Vee Ellsbury, of Wiitch Tiit, Eleven Moons, and other bands, turned in this rendition of the Hunter/Garcia tune “Loser” at Byron’s Bar in Pomeroy on Easter Sunday, April 9, 2023 in the third set.
The night was billed as Todd Partridge And Friends, and the friends did Partridge solo tunes, Matt Arthur solo tunes, and a reunion of the King Of The Tramps. “Loser” came almost at the end of the night, and the crowd’s noise level was getting higher, which our mics faithfully captured, but yours truly thought it was a stellar performance.
It isn’t really unusual for artists to work in a Dead tune or two into their gigs at Byron’s, the place being “The Deadhead Capitol Of Iowa”, but they’re often not songs in their regular rotations and mistakes do happen. Vee demonstrated that this one IS well within her wheelhouse, to understate that.
I stole her photo from her Facebook profile: she attributes it to Josh Weitzel, whom I do not know. I beg forgiveness for the theft but I can’t find my own photos from the night (I live in chaos).
The exquisite violin is Kathryn Severing Fox.
(recordist’s note: Jerry Garcia didn’t always include the “sweet susie” phrase in live performances. As far as I’m concerned, this is the authentic version.)
