The Music Show
The Music Show
ABC Australia
The travelling community of the Grateful Dead, Don Walker's Love Songs, and a performance lasting 639 years
54 minutes Posted Aug 7, 2026 at 6:30 am.
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Show notes
All The Grateful Dead are one of the iconic bands of the last century, not just for their music, but for their extended tours, which saw their fans follow them across America and create a very special sort of travelling community. Mischa Richter shares stories from the road and explores his new documentary Summer Tour.
Don Walker talks basement recordings, lessons from Nashville, and his new album Love Songs, plus he shares a memory of Glenn A Baker.
And in a church in Germany, an organ is 25 years into a 639 year performance of John Cage's piece As Slow As Possible. The notes change rarely, only every couple of years, and one of those changes has just happened. Director of the John Cage Trust Jeffrey Lependorf tells Andy what it felt like to be there as an A natural was added to the sound. 
Summer Tour is screening as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival
Don Walker is on tour in October - dates here
Music heard in this program:
Title: As Slow As Possible
Artist: John Cage
Composer: John Cage
Album: Live Performance
Title: The Wheel (Live in Chicago - 1976)
Artist: Grateful Dead
Composer: Jerry Garcia; Robert Hunter
Album: So Many Roads
Label: Grateful Dead Records
Title: Dark Star (Live At the Fillmore West)
Artist: Grateful Dead
Composer: Jerry Garcia; Robert Hunter
Album: Live/Dead
Label: Warner Bros. - Seven Arts Records
Title: Luck
Artist: Don Walker
Composer: Don Walker, Thomas Busby, Jason Isbell
Album: Love Songs
Label: Sony Music
Title: Breakfast in Paris
Artist: Don Walker
Composer: Don Walker
Album: Love Songs
Label: Sony Music
Title: Could You Still Be Here
Artist: Don Walker
Composer: Don Walker
Album: Love Songs
Label: Sony Music
Title: Fly Away
Artist: Don Walker
Composer: Don Walker
Album: Love Songs
Label: Sony Music
The Music Show is made on Gadigal, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country Country
Technical production by Tegan Nicholls