Summer 1964 bluegrass trio of Garcia, Jody Stecher and Eric Thompson, recorded at the Top of the Tangent.
The name was a joke about urban kids playing mountain music. The Asphalt Jungle Mountain Boys brought Garcia together with Eric Thompson, a strong flatpicker from the Black Mountain Boys, and Jody Stecher, a New York mandolinist who went on to a long career in traditional music.
Their July 1964 set at the Top of the Tangent included fiddle tunes like “Arkansas Traveler,” “Soldier’s Joy” and “Salt Creek,” plus gospel numbers sung with guests Herb Pedersen and Butch Waller of the Pine Valley Boys. Part of it was released on Before the Dead in 2018. It’s one of the last recordings of Garcia as a working bluegrass banjo player. Within months he was playing jug-band music full time, and then electric guitar.
