I didn't really want to get into the relative merits of the performances, because it's apples and oranges.
For me, I think Jerry was a folkie at heart. I think the beauty of his performance in his playing The Harder They Come is that it becomes kind of a like a Woody Guthrie song, one that shares the protest of the people against the injustices of big capitalism, where the little guys have no power and get forced into bad situations by injustice with which they are ill equipped to deal. The fact that it was originally a reggae song is almost not even relevant in that context, it could be from a Kentucky mine worker, a Chicago steel worker, a Caribbean fruit picker, a Hawaiian sugar plantation worker, etc., anyone who is trying to find honest work, but gets abused by the system and the powerful, so his interpretation of it, Peruvian Marching Powder Shuffle or not, shouldn't really be judged on whether he's stylistically authentic. He's not playing the song to cop a stylistic feel, so it's not disrespect or laziness on his part if he doesn't include aspects that should be de rigueur for reggae. He's playing it because it's a message that speaks to the human condition.
Additionally, because he performed songs like this, thousands of Deadheads everywhere gained an entry into the reggae world when they wanted to check out where the song came from and what else was there.
(Message edited by edwin on May 18, 2014)
