cover bands interpreting the Dead oeuvre. There are now both national touring acts like Dark Star and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead as well as a myriad of local and regional bands doing the Dead thing, some very well and some not so much. Of course “cover” bands in the rock and roll world have always been held in a space of anathema. But if we think of, say, the classical music world, people go to see and hear The New York Philharmonic, The Boston Pops, the Philadelphia Philharmonic, etc. perform pieces by the masters all the time. When one goes to such a performance what you expect and mostly get is an orchestra composed of virtuosos. The best of the best performing masterpieces. And these performances are revered with absolutely no shade thrown at them due to the nature that they’re not presenting original material. Well, Gillian Welch, David Rawlings and Paul Kowert are indeed the best of the best at what they do. These performances of acoustic Grateful Dead classics are just as special and keenly performed as any philharmonic interpretation of Beethoven or any of the other classical masters. And that is a true testament to the three of these virtuosos.