Blues For Allah 50: Franklin’s Tower

GOOD OL' GRATEFUL DEADCAST

Grateful Dead

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4.9 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 11 September 2025

⏱️ 81 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Deadcast examines how Franklin’s Tower bucked every trend on Blues For Allah to become one of the Dead’s all-time classics, including a tape of its studio creation, a look into the multi-tracks, & a rare line-by-line breakdown by lyricist Robert Hunter himself.

Guests: David Lemieux, Geoff Gould, Jürgen Fauth, Shaugn O’Donnell, Chadwick Jenkins, Will Backstrom, Max Ritchie, Hannah Grabbenstein

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Announcing Dogfish Head Grateful Dead juicy pale ale.
0:04.0	Collaborating for over a decade now, Dogfish Head and Grateful Dead have crafted a light-bodied pale ale brewed with sustainable curns of grains, granola, and heaps of good karma for a refreshing brew that's music to your taste buds.
0:18.0	Check out Dogfish.com for more details and to find some Grateful Dead juicy pale
0:22.5	ale in your neck of the woods. Dogfish Headcraft Brewery is located in Milton, Delaware. Please drink
0:28.8	responsibly.
0:34.9	The good old Grateful Dead cast, the official podcast of the Grateful Dead.
0:39.9	I'm Rich Mahan with Jesse Jarno, exploring the music and legacy of the Grateful Dead for the committed and the curious.
0:47.7	Ladies and gentlemen, fellow deadheads, welcome to season 12 of the good old Grateful Deadcast.
0:53.6	I'm your co-host, Rich Mahan. Thank you very much for tuning in.
0:57.4	In this episode of the Good Old Grateful Dead cast, we complete the song trio of Help Slip Frank by taking a good, long look at the gruver that is Franklin's Tower.
1:08.9	Well, folks, the Grateful Dead Blues for All of 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition arrives this
1:14.1	Friday, September 12th.
1:16.2	This three-cd-set features the newly remastered album with unreleased soundcheck and concert
1:21.3	recordings.
1:22.4	Check this out.
1:23.4	The set features almost two hours of unreleased recordings.
1:26.8	Among the highlights are rehearsals from the band's
1:29.3	August 12th, 1975 soundcheck at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, including the album track,
1:37.2	Sajun Spirit, Help on the Way, Slipknot, and Today's song, Franklin's Tower. The collection continues
1:44.0	with performances from June 21st, 1976 show at the Tower Theater in Pennsylvania,
1:50.5	spotlighting five blues for all of songs alongside favorites like Eyes of the World.
1:55.6	Rounding out the set are selections from Bill Graham's snack benefit that students need athletics, culture, and kicks
	...

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