Steve Poltz & Jay Blakesberg on the Grateful Dead — Then Everything Goes Off the Rails

What was supposed to be a conversation about the Grateful Dead quickly becomes something else entirely when photographer Jay Blakesberg and singer-songwriter Steve Poltz join us at High Sierra.

The two give us a preview of Working Man’s Dead, their wonderfully unpredictable live collaboration combining Jay’s iconic Grateful Dead photography and storytelling with Steve’s music — including songs he writes spontaneously in response to stories and images he hasn't seen coming.

They talk about Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh and the strange magic of improvisation. Jay also recounts watching an all-white-clad Steve Poltz make his way toward the rail at the Sphere as the crowd seemingly parted for him “like Moses” — leading Jay to describe Steve as “a cross between Bob Dylan and Moses.”

And then things go completely off the rails.

Charlton Heston. Planet of the Apes. Paper routes. Behind the Green Door. A mysterious bag of vintage magazines. And several moments when we completely lose control of our own interview.

Underneath the insanity, though, is a friendship between two gifted storytellers and a shared love of the Grateful Dead, spontaneity and the kind of live experience that can never happen exactly the same way twice.

This is Steve Poltz and Jay Blakesberg — unfiltered, unscripted and very much Only in the Green Room.

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