For some unknown reason I put the Grateful Dead station in my favorites on Sirius - maybe I'm just trying to drown out the politics - and have spent a fair amount of time listening to the Dead and even better, the Jerry Garcia Band.
Yes, the Dead have some terrible sounding shows, but remember that drugs and 70's era strobe tuners didn't play well together.
What did come through especially with the JGB stuff, is that when he was focused Jerry was jut a monster, monster player. I grew up playing blues and rock so if there wasn't a lot of string bending and double stops going on I didn't take stuff seriously. Time and experience however, with perhaps some musical maturity; has put me in a place where I appreciate more things musical.
And with that new framework I have to admit - Jerry was just a super guitar player. His versions of "After Midnight" and "Tangled Up In Blue" for example, show how good he could play. And he could take a 5 minute solo and keep the listener - almost 50 years later - engaged.
I guess what I'm saying is if you can put the aura of the Dead off to the side and go find some Jerry Garcia Band recordings, and you like guitar music, it's well worth the time.
Chuck