American Beauty continued the folk rock and country music style of their previous album Workingman’s Dead, issued earlier in the year. Though the Americana approach is still evident in the songwriting, comparatively the sound focused more on folk harmonies and major-key melodies, showing influence from Bob Dylan and Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young.
Track listing
1. Box of Rain
2. Friend of the Devil
3. Sugar Magnolia
4. Operator
5. Candyman
6. Ripple
7. Brokedown Palace
8. Till the Morning Comes
9. Attics of My Life
10. Truckin’
Flip through the gallery to learn more about American Beautyby Grateful Dead
American Beauty was released November 1, 1970, by Warner Bros. Records. Upon release, the album entered the Billboard 200 chart, ultimately peaking at number 30 during a nineteen-week stay in January 1971
Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter Photo By: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
American Beauty was the result of a prolific period of the songwriting partnership of Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter. This partnership resulted in two studio albums in one year for the Grateful Dead
Lenny Hart Photo By: Ed Perlstein/Redferns/Getty Images
American Beauty was produced after the discovery that the band's manager, Lenny Hart (father of drummer Mickey Hart), had renewed their contract with Warner Bros. Records without their knowledge. He then skipped town with a sizable chunk of the band's wealth
Medicine Ball Caravan Photo By: Robert Altman/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
In between near-constant touring and gigging, recording began just a few months after the release of Workingman's Dead. This was without their regular sound crew, who were out on the road as part of the Medicine Ball Caravan tour, which the Dead were originally scheduled to join
American Reality Photo By: Larry Hulst/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
The title of the album has a double meaning. It refers both to the musical focus on Americana and to the rose cultivar, depicted on the front cover. Around the rose, the album title is scripted as a text ambigram that can also be read "American Reality
No. 30 Photo By: Chris Walter/WireImage/Getty Images
American Beauty peaked at No. 30 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart. It was the final album with Mickey Hart until his return to the band four years later in 1975
