According to some 80s tour rumor, the song "Hell in a Bucket" was penned after Joan said, of playing with the Grateful Dead, "I'd rather go to hell in a bucket." The rumor seems unlikely though, since Joan sat in with the Dead on five occasions, according to DeadBase, and shared the bill with them two other times. However, maybe it's something Joan said after she and Mickey Hart stopped dating?
I can't vouch for this story at all, but it's a good one all the same, taken from the description of a Joan Baez "Jackaroe" YouTube:
Joan says: I went to see Micky [sic] Hart when we wanted to get the Greateful [sic] Dead to do a Cambodian benefit with me.. that`s how I met him. All of his aquaintances [sic] are so slightly on the colorful wacky side. He was sitting with a blond guru with a dot and a turban when we were talking about the Cambodian refugees. After that , [sic]I was at home sitting at my desk writing my book when I looked out the window and saw Mickey in my front yard, banging on one of his esoteric drums and dancing around like a wild gnome. He could sense my isolation, even if he didn`t know me, and he was saying, "Hey you got to get out more." I began spending time with him and eventually we had the concept to collaborate on some recordings."On to the Joan/GD collaborations throughout the years:
- According to DeadBase, the first time sit in is said to be for "Midnight Hour" on 7/16/66 at the Fillmore, along with Mimi "Farinalist"--could they mean Joan's daughter, Mimi Farina? However, the DeadBase setlist "may be incomplete" and indeed, the LMA has a few recordings for this show with different setlists, none of them containing "Midnight Hour."
- 3/23/75 at the Kezar found the boys on the same bill as Joan, but no sit-in. The show is still worth a listen, as it features Merl Saunders and Ned Lagin, no Donna, and the first "Blues for Allah" / "Stronger Than Dirt." It's a SNACK benefit show.
- 1/13/80 at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum ends with Joan singing. According to DeadBase, after the GD encore "U.S. Blues," Joan, the GD and the Beach Boys sing "Amazing Grace." According to the setlists on the LMA they sing "Bridging the Gap" (also known as "Land of a Thousand Dances"). According to the actual audio track names on the LMA, they sing "Land of a Thousand Dances" and "Amazing Grace." In "Land of Thousand Dances," mainly Joan is singing (and a bunch of people going "OH yeah!" and "Nah nah nah", someone is drumming, Phil is playing bass, Jerry is noodling (he gets a shout out for a brief solo from Joan). It's a Cambodian refugee benefit show.
- Throughout 1981, Mickey played in a historically unknown band High Noon, also featuring Bobby Vega and Merl Saunders. Joan sat in a number of times. A discussion of these shows can be found at Lost Live Dead
- 12/12/81 at Fiesta Hall in San Mateo features a Joan set, some of the boys sitting in, and a short Dead set. Dance for Disarmament benefit and the first "Me and Bobby McGee" since 10/16/74 (in Joan's set).
- 12/30/81 at the Oakland Auditorium Arena, features a mini set with Joan sans Brent (Brent is also missing for the second set opener, "Feel Like a Stranger").
- 12/31/81 still in Oakland, features another acoustic set with Joan, and this recording has four more tracks than what DeadBase lists (DeadBase, and most recordings, start at Me and Bobby McGee). Joan also comes out for "Must of Been the Roses" and "Aiko Aiko." "I don't know but I been told/ that a room with Deadheads is filled with soul yeah." Some Deadheads say this is the longest GD show ever, with four sets of music.
- 11/3/91 a tender memorial in Golden Gate Park for Bill Graham. Joan does not sit in, but is on the bill. Still check out this show, an amazing testament to Bill Graham, whose vision was essential to the Grateful Dead. The only GD "Forever Young" with Neil Young is especially tender, even if not the most musically smoking ever.
- Since Jerry's passing, Joan has sat in with the remaining boys on different occasions. She sat in with Ratdog on 5/20/06, celebrating Wavy Gravy's 70th birthday at the Berkeley Community Theatre (I think it was the last of 20 Wavy birthdays celebrated in Berkeley). Humorously, Joan mistook the opening chords of Uncle John's Band as some folk song, "Little Darling, By the Diamonds." The look on everybody's face when she started singing...
- 4/20/08 (YouTube) features Mickey, Bobby, Joan, Michael Kang, Robin Slyvester, Tommy Lee Jones and a few others, on an oddly acoustic "Not Fade Away" in Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park. A Green Apple benefit. Ludacris (YouTube) persuading Mickey to let Tommy play...