July 1995 Dylan letter to Jerry This letter that Dylan wrote to Jerry Garcia is very interesting. It’s valued at $45,000 at auction. Dylan was looking for guest artists for a Jimmie Rodgers tribute album when he dashed off a note to his longtime friend Jerry Garcia. Dylan asked if Garcia would do some yodeling on the album. “You don’t have to yodel, but if you want to yodel, that’s OK too…anyway, if it’s not too much to ask, think about a Jimmie song…whatever you decide is ok with me.” Garcia reportedly read the letter backstage at a Dead show before giving it to a tech. With a weakened voice and ill health, Garcia did a session for the tribute album. Two weeks later he died. “Given its connection to Jerry’s last recording session I would say it’s a very important item,” said Grateful Dead historian and author Dennis McNally. “I don’t know pen-and-ink letters Dylan has written to anyone or to Jerry but I cant believe there’s been many.” (See image section for actual handwritten letter) http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/bobdylan/albums/album/138886/review/6212477/the_songs_of_jimmie_rodgers_a_tribute Jerry Garcia's last studio recording, a version of "Blue Yodel #9 (Standin' on the Corner)," with David Grisman and the late John Kahn, appears here. Although Garcia can barely exhale his yodelays, there's a weary nobility in his effort. Like Jimmie Rodgers, he remained a songster till his dying breath. (RS 768) he Jimmie Rodgers tribute album that became the first release on Dylan’s Egyptian Records in 1997: “Jimmie Rodgers, of course, is one of the guiding lights of the Twentieth Century, whose way with song has always been an inspiration to those of us who have followed the path....He was a performer of force without precedent with a sound as lonesome and mystical as it was dynamic. He gives hope to the vanquished and humility to the mighty.” so...that makes Jerry's last session right around July 21st unless he was hangin' out in Grisman's basement (not sure of his check-in date at Forest Knolls)...