The Skeleton Crewe band features musicians who have played with members of the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Starship. Courtesy photo

With a collective history that includes playing with the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, the acclaimed jam band the Skeleton Crewe will return to Maui for an Oct. 16 show in Paia.

The band includes Grammy-nominated guitarist Stephen Inglis, keyboard player Rob Barraco (Dark Star Orchestra, Phil Lesh & Friends, The Dead), pedal steel guitarist Barry Sless (Bob Weir, David Nelson Band, Phil Lesh & Friends), bassist Pete Sears (Jefferson Starship, Hot Tuna, Phil Lesh & Friends) and drummer Jay Lane (Dead & Company, Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros, RatDog).

A Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award-winning slack key guitarist from Oahu, Inglis has played George Kahumoku Jr.’s Slack Key shows and performed at the annual Ki Ho’alu Festival at the MACC.

Formerly known as the Skeleton Krewe, which performed on Maui in summer 2024, they are now billed as the Skeleton Crewe, not to conflict with the name of a New Orleans marching band.

Excited about returning to Maui, Inglis said, “We have a great lineup, and we’ve been playing more and more. We have a 16-show run this fall. This is our first proper tour together.”

Known in the past for Grateful Dead themed shows, they now feature new songs by band members. “We’ve been cooking up a lot of original material. Rob Baracco has a handful of wonderful songs he co-wrote with Robert Hunter, the late Dead lyricist. We’re really loving getting the original stuff up. So we weave favorites from the Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan into a lot of our own stuff and even some Hawaiian language songs. It’s a real fusion. When we started a year ago, the concerts we did were more of a Jerry Garcia tribute. Of course, we still are heavily influenced, and people won’t be disappointed if they’re fans of that.”

A Grammy nominee for his song “Redwood Slack Key,” featured on “Hawaiian Slack Key Kings: Master Series, Vol. 2,” Inglis won a Hōkū for the album “Waimaka Helelei,” collaborating with Hawaiian music icon Dennis Kamakahi.

His previous albums include “Soul Sound Slack,” which included the instrumental “Maui Serenade,” and “Slacking on Dylan,” where he opened up fresh territory for slack key interpreting Dylan songs, which won him a Hawaii Music Award. In 2018, he translated his love for the Grateful Dead, releasing “Cut the Dead Some Slack,” a novel approach to the music of the band played slack key style.

Among the other Crewe members, Sears’ lengthy resume includes recording with many legends, from Rod Stewart, Jefferson Starship and Jerry Garcia to John Lee Hooker and Ron Wood. A seminal musician in late ’60s London, Sears played keyboards on four classic Rod Stewart albums, including “Every Picture Tells a Story,” and the “Maggie May” hit. After moving from the U.K. to California, he was invited to join the newly formed Jefferson Starship with Grace Slick and Paul Kantner, after Jefferson Airplane broke up. He stayed 13 years and co-composed a number of songs with Slick.

An acclaimed pedal steel guitarist, Sless in high school discovered the classic music of Bob Wills and Western swing, and the old school country of George Jones, Merle Haggard and Buck Owens, as well as the Grateful Dead.

A founding member of the David Nelson Band in the early 1990s, he was invited to become a regular member of Phil Lesh’s touring lineups. Besides playing with the Crewe, Sless continues to perform with the David Nelson Band.

A GratefulWeb review noted: “Those familiar with the phenomenal exploratory bands Phil Lesh & Friends, Moonalice, and David Nelson Band are likely familiar with guitar virtuoso Barry Sless. His pedal steel guitar has transformed beloved Grateful Dead classics such as ‘Box of Rain,’ ‘Pride of Cucamonga,’ and ‘Cumberland Blues’ into full-fledged country-rock bliss that Jerry Garcia is no doubt smiling down on.”

Along with playing in the Skeleton Crewe, Sless and Inglis have been touring as a duo. They recently opened for Melvin Seals & JGB on Kauai and hope to return to Maui in December. “We’ve been doing a lot of stuff as a duo as well,” Inglis explained. “Barry and I do a new song called ‘Mississippi.'”

The Skeleton Crewe will perform in Paia on Oct. 16. Location is included with ticket purchase. Tickets are $75 at JamminOnMaui.com. Desert Hollow will play during intermission and at post-show.