John Kadlecik

By Jason Herman / January 13, 2018

(L-R) Steve Kimok, John Kadlecik, and Kenny Brooks

John Kadlecik (or John K as he is more affectionately referred to by his fans) co-founded Dark Star Orchestra in 1997. In August 2009, John K left Dark Star Orchestra to join Furthur with Grateful Dead members Bob Weir and Phil Lesh. In 2014, Furthur disbanded.

When John Kadlecik was with Dark Star Orchestra they recreated historic Grateful Dead performances song-by-song. Now on his own, John Kadlecik primarily recreates historical performances of Jerry Garcia Band (JGB) performances song-by-song. Kadlecik performs JGB originals and JGB covers such "The Harder They Come" by Jimmy Cliff, "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" by The Band, "Dear Prudence" by The Beatles amonh others. For his JGB recreation performances, Kadlecik does not tell the audience what historic show is being performed and will ask the audience to guess the performance after the set completes. Despite the pension for JGB songs, Kadlecik still belts out stunning Grateful Dead songs while traveling with his nationally touring John Kadlecik Band.

John Kadlecik lives in the Washington DC Metro Area and is a proud resident of the DMV. He has been spoiling fans in and around the District, Maryland, and Virginia since at least 2014 with his frequent Thanksgiving, Year-End, and residency performances. Since 2015, Kadlecik uses a portion of the first night of his Thanksgiving Turkey Run to raise money for a Washington Metro Area charitable organization.

DC Music Review cannot thank John Kadlecik enough for being part of the DMV music family and how he spoils us so much with his frequent appearances.

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