Duluth-area bands ready to do the Dead

Traxx and Rokkyn Nelson-Kavajecz of Born Too Late, seen here playing at Duluth Does David Bowie show in 2025, are part of the lineup at Duluth Does the Dead at Sacred Heart Music Festival on Sept. 26. (Photo by Michael Anderson)

When the pioneering jam band Grateful Dead rose to counterculture stardom in the 1970s, upcoming Minnesota musicians like Israel Malachi and Paul Metsa were listening and learning. Malachi recalls having a fondness for the 1969 album Live/Dead when he was 12 years old. Metsa turned 18 in 1973, the start of what he feels were the Deads’ peak years.

Five decades later, Traxx Nelson-Kavajecz of the band Born Too Late is in the same shoes Metsa and Malachi wore in the 1970s at the start of their musical journeys. At age 19, he’s only familiar with a few Grateful Dead songs, but will join his elder counterparts and a lineup of about two-dozen acts on Saturday, Sept. 26, at Sacred Heart Music Center to pay tribute to the iconic rock band famous for fusing rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, country and jazz improvisation.

The show is called Duluth Does the Dead, part of a biannual series in which musicians in the Twin Ports area honor the works of famous musicians known across generations. Each event features 20 to 24 bands totalling 40 to 60 musicians. All of the performers are unpaid, volunteering their time to learn a song, haul their equipment and play for a crowd to benefit the nonprofit music venue.

The series started in 2008 with Duluth Does White, a show where local musicians sequentially covered every track on The Beatles’ untitled 1968 double LP commonly referred to as The White Album. More recent shows include Duluth Does the Eagles and Duluth Does the Pretenders.

Israel Malachi Orchestra performing at Duluth Does The Trio — a 2023 show celebrating the country-pop collaboration of Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt — with vocalist Breanne Marie Tepler and acoustic guitarist Even Tepler. (Photo by Michael Anderson)

Israel Malachi Orchestra, led by its namesake, is playing “St. Stephen.” Malachi said he has been playing Duluth Does shows since the early days of the series and appreciates that it supports Sacred Heart. Like so many others, he grew up wanting to be just like Elvis Presley. He became a musician when his father bought him a guitar in 1971 from JCPenney.

“Music just becomes a part of you,” Malachi said.

He decided on “St. Stephen” because it was one of the first songs he heard from Live/Dead. He said the music of Grateful Dead isn’t typically straightforward like a pop song; guitarist Jerry Garcia kept the sound unique.

Born Too Late is playing “Casey Jones.” The band’s debut album, Rebel Child, was recorded at Sacred Heart in 2022. This makes participating in Duluth Does a full circle moment for the brother-sister duo of Traxx and Rokkyn Nelson-Kavajecz. Traxx, who plays guitar, said he loves being involved with these shows for the importance of supporting a space that has allowed such a great amount of music to come together in the area.

“It’s a very cool collaboration with all different kinds of Twin Ports musicians, both young and old,” he said. “It’s a cool collaboration across the spectrum.”

Born Too Late decided on “Casey Jones” because the duo is familiar with it and it fits the band’s classic-rock style. Traxx said the Grateful Dead is a unique sound that is hard to replicate.

Paul Metsa is playing “Fennario,” a song he said beautifully shares how unrequited love and heartbreak have been around for hundreds of years. “Fennario,” also known as “Pretty Peggy-O,” was commonly performed by The Grateful Dead but the origin of the song stretches back hundreds of years to traditional folk music.

Metsa doesn’t consider himself a “Dead Head” but loves how the band added to American musical culture as was one of the first bands to introduce young rock-and-rollers to jazz. That introduction is “one of their greatest gifts,” Metsa said.

Other artists performing at Duluth Does the Dead include Mae Mallace, Jason Schooler Band, Just My Luck, Joseph and Andrew, Doug Greenwood and Jon Edwards. The showcase of psychedelic sounds from San Francisco’s Haight-Asbury era at Duluth’s Sacred Heart is a sign the influence of the Grateful Dead spans from coast to coast and from generation to generation.