IF YOU COULD SEE MY HEART
YOU WOULD KNOW IT'S TRUE
THERE'S NONE CHERISE
EXCEPT FOR YOU,
EXCEPT FOR YOU
I SWEAR TO IT
ON MY VERY SOUL
IF I LIE
MAY I FALL DOWN COLD
Cats Under the Stars
is the only
studio album
by the American rock band
The Jerry Garcia Band.
Released in 1978
on Arista Records,
the album was the
first release by the group,
which was a
long-running side project of
The Grateful Dead singer
and guitarist
While the band continued
until 1995,
they were primarily
a live concert act
following the release of
Cats Under the Stars
and never recorded
another studio effort.
The Grateful Dead members
Keith and Donna Godchaux,
who were at the time
also part of
the Garcia Band,
contributed to the album.
Recording and Release
The album was the first
to be recorded at
the Grateful Dead's
Club Front
in San Rafael,
a warehouse space that
had been acquired for
band rehearsals
and then converted
to a studio.
Garcia explained
"[Ron] Tutt liked the drum sound
in the room and we hadn't
really thought about it before,
so we whipped the place into
a recording studio.
"The record was not a
financial success,
but it remained
Garcia's favorite,
as he said in an interview
in the late 1980s:
"The record I worked hardest at
and liked best was
Cats Under the Stars.
That was kind of like my baby.
It did worse than
any other record
I ever did.
I think I probably gave away
more copies than I sold.
It was amazingly,
pathetically bad.
But I’ve learned not to
invest a lot of
importance in 'em,
although it's nice to care
about your work.
"On another occasion
in the early '80s
he said
"Cats Under the Stars
is my favorite one.
That's the one that I’m
happiest with,
from every point of view
in which I operate
on that record.
We did all those tunes
on tour right after
the album came out,
with John and Maria,
Keith and Donna
and I think
Ronnie Tutt was still
playing drums
with us on those
first few tours."
Although Ron Tutt
played on the album,
he left the band
before the album
was released
and was replaced by
Buzz Buchanan.
In the early '90s
he still thought well
of the album:
"As far as I'm concerned
Cats Under the Stars
is my most successful record
even though it's my
least successful record!
I've always loved it
and it just
never went anywhere."
In an interview
with Joel Selvin
he was more succinct;
"[Cats Under the Stars]
had everything
chops, production, songs.
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