Robert Hunter “Jack O’ Roses” (1980)
Robert Hunter, the songwriter best known as the lyricist for the Grateful Dead, passed away in September 2019 at the age of 78. Hunter, who was a longtime friend of the Dead’s Jerry Garcia, never became a member of the San Francisco jam band, understandably not wanting to be a constant part of their touring rock band lifestyle. However, Hunter wrote the lyrics for most of the Dead’s well-known songs. Hunter was deservedly inducted with the band into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1994, and with Garcia into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame in 2015. Although Hunter saw himself more as a writer than as a musician, he released 11 albums of his own between 1974 and 1993. Among these were a compilation album ( Promontory Rider ), two live albums ( Live 85 and A Box Of Rain ), and two spoken word poetry albums, one of which ( Flight Of The Marie Helena ) featured musical accompaniment while the other ( Sentinel ) did not. As of this writing, all of Hunter’s albums have been out of print f