R.I.P., the Grateful Dead's Donna Jean Godchaux

[Miles Archer]

5. The chronology...

"The couple introduced themselves to Jerry Garcia at a concert in August 1971"
Keith "was invited to join the group as a permanent member in September 1971"
"He first performed publicly with the Dead on October 19, 1971, at the University of Minnesota's Northrup Auditorium."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Godchaux

I have a couple of Road Trips or Dick's Picks CDs with Keith only, and the liner notes saying she was not at that show because of her pregnancy.

I think "the general public" sees their debut on Europe 72, and my guess is that the person who wrote the article made that assumption, without doing the research. They didn't just hop on the bus for that tour. They were more or less "seasoned" before the band hit Europe.