JGB: female vocalists, late 1983 east coast tour

update 2020: Gloria’s first show appears to have been July 28, 1984. Or it could have been July 10th. But it is in summer 1984, just before the 8/84 east coast tour.


There is a lot that remains obscure, and much that probably forever will, about the various ladies who joined Garcia onstage as Jerry Garcia Band backing vocalists. The Jerry Site’s band lineups page has the best information available, of course, but even there I know there are missing names, problematic dates, etc. etc. The 1981-1985 or so period is especially rife with incomplete or problematic information. (Probably true of drummers as well, but that’s a whole other can o’ worms!)

I don’t have time to tackle the whole issue right now, but it’s another very long and involved topic about which there will be much to say. Right now, I just want to ask about the late 1983 east coast tour of the JGB. Jacklyn LaBranch appears to have arrived on 10/24/82 and stayed through the end in 1995. According to TJS, it then went like this

DeeDee Dickerson	backing vocals	Oct 24, 1982	Jun 5, 1983
Gloria Jones	backing vocals	Jul 20, 1983	Aug 28, 1984
DeeDee Dickerson	backing vocals	Sep 15, 1984	Sep 28, 1985
Gloria Jones	backing vocals	Feb 21, 1986	Apr 23, 1995

By this reckoning, Gloria Jones was the backup singer in late ’83.

In an unbelievably erudite analysis of the JGB from 1987 (1), Corry tells us that Gloria replaced Dee Dee on 9/30/83, not 7/20. This is not consistent with the fact that DeeDee was on the late ’83 east coast tour. First, there’s the ad below for the 11/27/83 show at Constitution Hall in Washington, DC:

Second, as noted above (discovered after the original date of this post), DeeDee Dickerson was “on the bus with the Garcia Band” for the November-December 1983 eastern tour. This, of course, modifies understandings of Gloria.

When did she start?

update: ca. July 10, 1984

REFERENCE:
(1) Arnold, Corry. 1987. The Jerry Garcia Band: 11 years and still rockin’. Golden Road no. 13 (Winter): 22-26.