The Grateful Dead and its extended family are mourning the passing of Donna Jean Godchaux-Mackay, who holds the distinction of being the only woman to break into the all-male bastion of the Grateful Dead, singing with the band throughout the 1970s, a decade that was arguably the group’s most creative, prolific and, at times, troubled.
“It’s a distinction that I’m very proud of, to tell you the truth,” she told me in 2007 when I interviewed her by phone from her hometown in Florence, Alabama, not far from the storied Muscle Shoals studios where she began her career as a teenage backup singer for the likes of Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding.
Known as “the first lady of the Grateful Dead,” she died of cancer on Nov. 2 in hospice care in Nashville at age 78.
“Her unmistakable voice and radiant spirit touched the lives of countless fans and immeasurably enriched the Grateful Dead family,” the band wrote on its Facebook page. “Her contributions will forever remain part of the tapestry that continues to be woven.”
When I spoke to her that day some 18 years ago, she was preparing for a tour that would take her back to her old Marin haunts for a gig at Sweetwater in Mill Valley with the Dead-influenced band the Zen Tricksters. In our conversation, she talked about her history with the Dead, beginning in 1971, when she famously chatted up the band’s de facto leader, the charismatic guitarist Jerry Garcia, at a gig in San Francisco, convincing him that they needed her husband, Keith Godchaux, on keyboards. Garcia was so taken with her and her stellar resume as a backup singer that she and Keith were both invited into the band.
She had fond memories of living in Stinson Beach when Garcia and his wife, Carolyn “Mountain Girl” Garcia, were neighbors and friends. She reminded me that many of the Grateful Dead standards were written during her tenure, including “Scarlet Begonias,” “Eyes of the World” and “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo,” as well as the studio albums “Wake of the Flood,” “Blues for Allah” “Mars Hotel” and “Terrapin Station.”
On “Terrapin Station,” she wrote and sang lead vocal on the lushly orchestrated ballad “Sunrise,” a track Garcia encouraged her to contribute to as part of the suite of songs that make up the concept of the album.
By the end of the decade, though, the stress of touring as a married couple, debilitating problems with drugs and alcohol, and criticisms over their musical compatibility with the band led to her and her husband leaving the group by mutual agreement in 1979.
“To be honest with you, I don’t remember so much about the bad times,” she said. “All I remember is what an incredible privilege and honor it was to play with that band in that time period.”
In Dennis McNally’s definitive history of the Grateful Dead, “A Long Strange Trip,” she said that breaking away from the band was like “a million pounds had been lifted off me.”
Staying in Marin, she and her husband formed the Heart of Gold Band with drummer Greg Anton and guitarist Steve Kimock. But that group was tragically shattered when Keith Godchaux was killed in a West Marin car crash in 1980 on his 32nd birthday.
She would later marry David MacKay, former bass player for the popular Marin band the Tazmanian Devils, and move back home to Alabama, where she would live out the rest of her life. In 1994, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as the only female member of the Grateful Dead.
She and I reconnected during the pandemic in 2021, when she rereleased a heartfelt song she had originally recorded 14 years before. Called “Shelter,” it took on new meaning for her during the long months of quarantine and lockdown.
“The song is 100 times more relevant and pertinent than it was back then,” she said. “We’ve just been inundated with such traumatic events that we’ve got to reach for the best of what we have and what we can strive for.”
She and co-writer Jeff Mattson, lead guitarist for the Grateful Dead tribute band Dark Star Orchestra, were never satisfied with the original recording, so they took it into a Muscle Shoals studio to beef it up with a new rhythm track and some soulful backup singing that enhanced her impassioned lead vocal.
“Shelter” was written in 2007 during the Iraq War and rereleased during the pandemic, but I would argue that it holds up as an anthem of hope during these disturbing times as well, as ICE agents rip our undocumented friends, neighbors and family members from their homes and we witness the devastation and death in Gaza and Ukraine.
“Today, how many people die, clinging to a promise from despair,” she sings in the verse. “The lies are everywhere.”
As I wrote then, “The recurring choruses are about shelter from the heat and cold, from storms and floods, but also from hate and fear, deceit and greed, always ending with the need for ‘shelter for the soul.’”
Two years after that interview, in November 2023, out of the blue, I got a text from her.
“I just listened to my song ‘Shelter’ that you and I talked about years ago,” she wrote. “It is even more pertinent and even more prophetic than when I wrote it. If you still have it, take a fresh listen. I could tell you were not just a reporter but a soulful listener. I thought you might like to be reminded of that time we connected in a real way.”
I texted her back, telling her how sweet it was to hear from her.
“I remember our conversation fondly,” I wrote. “And whenever I hear your song, I’ll think of you and hope we have a chance to connect again someday.”
Sadly, this is that someday.
Contact Paul Liberatore at p.liberatore@comcast.net