Gratefulfest artists have respect for the Dead

July 1, 2016 at 12:05a.m.

It’s been quite a year for Grateful Dead fans.

Last summer there were the “Fare Thee Well” shows featuring Grateful Dead surviving members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart joined by Trey Anastasio, Bruce Hornsby and Jeff Chimenti for a handful of concerts celebrating the band’s 50th anniversary.

Now Deadheads are once again being summoned together in the name of Jerry Garcia.

Only this time it’s much closer to home and smaller with Gratefulfest 2016 taking place today through Sunday at Nelson Ledges Quarry Park.

The weekend affair includes headliners Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson (tonight), Melvin Seals & JGB (Saturday) and Rusted Root (Sunday).

The latter Pittsburgh-based act is an apt choice. Sure, the outfit opened for The Dead at Three Rivers Stadium mere weeks before Garcia’s 1995 death, but perhaps more importantly, Rusted Root frontman and visionary Michael Glabicki seems to inhabit a quintessential Haight- Asbury hippie universe.

When he talks, you can almost smell the patchouli.

“We are a musical ritual like the Grateful Dead,” said Glabicki via email. “We express in the moment what we and the fans are all feeling and moving toward. It is a healing experience, something that opens all of us to the divine and changes us all at once. I think the Grateful Dead did that.”

Another national act partaking in Gratefulfest 2016 is Keller Williams, who has the unenviable task of opening for Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson.

The multi-instrumentalist, who dabbles in everything from bluegrass and rock to jazz and reggae, will be performing at Nelson Ledges Quarry Park with his funk outfit More Than a Little.

“I adore the site, it’s a fantastic place to play, and I would imagine to see live music,” said Keller, calling from his Fredricksburg, Va., home. “I’m really looking forward to coming back.”

As for the Grateful Dead, Keller said his love affair with the iconic group started in the mid-’80s when he became entranced by the band’s acoustic side.

His first show came in 1987 when Garcia and company played in Maryland. Over the next eight years he attended more than 60 concerts.

So what is it about the Grateful Dead that continues to draw old and new fans?

“It starts with story and it combines with a really pleasing type of rhythm and chord progression that’s not necessarily standard but slightly off in different ways,” Keller said.

“It’s enticing, and then there’s the whole improvisational element that is really cool because it’s like musicians having conversations with music, kind of making it up as they go along.

“And you have to listen. If you’re not listening, you can’t really add anything.”