Devendra Banhart Celebrates 45th Anniversary of The Grateful Dead's 'Blues for Allah'

Today, Devendra Banhart released an Amazon Original cover of The Grateful Dead's "Franklin's Tower," available to stream and purchase only on Amazon Music. Banhart's cover is released in honor of the 45th anniversary of The Grateful Dead's Blues for Allah. The song was produced and mixed by Noah Georgeson (Joanna Newsom, Marlon Williams) and recorded with his current touring band consisting of Nicole Lawrence (guitar), Jeremy Harris (synths), Gregory Rogove (drums and percussion). It was recorded remotely in various studios and home studios around Los Angeles and Stinson Beach, CA.

Devendra Banhart on his Amazon Original cover of "Franklin's Tower":

More than ever

I find myself

Fighting dread

With the dead...

We chose "Franklin's Tower" for its opening line, one of my favorite opening lines of all time:

"In another time's forgotten space

Your eyes looked through your mother's face"

This is the gift of the Dead,

The paradox of personal universality...

Wisdom found at the end of a maze,

The bliss of unconditional love and acceptance...

There's a Dead for everyone...

Through the pandemic, I go on daily immersions into Blues for Allah, marveling at Phillip Garris's eerie and alluring cover art,

Help/Slip/Frank guiding me through the weird underworld that the day has become, & I feel at once remarkably insignificant and the most precious thing in the universe, A wave, held in the ocean of my mother's eyes... a child dancing, rolling away the dew...

Knowing Help is indeed on the way...

In 2019, Banhart released his critically acclaimed album Ma, which Paste called "the most cohesive songs and sophisticated arrangements that Banhart has delivered to date." On July 24 of this year, he released a new EP, Vast Ovoid, which features three previously unreleased songs from the Ma sessions alongside a Helado Negro remix of the Ma track "Love Song." He also just announced OLA: Devendra Banhart plays songs in the order they were written, a series of live concerts that will stream on Wednesdays from various Los Angeles locations in September. Tickets are on sale now.

Amazon Music listeners can find Devendra Banhart's cover of "Franklin's Tower" on the Chill Indie playlist, featuring dreamy, laid back indie from the world's finest artists. Customers can simply ask, "Alexa play the Amazon Original by Devendra Banhart" in the Amazon Music app for iOS and Android and on Alexa-enabled devices. In addition to the new track, Amazon Music listeners can access hundreds of Amazon Originals featuring both emerging and established artists across numerous genres, available to stream and purchase only on Amazon Music.

Listen to "Franklin's Tower" here:

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