Jay Stevens

Jay Karl Stevens (November 11, 1953 – February 19, 2025)^[1] was a freelance writer and social historian.^[2] Stevens was born and raised into a family of farmers in Springfield, Vermont. He attended school there as a child and then Kimball Union Academy in New Hampshire, going on to the University of Vermont after graduation.^[1]

He is the author of Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream (1987), which has been described as a "classic" by historian David Farber^[3] and "the quintessential work on the history of LSD in America" by Kristin Robinson.^[4] Historian of science and medicine Benjamin Breen also recommends the book for those wishing to learn more about the history of LSD.^[5]

Stevens is also the co-author of Drumming at the Edge of Magic with Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart and ethnomusicologist Fredric Lieberman.^[6] He founded Applied Orphics, a digital marketing and distribution company, and Rap Lab, a program bringing at-risk teenagers and professional musicians and poets together.^[7][8] Prior to his death, he was living at his family farm in Weathersfield Bow, Vermont, where he produced maple syrup.^[1]

Selected works

Books

• Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream (1987) ISBN 9780871130761
• Drumming at the Edge of Magic (with Mickey Hart & Fredric Lieberman) (1990) ISBN 9780062503725
• Planet Drum: A Celebration of Percussion and Rhythm (with Mickey Hart & Fredric Lieberman) (1991) ISBN 9780062504142
• The Sixties edited by Peter Stine, Jay Stevens contributor. Wayne State University Press (January 1, 1996) ISBN 0814325580, ISBN 978-0814325582

Discography

• Dance House by Jay Stevens and Derek Young (2012)
• Orphic Revival by Jay Karl Stevens and The Raven (2013)

Articles

• "Keeper of the Vermont Character" Yankee Magazine (March, 1992).