![Charles Bradley and his Extraordinaires performed Saturday afternoon. ] Aaron Lavinsky • aaron.lavinsky@startribune.com The Eaux Claires Music & Art Festival was photographed Saturday, July 18, 2015 in Eau Claire, WI.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/M6FQ4DMSTOK4IITCSJJZSR4X34.jpg?&w=1080)
Eaux Claires music fest co-curator Aaron Dessner shared stories behind three of the 59 tracks on "Day of the Dead," the new all-star Grateful Dead tribute album for the AIDS/HIV charity Red Hot. Dessner co-helmed the recordings with his bandmates in the National and "friends," as they're often billed in the liner notes.
"Candyman" (sung by Jim James of My Morning Jacket): "We recorded our part and sent it off to Jim, and I feel like it was really only like a half-hour later he sent it back finished with guitar and vocals on it. He told us he had sung that song countless times, and you could tell. It was so in his bones."
"Standing on the Moon" (Phosphorescent & Friends): "We played it with [the Dead's] Bob Weir years ago in concert, and he told us it was one of his favorite of Jerry's songs to sing. We sent him the music after we did the vocals with Matthew Houck [of Phosphorescent], and I didn't know Bob was going to add anything. He and his wife created this choir at the end with their voices. The line is, 'A lovely view of heaven, but I'd rather be with you,' and they come back with this building choir of 'be with you.' It was completely unexpected, and wonderful."
"Cumberland Blues" (Charles Bradley & the Extraordinaires): "They recorded that themselves. So you can imagine what it was like getting that recording just out of the blue. It sounds like something recorded in 1966, just this insanely funky, raw take on it, a whole different perspective than we would've had."
