When Maggie Rose took the stage with My Morning Jacket’s Jim James at the MusiCares Persons of the Year gala earlier this year, she understood the assignment: Deliver the timeless Americana of the night’s honorees, the Grateful Dead , and infuse the soul of the band’s sole female singer, Donna Jean Godchaux, who died on Nov. 3 at the age of 78.

Godchaux, a seasoned background singer in the 1960s with credits on hits by Percy Sledge and Elvis Presley, joined the Dead alongside her husband, Keith, who played keyboards. The two contributed to a decade widely regarded as the Dead’s most adventurous, playing in the band from 1971 to 1979, and appearing on the quintessential live album Europe ‘72.

Rose was born in 1988, eight years after Keith Godchaux’s death in a car accident, but

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