He drew praise for his blues-inflected fretwork as his critically acclaimed band rode high, if briefly, during San Franciscoās Summer of Love.
Jerry Miller, an acclaimed guitarist who emerged from the Pacific Northwest club circuit to make his mark on San Franciscoās psychedelic rock scene in the 1960s as a founding member of the lauded, if star-crossed, band Moby Grape, died on Sunday at his home in Tacoma, Wash. He was 81.
His grandson Cody Miller said that he died in his sleep but that the cause was not yet known.
Mr. Miller, whose fans came to include Eric Clapton and Robert Plant, played lead in the potent three-guitar attack of Moby Grape, a San Francisco quintet that hit its zenith in 1967, the year of the so-called Summer of Love.
During its brief but shimmering heyday, Moby Grape was considered one of the top bands of the flower-power era. But while its psychedelic contemporaries in the cityās flourishing rock scene tended toward through-the-looking-glass lyrics and cosmic free jams, the band set itself apart by cranking out an earthy mix of blues, country, folk and chugging rock ānā roll ā an eclectic approach that fit Mr. Millerās musical philosophy, which he described in a 2013 interview with the website Blues.Gr as āa jolly good mix-up.ā
Moby Grapeās debut album, called simply āMoby Grapeā and released in 1967, contained 13 songs packed into 31 minutes. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it No. 124 on its original list of rockās 500 greatest albums, describing it as āgenuine hippie power pop.ā
That is very cool, thanks for putting up the pixš¤ Toad the Wet Sprocket album Dulcinea is one of my all-time favorites š»
