Interesting, I've never heard of them, Bowers. I'll check them out!
I'm not a huge Deadhead, I just really like their music, so I'm not much of an expert on the various live versions of their song like you are, Kraut. But I do know that a great part of their greatness were their live concerts.
As for my favourite songs by them, I like Alabama Getaway, Shakedown Street, Fire on the Mountain, Hell in a Bucket, Touch of Grey, Truckin', Brown Eyed Women, Tennessee Jed, U.S. Blues... and obviously the ones I mentioned above: Friend of the Devil, Althea and The Golden Road.
I'm overall more of a country music guy (traditional country, bluegrass and texas swing), but they're one of the non-country bands I really enjoy listening to.