Grateful Dawg

From the mind of Chris Benchetler comes TGR's latest short film collaboration. Improvisation is the silver thread that weaves this crew together. Just as the Grateful Dead did not fit their music into an established category, this short film finds a cast of some of the world’s best athletes on a spontaneous journey of skiing, snowboarding, surfing, and music, complete with a soundtrack comprised of only Grateful Dead music.

Eleven time Fiddler of the Year and even a Grammy nominee, but that's just part of the story. Though born with disabilities that left him blind and partially deaf, Michael Cleveland is considered by many to be the greatest fiddler of all time.

A short documentary about the Grateful Dead's legendary May 8, 1977 show at Barton Hall at Cornell University.

No single figure in American music so dominated a genre as did Bill Monroe with bluegrass. BILL MONROE: FATHER OF BLUEGRASS MUSIC features performances by Bill Monroe & the Blue Grass Boys, Lester Flatt, Emmylou Harris, Paul McCartney, the Osborne Brothers, Dolly Parton, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, John Hartford and a once-in-a-lifetime Blue Grass Boys reunion featuring Del McCoury, Chubby Wise and Bill Keith. The film features archival footage and rare 1990s performances from Monroe's final years including many of the greatest songs from his six decades of recording.

The life and times of The Carter Family, one of the earliest and most-influential group in American country and roots music.

The Grateful Dead performs live at Winterland in San Francisco in October 1974.

Beautiful Thing is a year in the life of Larry Keel. The film follows Larry and The Larry Keel Experience as they canvas from coast to coast, playing night after night in search of bigger and better crowds during 2002. Audiences range from a handful of disengaged people to standing ovations at world-renowned bluegrass festivals. Larry Keel remains somewhat obscure to audiences because his style, his interpretation of bluegrass and roots music is so personal that it is almost impossible to define, and subsequently, it is almost impossible to market. So Larry battles on, night after night, city after city, slowly generating a following of true believers, fans who sit and stare and smile in awe of this beautiful thing. Beautiful Thing is a glimpse into the life and spirit of a true artist, during his many tours and performances of 2002.

No other place in the world has a romance with American bluegrass like the Czech Republic. Banjo Romantika introduces the musicians who play this unique bluegrass hybrid. Czechs first heard bluegrass during World War II when the Armed Forces Network broadcast American music for soldiers. The music represented freedom to dissatisfied Czechs living in a communist state. Czechs' love for the music was solidified when Pete Seeger visited and performed in 1964. Inspired by classic American bluegrass sounds, an assortment of musicians from across the formerly communist Czech Republic have melded the past, the political and the present into a lively musical tradition entirely its own.

This documentary explores the Deadhead phenomenon. For thirty years, Jerry Garcia played guitar and sang for the Grateful Dead, and by doing so, inspired a modern cultural phenomenon: the legions of nomadic fans that made a communal way of life out of following Jerry and the Dead, the Deadheads. The End of the Road began shooting three months prior to Garcia's death in 1995, on the road with the wandering family of Deadheads- on what would be the final tour with Jerry and the Grateful Dead. Featuring a soundtrack by Merl Saunders and Jerry Garcia, the film celebrates this social, political and cultural movement in its twilight.

Bill Gaither and bluegrass expert Marty Stuart trace the history of mountain and country music with the help of the Homecoming Friends and legendary artists from the bluegrass field. Joining the Isaacs, the Lewis Family, the Easters and other Homecoming Friends are Ralph Stanley, Ricky Skaggs, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Marty Raybon, Del McCoury and others in the first ever Bluegrass Homecoming video!

Greensky Bluegrass took the stage to perform live at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on Sunday September 15th, 2019 for a magically unforgettable evening. Billy Strings opened the event with his legendary flatpicking skills, then later returned to the stage to join the headliners during their set for a second round.

The legendary Colorado-based folk band Elephant Revival is known for their ethereal harmonies, incredible musicality, and haunting sound. And after a four-year hiatus, they reunited in 2023 and graced the stage of Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 2024 – one of the most beautiful places in the world.

View from the Vault, Volume One, sometimes known simply as View from the Vault, is the first release in a series of DVDs and companion soundtracks by the Grateful Dead known as "View from the Vault". The audio is taken from the soundboard and the video from the video screens at the concerts. The first volume was recorded and filmed at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh on July 8, 1990 with bonus material recorded two days earlier at Cardinal Stadium, Louisville. The set was certified Gold by the RIAA on February 2, 2001.

Grateful Dead show on July 17, 1989 at Alpine Valley.

Fronted by one of the most accomplished banjo players of his time, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones are captured live in concert on Live at the Quick. The versatile band performs just over a dozen songs including such radically different compositions as "Amazing Grace," "Big Country," "Hoedown," and the prelude from a Bach violin concerto.

In 2010, The Carolina Chocolate Drops stunned the music world, taking home the Traditional Folk Album Grammy for their debut album, Genuine Negro Jig. Founded in 2005 in Raleigh, North Carolina, the old-time string band members included Rhiannon Giddens, Dom Flemons and Justin Robinson, who were all inspired by the work of black fiddler Joe Thompson. As the documentary charts the band’s sudden rise, it also looks at the influence of their mentor, Thompson, and the African origins of the banjo.

Recorded over two evenings, April 29th and 30th 2002, at the Louisville Palace in Louisville, Kentucky this set manages to combine both great playing and great sound. Union Station's core members, Dan Tyminsky on guitar, mando, and baritone vocals, Ron Block on banjo, guitar, and tenor vocals, and Barry Bales on acoustic bass, are joined by Jerry Douglas on dobro and Larry Atamanuik on drums.

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Grateful Dead, the "core four" original members - Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, and Bob Weir - reunited at Chicago's Soldier Field on July 3rd, 4th and 5th for the most anticipated concerts in recent history. Joined by Trey Anastasio, Jeff Chimenti, and Bruce Hornsby. Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years Of Grateful Dead is the original members' last-ever performance together nearly 20 years to the day of the last ever Grateful Dead concert with Jerry Garcia, which took place at the same historic venue.

Ending months of speculation and anticipation surrounding the first Fare Thee Well -Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead concert, the “core four” remaining Grateful Dead members -drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart, bassist Phil Lesh and guitarist Bob Weir -along with Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio and keyboardists Bruce Hornsby and Jeff Chimenti slowly eased into “Truckin’” to begin the show. The biographical lyrics to the song proved to be a fitting choice to start the anniversary celebration, with the famed “What a long strange trip it’s been” verse capturing the moment perfectly. Recorded at Levi's Stadium on June 27th and 28th, 2015.

This project was done with humor, truth, and sarcasm. At the University of California, Santa Cruz, UCSC, where I went to college, there were many fans of The Grateful Dead. They called themselves Deadheads. I had not heard of the band before attending the school. I listened to the music, and I didn't understand why people felt so passionately about the band. I was intrigued. So in 1986, I decided to try and understand these people and the music they loved, and to create a video of my quest. This documentary project is the result. Enjoy.