The band starts off with Saint of Circumstance, introducing the song to Bruce and Vince and working through the tune. The Dead had not played Saint since June 18, 1989, at Shoreline. But after this tune-up, the boys broke it out on October 27 in Paris. The latter two tunes they work through on this recording are Bruce songs. Though he had been playing it live since the late 80s, the first tune, Stander on the Mountain, came off Bruce’s Night on the Town album, which had been released earlier in 1990. Barren Ground and Across the River might have been more natural choices off the album, given that Jerry had played guitar on both. But Stander was a sweet tune in concert, even though the Dead never really incorporated it into their repertoire, playing Stander just two more times after debuting it on October 28th. The second tune, Valley Road, got a little more love from the band, coming out six times between October 22 and December 30, 1990. While Bruce had included Valley Road on Scenes from the Southside, his second album, he and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band had recorded a bluegrass version the previous year, which the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band included on Will The Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two. That version ended up winning the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Recording, one of Hornsby’s three Grammys.

The music from this session is cool, but what really makes this recording special is all the banter. There are a lot of interesting technical discussions and, of course, ever-present joking. For instance, early on, Bruce asks, “Just what is a Saint of Circumstance?” And then, after the first run-through of the tune, says, “I mean, I played it perfectly. But I am willing to play it again.” For his part, Bobby swears as he and the band are struggling with some of the finer points of Saint that “I’ll never write another complicated song. I’m just not going to do it.” And, a bit later, Jerry cracks wise about Bobby’s inability to play his own song, to which Bobby humorously retorts “Well, I am singing, so I got a lot to think about.”