It relates the journey of a narrator and his uncle from southern Colorado towards west Texas, involving standard cowboy song themes like a poker game in Santa Fe, accusations of cheating, gunplay, gold, and death.
[1] John Phillips originally wrote "Me and My Uncle" at a drinking session in a hotel room with Judy Collins, Stephen Stills, and Neil Young among others in 1963.
[2] Bob Weir is reported to have learned it from James “Curly” Stalarow,[3] a member of the Texas psychedelia scene.
The earliest commercially released performance of the song by the Grateful Dead is from the Electric Theater in Chicago, on April 26, 1969, and is available on Dick's Picks Volume 26.
The song continued to be performed regularly until Jerry Garcia's death and the end of the band in 1995, and remains a staple of the surviving members' repertoire.