Aces Back to Back: The History of the Grateful Dead (1965 - 2025) - Paperback

by Scott W. Allen (Author)

Aces Back to Back: The History of the Grateful Dead (1965 - 2025)

Aces Back to Back: The History of the Grateful Dead (1965 - 2025) details the Grateful Dead's entire 60-year history - through November 2025 - including the development of Dead & Company and the Wolf Bros, making it the most detailed, precise, interesting and up-to-date account of the Dead's history ever written.

Aces Back to Back covers the events and chronology leading to the band's inception as well as their complete 30-year reign and is the only book that recounts the entire post-Garcia period - from the sad passing of Jerry in 1995 through the various band incarnations that followed: the Other Ones, the Dead, RatDog, Phil Lesh and Friends, the Mickey Hart Band, Billy and the Kids, Furthur, Dead & Company, the Phil and Bob duo, and the Wolf Bros.

My biography features a Foreword from renowned Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow. The cover is drawn by acclaimed poster artist Steve Johannsen (Grateful Dead, Furthur, Gov't Mule) and the interior features 20 original illustrations by Steve and Lauren Kroutil.

Aces Back to Back traces the group's history from their earliest roots (Jerry and Hunter's spring 1961 road trip) and takes the reader right up to November 2025.

Every vital moment in the Dead's history is covered: the Acid Tests, the Haight-Ashbury, Woodstock, the Wall of Sound, Watkins Glen, the May 8, 1977 show at Cornell, the Egypt concerts, In the Dark, Deadheads, all 13 studio albums, and the 60th anniversary celebratory concerts by Dead & Co. in the Polo Field.

Every key player is here, too: Neal Cassady, Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey, the Merry Pranksters, Robert Hunter, John Barlow, Bill Graham, Rick Griffin, Mouse & Kelley, the Mime Troupe, Albert Hofmann, the Family Dog, Winterland Arena, Augustus Owsley Stanley III, Steve Parish, Ramrod, Betty Cantor-Jackson, Wavy Gravy, and Dan Healy.

Scott W. Allen wrote for Relix magazine from 1983 until 1992, serving as a Senior Writer, columnist ("Fragments"), and feature article writer. He is a veteran of nearly 250 Grateful Dead concerts, and taught and coached on the high school and college levels for 30 years.

Scott was commissioned by the Library of Congress to write the essay that accompanies the enshrinement of the Grateful Dead's show on May 8, 1977 at Barton Hall into the National Recording Registry.

"This book is a gift ... it is from Scott Allen, an utterly shameless Deadhead, to the community he has loved for a long time."

- John Perry Barlow,

Grateful Dead

Author Biography

Scott W. Allen wrote for Relix magazine from 1983 until 1992, serving as a Senior Writer, columnist ("Fragments"), and feature article writer. He is a veteran of nearly 250 Grateful Dead concerts. Mr. Allen has also taught on the high school and college levels for 27 years and coached NCAA men's golf for ten, leading three different schools to a combined four NCAA appearances. The author has degrees from the University of Oregon (BS Journalism) and Manhattanville College (MAT Sp Ed) and is a resident of West Harrison, New York.