A Merl Saunders custom-made and stage-worn black leather cap
Black leather cap with braiding over peak, lined in black nylon; showing wear, lining faded towards the peak.
Merl's signature leather cap, one of only a few custom made ones that Merl wore onstage and about town. With a photograph of Tony Saunders, Merl's son, with the cap.
Merl, a multi-music-genre piano and keyboard player, gained notice in the 1970s when he began collaborating with Jerry Garcia. The two musicians worked together with a variety of bands, including the Grateful Dead, until Jerry's death in 1995. Merl is credited as the person who reintroduced Jerry to his guitar after Jerry suffered a diabetic coma in the summer of 1986. 10 x 7 in.