Garcia is Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia's first solo album, released in January 20, 1972. Warner Bros. Records offered the Grateful Dead the opportunity to cut their own solo records, and Garcia was released around the same time as Bob Weir's Ace and Mickey Hart's Rolling Thunder. Unlike Ace, which was practically a Grateful Dead album, Garcia was more of a solo effort, as Garcia played almost all the instrumental parts. Six tracks (specifically those coauthored by lyricist Robert Hunter) eventually became standards in the Grateful Dead concert repertoire, especially "The Wheel", which was performed over 250 times. Considered a showcase for Garcia's work on electric and pedal steel guitar, Garcia is considered more electric and psychedelic than then-recent Grateful Dead albums, balancing country and country rock material on the first side with experimental and musique concrète pieces on the second side, which commences with several sound collages of effects. Other styles explored include folk rock, gospel and acid rock. Garcia described the record as a lighthearted project. Some reprints of the album are self-released. "Loser" was covered by Cracker on their 1993 album Kerosene Hat. Garcia explained to an interviewer before the record's completion: "What I'm going to do is what I would do is what I would do if I had 16-track at home, I'm just going to goof around with it. And I don't want anyone to think that it's me being serious or anything like that – it's really