45 years ago today, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan took the stage with the Grateful Dead for the final time. The singer, keyboardist and noted blues enthusiast, who served as the first de facto frontman of the Dead, would be forced to retire from touring later in 1972 and passed away after a long battle with liver damage on March 8, 1973 at the age of 27.
Pigpen’s last show with the Dead, in…