Story: Slade Rand
Photos Courtesy: Grateful Guitars; Bob Minkin
Shakedown Street hits Levitt Pavilion for a free show this Saturday armed with some new gear courtesy of the Grateful Guitars foundation.
Guitarist Josh Rosen, who’s led the cornerstone Denver band since 2009, will play a new guitar created by friend and luthier Bob Fishman this weekend. Grateful Guitars sponsored the build inspired by the sounds of Jerry Garcia’s Wolf, Tiger and Rosebud. Triple-humbuckers and an onboard effects loop help produce a sonic blend of those three guitars, “but it’s got its own thing,” according to folks who’ve heard Rosen play it.
A handful of early entry VIP tickets for Saturday are still available. Otherwise, the music is free and Shakedown Street starts at 7 p.m. Saturday night at Levitt Pavillion.
After Midnight caught up with Grateful Guitars board members Andy Logan and Nate Bidner this month about the new guitar and the path that got us here.
“Letting the universe unfold has always been our underlying ethos, we kind of all feel that way,” Logan told After Midnight.
Logan collects and shares instruments once used by Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir and other inimitable players. He’s the founder and president of Grateful Guitars. Among his arsenal, he owns Jerry’s Fender stratocaster Alligator and Martin D-28, and Bob’s Modulus Blackknife played in the mid 1980s. He said those instruments have a magic that only playing them (loudly) unlocks. Especially Alligator.
“It’s super punchy and bright, and it cuts through the room like no other instrument,” Logan said of the legendary guitar. “It just does that. Your head’s gonna be turning, it’s going to catch your ear.”
He began loaning those instruments and other replicas to players more than a decade ago before founding Grateful Guitars in 2019. Over the years, Logan and the foundation have shared instruments with players in Oteil & Friends, Dark Star Orchestra, and other musicians searching for the sound.
Logan says these guitars shouldn’t be “shrink wrapped, like G.I. Joes you can’t touch.”
“Our mission is to identify jam players and keep our scene strong by arming them with the best tools. Because we see that they are turned on by those tools, and we see that when they get turned on we get turned on as a fan,” he said.
Logan and the team also work with luthiers to bring replica Dead instruments to local musicians who play the music most every night in clubs around the country.
Bob Fishman runs 8West Guitars on his own in Denver, building new guitars based on Doug Irwin’s iconic builds for Jerry Garcia. He and Rosen designed together for months, honing in on sound, color and other imagery.
“That’s where the magic really happens, because the player ends up getting exactly what they want,” Logan said.
Not long after the foundation became official, fellow combination deadhead/gearhead Nate Bidner came aboard. Bidner lives in Colorado now. He also owns guitars played onstage by the Dead, including Bob Weir’s late 80’s Casio.
Like Andy, he talked about the magic these instruments keep.
“A lot of the time we throw the word ‘mojo’ around,” Bidner said. “The Dead was really known for experimentation, not only onstage, but also in their instruments. They were pioneers.”
He’s been seeing Shakedown Street for years.
Bidner said he first met the Colorado band hanging around the front of the stage after a gig and geeking over their gear. He had a bunch of questions for the Shakedown Street guys, and they were happy to chat with the sharp listener.
Hearing these instruments in capable hands, he said, is just “next level” for gear nerds like him.
“If they’re played the way they should be played, those guys seem to get a lot of joy from it,” Bidner said. “And the audience seems to get a lot of joy when they’re at a show and those instruments get back on stage. It’s just so much fun.”
Shakedown Street has played for more than three decades in Colorado, cycling through iterations of local musicians. Josh joined on guitar in 2009, shortly after bassist Edwin Hurwitz. Keyboardist Joe Weisiger has been with the band since 2005. Peter Czolowski joined on guitar in 2021, followed by Joel Zeiner on drums in 2022 to round out today’s lineup.
Bob and 8West had lent Josh a Tiger replica before the Grateful Guitars project. Bidner helped push the creative relationship a step further.
“I was there at almost every major milestone of that guitar over at Bob’s,” Bidner said. “When we showed it to Josh for the first time, when it was finished… It sounded awesome. When he first played it, he played it incredibly.”
Check out remaining tickets for Shakedown Street’s show at Levitt Pavilion this weekend. The Grateful Guitars guys will formally present the new guitar to Josh at the show.
Grateful Guitars hosts a benefit concert for the foundation later this month in San Francisco. Steve Parish will host the Aug. 13 show with a house band lead by Melvin Seals and John Kadlecik. Special guests include Sam Grisman, Jackie Greene and Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo and Steve Berlin.
Click here for details.
After Midnight 
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