Released January 1972 Genre Folk rock Label Warner Bros. Records | Recorded 1971 Length 5:54 Writer(s) Robert Hunter | |
"Sugaree" is a song written by long-time Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter and composed by guitarist Jerry Garcia. It was written for Jerry Garcia's first solo album Garcia, which was released in January 1972. As with the songs on the rest of the album, Garcia plays every instrument himself (except drums, played by Bill Kreutzmann), including acoustic guitar, bass guitar, and an electric guitar played through a Leslie speaker.
Elizabeth Cotten, a North Carolina folksinger, wrote and recorded a song called "Shake Sugaree" in 1966. The chorus of Cotten's song is "Oh lordie me/Didn't I shake sugaree?" The song influenced Hunter in the composition of "Sugaree." Mary Lou Lord recorded a cover of the Elizabeth Cotten song on her 1998 breakthrough Got No Shadow.
The song was first performed live on July 31, 1971, at the Yale Bowl at Yale University, as was the song "Mr. Charlie". The song appears on numerous other recordings, including Dick's Picks Volume 3 and One From the Vault.
Rusty York recorded a Marty Robbins-penned song in 1959 (Chess 1730) also called, "Sugaree."
Fred Neil released a song in 1966 on his eponymous album called "I've Got a Secret (Didn't We Shake Sugaree)."
Nick Barker covered this song on his album Black Water Blues released in 2009.
Graham Parker covered the track on his 2004 album, Your Country.
Jackie Greene recorded a cover for his 2009 release The Grateful EP.
On the 2016 charity album Day of the Dead, "Sugaree" was covered by Jenny Lewis and the band Phosphorescent.