Garcia’s “Playing in the Band” is a chance to get up close and personal with our performers like never before. Come for the conversation, stay for the education, and leave with a message. See Deadgrass play DeadCenter at Garcia's on Wednesday, February 17!

1. C Lanzbom, your resume includes working with artists like Bruce Springsteen and Pete Seeger, what have you learned from your time with these iconic musicians?

First and foremost I learned about humility. They are simple people loving what they do. Also that the art they make is about the actual performance. They taught me that inside a song you can bring awareness to an important message.

2. Matt Turk, All Music Guide called you "an artist to be reckoned with." Can you describe your music using martial arts terms?

I don’t know much about martial arts. I really like Bruce Lee and Kill Bill. I’ve always resonated with the Yin/Yang symbol because each side pushes while being pushed to make a whole. It says that you can’t push all the time and you can't be pushed all the time unless your doing both with another that’s doing both. There is an endless cycle of exert and yield that unifies. This is what happens with music when I woodshed, compose and play live. There is an interplay between listening and sitting back, jumping in and putting oneself out front. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qr2djaO90A&feature=youtu.be

3. Describe the feeling of playing Jerry Garcia's music in a room named after the man himself.

Matt Turk: Playing Jerry Garcia’s music in a room named after the man himself is a great feeling. His banjo is on the wall and there are amazing, inspiring pictures of him everywhere including with Old & in the Way. It’s a very welcoming setting. It brings me great joy to play this room. I am grateful for the opportunity.

4. What's your favorite Grateful Dead song to put a grassy spin on and why?

C Lanzbom: I can have a favorite song for at least each day of the week. Probably for today it is “eyes of the world”. I love the lyric for the chorus. “wake up to find out that you are the song that the morning brings”. I have to admire how fortunate the Grateful Dead are and how they became masters of their craft. Matt Turk: There are so many! We’re taking on the ballad “Stella Blue.” It’s such a moving, haunting tune that says: “There’s nothing you can hold for very long.” The music itself is incredible. Gorgeous chord changes support a sublime melody that is transformative. It moves me deeply. Russel Gottlieb: I love to put a bluegrass spin on the psychedelic stuff. Or the other way around. There's a big cross-section there. The guys in The Dead got that. Clarence Ferrari: Although it isn’t my favorite Dead song, I think the obvious choice is “Cumberland Blues" because it is the closest the band ever came to writing a Bluegrass song.

5. If you were stranded on a desert island with any member of the Grateful Dead, who would you choose and what would you do?

C Lanzbom: Jerry Garcia. I am a guitarist. At a very young age I could really identify with Jerry’s approach to playing. His knowledge of studying from the greats before him .He is an exceptional song writer as well. We would discus all the great music out there in the world past and present. We could write and play music for all the sand crabs that show up. Matt Turk: I’d choose Jerry Garcia and we’d play music. “Catfish John”, “Shady Grove”, “Goodnight Irene”, “Tennessee Jed”, whatever Jerry and I felt like doing. Sometimes, in that place and time where all things blur, I feel like we do get to play together, though we’re not on a desert island, we’re more in a timeless space, like the stars in a steal your face. Russel Gottlieb: If I were stranded on a desert island with one member of the Grateful Dead, I would choose Mickey Hart. We would drum-conjure spirits to communicate to others that we are stranded. If that doesn't work, I think he would be best at making smoke signals. Clarence Ferrari: If I was stranded on a desert island, I would have to go with Bill Kreutzmann because it seems like he would be good at cracking open the coconuts. I defer to Bill over Mickey Hart because I think that Mickey would be too busy playing the coconuts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPqRJvgVrhQ&feature=youtu.be