On this day in live music history (1-16-70): Ronald “Pigpen” McKernan was the heart and soul of the Grateful Dead for the first 5 or so years of its existence. It wasn’t until his health really started declining in ‘71 or ‘72 that Jerry Garcia kind of took over that role.  In early 1970, however, Pigpen was still cookin’ along as the grittiest bluesman in the psychedelic San Francisco scene.