The Grateful Dead's first true archival album, Bear's Choice, was lovingly produced as a tribute to Pigpen shortly after he passed by none other than the Dead's original soundman and benefactor, Owsley Stanley, aka Bear.

Drawing from live shows recorded three years earlier by Bear at the Fillmore East in New York City, Bear's Choice captures the Dead at an essential moment of their history, as they were about to record Workingman's Dead (and shortly thereafter, American Beauty), and were transitioning into becoming Americana pioneers, while never losing touch with their psychedelic improvisational roots.