Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads,” a foundational blues song, is reimagined by Brooklyn-based The Pimps of Joytime.
Another highlight is Leftover Salmon’s alt-country treatment of “I Don’t Know You,” recorded in 1971 by New Riders of the Purple Sage.
All musicians were paid a recording fee, Gross said. Beyond that, all proceeds benefit preschool education for disadvantaged kids.
Born Stanley Miller, Mouse grew up in Detroit and did some of his earliest work for Motown, creating the cover art for the Smokey Robinson and the Miracles 1963 album “Mickey’s Monkey.”
Coming of age in Motor City, he was fascinated by muscle cars, and honed his artistic skills by drawing hot rods.
But it was Blues music, as well as some of the artists who made it famous, that captured his imagination: B.B. King, Little Richard, John Lee Hooker. “I felt like I experienced the birth of rock ‘n’ roll,” he said.
Mouse moved to San Francisco in 1965, two years before the Summer of Love. Collaborating with painter Alton Kelley starting in 1966, their posters for shows at the Avalon Ballroom and Fillmore West became touchstones of the psychedelic era.
“Kelley was the idea man and (after creating thousands of prints), my hand was like a trained Olympic athlete,” Mouse said in a 2015 interview. “So when we teamed up, it was like a magic recipe.”
Mouse kept on truckin’ into the 1970s, designing the Ice Cream Kid with rainbow hair for the Grateful Dead’s “Europe 72” album and creating the winged horse for the Steve Miller Band.
Though modest, Mouse understands his contribution to rock music and society.
“Kelley and I used to say, ‘We named all the bands and stopped the Vietnam War,’ ” Mouse said with a sly smile, “but that’s just reinventing history.”
In the 1970s, “you couldn’t give these posters away,” Mouse said, but in later years his and Kelley’s art reached the world’s leading museums, including the Hermitage and the Louvre.
Mouse and Kelley worked together until 1980, when Mouse “ran off to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and tried to take up fine art.” He soon returned, setting up shop in the city of Sonoma before finding a studio in Sebastopol.
Last year, Mouse suffered a stroke: “I lost all my muscle memory,” he said. “You have to relearn everything.”
A friend “was excited I had a stroke,” Mouse said, because he’d have to relearn his techniques, which the friend said would make him a better artist.
Mouse found that to be true saying his “writing, lettering, painting and playing music” all improved, after months of hard work.
Asked about the relationship between music and the visual arts, he said, “I never saw a separation.” As a “little kid I played piano and drew a lot; to me, it was sort of like one thing.”
His health issues haven’t slowed him down, though. Earlier this month, Mouse was working on a poster for a 4/20 Moonalice concert.
He was also preparing for a May art show at Animazing Gallery at The Venetian in Las Vegas, coinciding with Dead & Company’s appearances at Sphere, a music and entertainment arena east of Las Vegas.
Though Mouse has an aversion to crowds, he didn’t rule out attending a Dead & Company show at the 20,000-capacity Sphere. The band is scheduled to play the venue through July.
“I think I’ll go and make an appearance at the gallery, and we’ll see what happens once I’m there.”