Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young with Jerry Garcia at P.E.R.R.O. Sessions

Perro, or Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra, was the name given to the group of musicians who played, recorded and jammed together in the early 70’s. They were, essentially, members of Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Crosby, Stills and Nash. Their first album together, Blows Against The Empire, was released, not as the Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra, but as Jefferson Starship (a name later used for Grace Slick and Paul Kantner’s band formed in 1974). They then officially became Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra on David Crosby’s If I Could Only Remember My Name.

In 1971, these musicians got together for rehearsals at Wally Heider Studios and, luckily for us, these sessions were recorded (see below) yielding some truly remarkable music and interactions between this collective group of inspired and supremely talented artists. They were as follows:

David Crosby – guitar, vocals

Graham Nash – guitar, vocals

Paul Kantner – guitar, banjo, vocals

Grace Slick – piano, vocals

Jorma Kaukonen – lead guitar

Jack Casady – bass

Jerry Garcia – guitar, vocals

Phil Lesh – bass

Bill Kreutzmann – drums

Mickey Hart – percussion

David Freiberg – viola, vocals

PERRO 2  - Part of the PERRO tapes.

Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra

Wally  Heider's studio

San Francisco, CA

Recorded 11/4/70 - 1/14/71

The P.E.R.R.O. sessions (1971)