SAN FRANCISCO — Grahame Lesh has officially announced the upcoming release of Vol. 2 – Juno, the latest studio album from Grahame Lesh & Friends, set to arrive on December 4, 2026. The new record follows 2024’s Vol. 1 – Let The Mountain Be My Home and continues Lesh’s deep dive into unreleased, unfinished, and overlooked compositions connected to his family’s rich musical legacy and the broader Grateful Dead community.
In conjunction with the announcement, the group released a new single, “Jupiter,” available today on all streaming platforms. Self-released and distributed via Bandcamp alongside a limited physical edition, Vol. 2 – Juno bridges historical Grateful Dead lore with fresh, collaborative arrangements.

Space Probes and Unfinished Planet Jams

The title Vol. 2 – Juno borrows its name from NASA’s Juno spacecraft—the second probe in history to orbit Jupiter—serving as a fitting thematic nod to this second recorded iteration of the song "Jupiter." On the album, "Jupiter" is preceded by a new instrumental introduction titled "Juno," whereas today's standalone release features "Jupiter" as an independent single.
The origins of "Jupiter" trace back to an ambitious, unfinished project from the early 2000s. The song features music composed by Grahame Lesh set to previously unused lyrics by the legendary Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter. Hunter’s text was originally intended for Phil Lesh’s "Planet Jams"—a sequence of seven instrumental pieces themed around planetary spheres written for the Phil Lesh Quintet’s 2001 summer tour. Though Hunter penned lyrics for the suite, the project was never completed.
Grahame later unearthed Hunter's text, set it to music, and first recorded it with his band Midnight North on their 2023 album Diamonds in the Zodiac (which featured his father, Phil Lesh, on bass). The version appearing on Vol. 2 – Junooffers a newly revisited interpretation of the track.

Deep Cuts, PERRO Session Inspirations, and Special Guests

Beyond the opening "Juno" > "Jupiter" suite, the five-track album unearths several other historic musical threads:
  • "Mountain’s Other Side": Written by Grahame Lesh & Friends keyboardist Damian Calcagne, who took an unreleased jam composed by Jorma Kaukonen during the famous 1971 PERRO (Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra) sessions and built it into a brand-new song. The track features Calcagne on lead vocals, Grahame on bass, and a guest appearance by trumpeter Jennifer Hartswick.
  • "The Wall Song": A cover of the David Crosby classic, featuring harmony vocals from Graham Nash.
  • "Wave to the Wind": A rare Phil Lesh/Robert Hunter collaboration from the early 1990s. Played live by the Grateful Dead only a handful of times, the song was never formally recorded in the studio by the Dead.
The album was engineered and mixed by Damian Calcagne at The Pinebox in Northwest New Jersey and mastered by Fred Kevorkian, with auxiliary recording sessions held at Birdsong in Marin County, California; Brooklyn Recording in Brooklyn, New York; and in Nashville, Tennessee.

Vol. 2 – Juno Tracklist

  1. Juno
  2. Jupiter
  3. Mountain’s Other Side
  4. The Wall Song
  5. Wave to the Wind

Need Tickets

Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.