The Silver Snarling Trumpet
The Birth of the Grateful Dead--The Lost Manuscript of Robert Hunter
$64.55
- Hardcover
256 pages
- Release Date
7 October 2024
Summary
The legendary lost manuscript of Grateful Dead co-founder and primary lyricist Robert Hunter, written in the early 1960s—a wry, richly observed, and enlightening remembrance of “the scene” in Palo Alto that gave rise to an incredible partnership of Hunter and Jerry Garcia.
“Strange to think back on those days when it was perfectly natural that we all slept on the floor in one small room… These were the days before practical considerations, matters of ‘importance,’ began to eat our…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780306835155 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 0306835150 |
| Author: | Robert Hunter, John Mayer, Dennis McNally, Brigid Meier |
| Publisher: | Da Capo |
| Imprint: | Da Capo |
| Format: | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages: | 256 |
| Release Date: | 7 October 2024 |
| Weight: | 513g |
| Dimensions: | 234mm x 162mm x 25mm |
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What They're Saying
Critics Review
“The Silver Snarling Trumpet, shelved for years by the band’s lyricist Robert Hunter, is a dreamy elegy for a 1960s Californian youth. …you can see, too, the seeds of Hunter’s particular talent for images, the inklings of the mind that will one day write ‘words from out a silk trombone’, and place ‘a wishing well with a golden bell / and a bucket hanging clear to Hell’ into the lyrics of some of the Dead’s best songs. … [The book] captures something about youth, what youth feels like and especially felt like then.”
–Daily Telegraph“The Silver Snarling Trumpet unfolds in Menlo Park, California, where the aimless college-age Hunter and Jerry Garcia soak in ‘the scene’…and form a folk-guitar duo. Hunter’s fond snapshot of an embryonic counterculture is richly observed and rife with vibrant character sketches…. Deadheads will drink this in…”–Publishers Weekly“This is a gift–a rare, special, and important hand-drawn blueprint by the architect of the dream himself. Discovering just a page of this book would have been enough to rejoice over. That we have hundreds is a reality I’m still trying to get my head around. Time itself has revealed something truly magnificent, and there is beauty to be found on every page.”–John Mayer, from the Foreword“Very touching and endearing, The Silver Snarling Trumpet is a Menlo Park version of Withnail & I. It reads like a duck down a Roman alleyway, taking in all the graffiti and movie posters, as it embraces the panic and curious certainty of youth, the flights and fancies of friends, even the butts of a few discarded jokes–all before first light dawns on Robert Hunter’s intricate, lyrical dream of America.”–Elvis Costello“An essential document in the Deadhead library, and a pleasure to read.”–Kirkus ReviewsAbout The Author
Robert Hunter
Robert Hunter was an American lyricist, singer-songwriter, translator, and poet, best known for his work with the Grateful Dead. As a young man in Palo Alto, he met Jerry Garcia, and the two embarked on a lifelong collaboration. Hunter wrote many of the Dead’s most enduring songs, including “Dark Star,” “Ripple,” and “Terrapin Station.” He is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with the Grateful Dead in 1994.
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