Like anyone under the age of about 70, Kevin Byrne doesn’t remember a world where the Grateful Dead — or the subculture surrounding the Grateful Dead — didn’t exist.

“I got my first album when I was in fourth grade. I didn’t know anything about the scene at that time — I just started listening to the music,” he said. “A few years later, I discovered the scene and it opened up this whole other world to me.”

Byrne, 49, has been a fan of the iconic jam band’s music ever since. For years, he has hosted Terrapin Station, a show on local radio station KPOV during which he deep-dives into recordings, stories and the history of the Dead and its many offshoots. And this weekend, he’ll help put on A Grateful Night, a four-hour tribute concert and celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Dead’s formation in California’s Bay Area.

A $10 bill or 10 cans of food will get you into the show, and proceeds will benefit NeighborImpact, which works to support economically disadvantaged people across Central Oregon. Organizers have donated more than 1,200 pounds of food to the organization over the past three years, Byrne said.

As for the concert itself, it’ll feature a band made up of members of local faves Shady GroOove, The Mostest and GBots & The Journeymen, who will spend the evening backing singers and song-presenters such as Conner Bennett, Jennifer Lande, Travis Ehrenstrom, Greg Botsford, Billy Burks, Patrick Mayer, Andy Fecteau and Mark Ransom. The evening will cover a variety of the Dead’s different eras and styles, from jammy rock ‘n’ roll and bluegrass to bluesy grooves and acoustic old-time tunes to highlight the band’s interest in traditional roots music.

It has been 60 years since the Dead formed, and it has also been 30 years since the band’s leader, Jerry Garcia died, said Mark Ransom of The Mostest, who is helping organize the show.

“In a way, it’s about the band, but it’s much more about the music and the ritual of the music bringing people together,” he said. “I think that’s really what people tap into. You see people at these shows who are bringing their adult kids, and the adult kids are bringing their kids. It’s just an incredible inter-generational thing.”

Ahead of Saturday night’s celebration, GO! asked performers on the bill some questions about the Dead. Here are a few highlights from their answers:

Ben Salmon: How would you say your music/band is influenced by the Dead?

Travis Ehrenstrom of the band TEB: The line “the music plays the band” from the song “Playing in the Band” probably describes their influence on us best. They had a willingness to fully serve the moment, to explore where a song or passage could go, rather than where it should go. When a whole band is in that mindset, the possibilities become limitless. Sometimes it results in magic; sometimes, not so much, but that risk is part of the journey.

Beyond the music, the Dead really understood that the live show isn’t just about the band, it’s about the connection with the audience. Early on, they were more of a traveling circus than a traditional band with hundreds of thousands of scattered fans. That willingness to be fully present, to take risks and to invite the audience into the moment is something TEB strives for.

BS: Why does the music of the Dead continue to resonate so strongly with people decades after the band came to an end?

Mark Ransom of The Mostest: The answer to your question is in the name of the band. What it means to be gratefully dead is to be able to live in relationship with death and all that makes us human. We cannot do this with our technology. We cannot do this with our intelligence. We cannot think our way to that deep mystery. It required a ritual, and the Dead have kept the ritual alive in a time when people lost faith in the church (and) when the symbols of the church no longer resonated with them on a deep, meaningful level.

As we got farther and farther away from (that), we lost the thing that connects us with the imagination and with the archetypal realm, which to the ancients was the personified realm of the gods and goddesses. So why is the Grateful Dead so important? Because it puts us back in touch with these archetypal figures and patterns, and the research shows that when we are in touch with those figures and patterns, healing occurs. So there you go: It’s a form of group healing.

BS: What does the Dead’s music mean to you?

Mike Beaulieu of Shady GroOove: I started listening to the Dead at the ripe age of 16, when a friend loaned me the iconic live album “Europe ‘72” and I listened to it daily for the next month. I was hooked! That was the starting point of a 50-plus-year journey of understanding, appreciating and benefiting from the addictive musical phenomenon known as the Grateful Dead.

Along the way, there have been a plethora of adventures, highs and lows that never would have been possible without being exposed to their music. To some degree, their music is an acquired taste. It can take months of listening before a person “gets it.” But once you get it, it’s got you in its grips and never lets go! After all these years, their music has always held a special place in my world. It is unique, creative, enlightening, and it keeps me engaged like no other music can.

If You Go

What: A Grateful Night, with members of Shady GroOove, GBots & The Journeymen, The Mostest and more

When: 6:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: High Desert Music Hall, 818 SW Forest Ave., Redmond

Cost: $10 or 10 cans of food to benefit NeighborImpact

Contact: highdesertmusichall.com

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