Home Before Daylight: My Life on the Road with the Grateful Dead

What a great read! As I'm sure others have stated, this book is filled with great stories of the greatest band of all time but what truly impressed me was the authors honesty in revealing both good and bad told from a place of love and understanding.

Fun read. Parish stays focused on his perspective as a roadie and how that was an integral part of Garcia work as musician. But enough on the music and the Dead and anecdotes on personalities that appear truthful from Parish perspective. He writes with clarity and authority and accuracy and confidence so reader knows this is his perspective. This is very well done. There are more than enough of the drugs largesse of everyone including Parish and similarly he details his compulsion and sex addiction so the reader is both entertained and gets a whiff of the emotional psychological cost he felt he paid. He absolves himself of spending decades with a deteriorating addict Garcia and laments he could not do more. A lot more because he loved him so much. However the social dysfunction a performing unit endures suffers celebrates and grows to live in becomes a normal that does not allow for and absolves members of any kind of straight conversation. It could not take place because everyone cannot point a finger when they are all guilty. Or so the dynamic plays in the minds of the group. This is fascinating. And sad. As a deadhead since 1977 I have a deep affection for the band and Garcia in particular. He was a brilliant musician mind human being and I never tire of his art or ideas.

Parish was a long and loyal servant to the Dead. He was never going to write a lurid, tell-all type of book (nor a definitive history). Nevertheless, there is no shortage of sex, drugs and near-death experiences here. It's an exhilarating ride at times. One should know going in that this story is as much about the author's life as it is about the Dead. But it works because a) his own life story is pretty wild and compelling (and tragic) on its own, and b) his entire adult life was spent with the Dead on their journey, so the subtitle ("My Life on the Road With The Dead") is very much what you get. Yes, you also get some insight into the enigma that was Jerry Garcia but not a ton; Parish seemed to be as close to Jerry as anyone (they went to Hawaii and learned to scuba dive together, for example) but, in the later years, we learn that nobody was really that close to Jerry because of the natural distance created by his drug addiction. The one disappointment is the almost complete lack of gear chat. As Garcia’s personal roadie and guitar tech, one might have expected a little more insight into Jerry's rig and choice of guitars over the years. But that info is all available elsewhere in considerable detail, I guess. One final caveat: If you only want to read one book about the Dead, this is probably not the one to get. On the other hand, if you're a serious Deadhead and/or have read 1-2 other Dead books, then this is a really enjoyable (and relatively-fast) companion read that will color in parts left by other books. Indeed, while I was initially frustrated with the author's focus on himself (come on, man, tell me about the Dead!), I quickly became engrossed in his tale and learned more about the true Grateful Dead lifestyle than any other books have been able to tell--even those written by band members.

Wow! What a book!! Glad to own it. Love The Grateful Dead!

I loved reading this book. I'd heard Steve on XM radio's The Grateful Dead channel, and I knew he had something to do with them, but I didn't exactly know what. Now I do. He was a roadie, friend, fan, manager, and much more. This book gives the reader a perspective on the Dead, and Jerry García, that is uniquely Steve's. A thoughtful, if sometimes disturbing account of the magic that is the Grateful Dead.

Steve Parish has been a primary member of the Grateful Dead family for 50 years. Steve first joined the band as a roadie in 1969. It wasn't long before he became Jerry Garcia's trusted gear handler and began to manage the Jerry Garcia Band. Over the years, Parish and Garcia forged an unbreakable bond.

Told only as Steve parish could tell it(the story of the Grateful Dead). It is very clear he has a deep love for Jerry Garcia and all the members of the dead. His is a voice that comes across as truthful and authentic. JKF

Clearly an insight from the perspective of an insider. However, I was disappointed Steve dwelt more on inner workings of the road crew and less on the personalities of the band members. I understand he was on the crew, so that was his closest POV, but a few more insights into the band’s thoughts would have been nice. Steve was clearly an enabler for Jerry, and he must know this, for he spends a lot of effort explaining why he couldn’t control Jerry more. Tough to tell your world famous boss what to do, but still in the end if your not helping, your hurting. Reading this makes me realize how much happier my life has been than if I was Jerry Garcia! Money and fame don’t matter if you let drugs take over your life. I play the guitar and can only dream about how nice it would be to have Jerry’s talent, but I would not have wanted to trade positions in life. Maybe a dozen great years of music (1965-1977), but even in those years his personal life was a disaster, and then almost 20 years of a downhill slide into a hell called heroin (1978-1995). Love his music, sad how his life went downhill.

My puppy shredded the book within 4 hours of delivery. I read maybe 30 pages. Seemed good. Dog loved it. WOOF.

Excellent book about the dead’s main man,full of stories not published before by a man who knew him very well,informative and well researched recommended

The roadie's view. Rolls along at a pace that suggests what the day to day and longer term life of a crewman and sidekick to a great band and musician (Parish worked with Garcia's solo projects as well).The paragraphs on Nitrous had me in stitches!!!!!

Perfect for some behind the scenes light reading on the Dead.

Steve was probably closer to Jerry than anybody. It was good to hear his honest and humble account. Maybe a little more about his womanizing then I cared to read about but it was his reality.