The Blues Cafe

Dead to the Core is a collective of singer-songwriters and acoustic musicians, led by musician/author Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers, with a shared love of the Grateful Dead. In intimate concerts, the musicians celebrate the band's music not through note-for-note re-creations but by playing the songs their own way—letting them grow and evolve collaboratively in the true spirit of the Dead. A Dead to the Core show is an experience unlike any other Grateful Dead tribute: a night of deeply personal performances that illuminate the masterful song craft of one of America's most original bands. Grateful Dead music right down to the core. “Dead to the Core brings brilliant acoustic interpretations of Grateful Dead songs, with stellar instrumentals and tight harmonies. Familiar songs follow new roads, and the result is pure audience-pleasing joy.”—Whallonsburg Grange Hall Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers is a grand prize winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, founding editor of Acoustic Guitar magazine, and author of a best-selling video series teaching his acoustic arrangements of classic Grateful Dead songs. Jefferson Hamer is an internationally touring guitarist, songwriter, traditional musician, and producer based in Brooklyn. He is best known for his collaborations with Anaïs Mitchell (Child Ballads, recipient of a BBC2 Folk Award), Sarah Jarosz (as guitarist and harmony singer on her Grammy-nominated Blue Heron Suite), Session Americana, and other solo artists including Kristin Andreassen, Reed Foehl, and Laura Cortese. Perhaps his most enduring collaboration is the Murphy Beds, a harmony-rich folk duo with Irish musician and songwriter Eamon O’Leary. Mark Ettinger is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist based in New York City. He has played piano with Bo Diddley, sung with the Bobs, conducted the Cincinnati Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, and toured the world for more than 15 years with the Flying Karamazov Brothers. He is currently performing as a duo with comedy magician Lucy Darling. Wendy Sassafras Ramsay, Rodgers’ bandmate and duo partner (as Pepper and Sassafras), is a singer-songwriter and versatile multi-instrumentalist on clarinet, flute, accordion, and guitar. She also plays in the alternative rock band Starting Off Red.