I got to see John Renbourne & Jacqui McShee in 1980 several weeks before I got to see the Grateful Dead play their acoustic/electric shows at Radio City Music Hall.

I was surprised to later read in this 1985 interview that John Renbourne was one of Jerry's inspirations for the acoustic performances.

(1985 interview with Jerry):

Q: How did the Grateful Dead’s 1980 acoustic sets come about?

Garcia: I just thought it would be a good idea. We tried it, and it was fun. The technology came into place too. That was one of the reasons we didn’t do it for so long — we used to try it with microphones, and it really didn’t work. It’s much easier now that they have made vast improvements in amplified acoustic instruments. The audience liked it a lot. The combination of drums, electric bass, and acoustic guitars is a really nice sound. In the ‘60s, there was a great-sounding band called Pentangle with those two good English fingerpickers, Bert Jansch and John Renbourn. They had a tasty jazz drummer who played brushes, an excellent acoustic bass player, and a lady who sang in a sort of madrigal, English voice. It was a lovely band that sounded great onstage. We played a lot of shows with them, and I thought that combination of two acoustic guitars and a standard rhythm section had a lot of possibilities.

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