Collecting the Autographs
of Jam Bands

The first band of note to perform this music has to be the legendary Grateful Dead. This iconic band was originally formed in San Francisco in 1964 and it can be considered the grandfather of all to follow.

Their self-titled debut album in 1967 set the stage for their long and fruitful career. Other bands like Quicksilver Messenger Service, the Allman Brothers Band and Jefferson Airplane also helped establish a genre of free-flowing improvised sessions.

Through the 1970s the Grateful Dead toured regularly, and they would help inspire the rise of other famous bands. In the 1980s and 1990s, bands like Phish, Ozric Tentacles, Widespread Panic, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones would continue to push the popularity of the genre to new heights.

During the early 1990s, the band Phish would go on to build a much larger fan base than others, and with the demise of the Grateful Dead, fans of the Dead would move on to support Phish in their rise to success.

Eventually though, the turn of the century would see that Phish fans ended up in the same position as those of the Grateful Dead when they saw their favorite band break up. Bands like String Cheese Incident, Disco Biscuits, Umphrey's McGee filled the void left by Phish.

These bands have always welcomed different styles of music, but the music begun to stretch beyond what fans had become accustomed to. Bluegrass, progressive rock, and other various musical styles are beginning to really hit their stride in using the genre's template.

There are no rigidly defined rules that bands of this genre have to follow, and the pioneers were legendary for their experimentation with different types of sound. This has allowed artists of varying genres to experiment with the jam band style, and helped foster one of the most unique music scenes today.

Trying to predict the future is a monumental task, and one that seems doomed to failure. Suffice it to say, jam bands will be with us for many years to come. The triumphant return of Phish attests to this.

One could build a great autograph collection just staying within the confines of jam band music. Building an extensive, comprehensive collection is already expensive, but it would most likely be a lot more expensive to start one later. Today, a signed photo or album cover of the original six members of the Grateful Dead lists for $1500 - $2000. A set of the six signatures goes for about half that.

Compare that to Phish. A set of autographs is worth about $50. A signed photo or album signed by all of the members is worth about $125. Nobody knows if twenty years from now Phish is going to be worth what the Dead is today, but it is a safe bet that values will increase and probably increase faster than most fans believe.

Those with plans to build a collection should be on the lookout for bargains among the legends (remembering that the bargains are still costly), and at the same time be on the lookout for opportunities among the bands that are easy to get at little or no cost. Bands like Gov't Mule, Leftover Salmon, and Rusted Root still play small shows and members of bands like String Cheese Incident break apart from the band when it is not recording or touring and they play for small crowds. Autographs are easy to get at these smaller shows, and usually there aren't very many trying to get them.

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