The Influence of Jerry Garcia on American History

The Influence of Jerry Garcia on American History The vocalist and guitarist of the Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia was one of the most influential musicians of the twentieth century, impacting both the musical and cultural realms. Jerry Garcia was fated to become one of America’s most influential people ever since he was born into Jose Garcia’s household. During his childhood, Jerry Garcia lived in an environment that fueled his musical development and experienced many events that pushed him closer changing the path of American music and culture. Jerry Garcia was a member of the American 1960’s counterculture and really embodied the ideals and goals of the group as a whole. Thanks to the influence of his adolescent development and his early musical influences, Jerry Garcia and the Counterculture- of which the Grateful Dead were a part- were able to greatly influence the path of American culture and music. Jerome John “Jerry” Garcia was born to Jose Ramon “Joe” Garcia, a Spanish immigrant, and Ruth Marie “Bobbie” Garcia, an Irish woman from an immigrant family, on August 1, 1942. Jerry Garcia was raised in a musically inclined household; he was even named after the American composer, Jerome Kern. Jerry Garcia grew up in quite a musical environment, his father, Jose Ramon Garcia, being a musician- although he retired in Jerry Garcia’s early childhood- and his mother, Ruth Marie Garcia, being a talented piano player. Jerry was interested in music since his earliest childhood and took piano lessons- as encouraged by his mother and his father- throughout much of his adolescence. His father, being a talented musician, always had instruments- from woodwinds to brass instruments to stringed instruments- laying around the house for his son’s creativity and experimentation. Before Jerry Garcia’s birth, his father moved the family to San Francisco and opened up a bar downtown. His father’s downtown bar allowed Jerry Garcia to truly connect with a variety of people,

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