PEOPLE WHO DIED: BOB WEIR
OCT. 16, 1947—JAN. 10, 2026
The music never stopped.
While typing this story’s first draft, I was listening to Dead & Company’s final Atlanta concert performance from May 28, 2023, for reflection and inspiration. The band, co-fronted by famed singer-songwriter-guitarist John Mayer and the Grateful Dead’s rhythm guitarist and vocalist Bob Weir, alongside Grateful Dead drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart, opened with “Cassidy,” the song that concludes Weir’s first of his three solo albums, 1972’s Ace. Its country-folk balladry was eloquent and gorgeous that night.
That was the second Dead & Company concert I attended, and it was with my friend Drew, a fellow Dead fan; my first was on June 8, 2018, with COOL HAND FRANK artist Kelly Saunders. Neither of us is a “Deadicated” Deadhead. Still, if you don’t know of at least one within your circle of friends and acquaintances, you may need to work on that.
The three-hour, two-set concert was incredible, one I won’t ever forget. It’s worth listening if only for their dramatic finale, “Morning Dew” with Weir’s plaintive, elegant vocals leading up to Mayer’s fiery guitar solo at song’s end, overwhelming to experience in person.
Now, Bob Weir’s shocking, publicly unexpected passing at age 78 on Jan. 10 from lung issues following cancer treatment, imbues that second concert with deeper meaning.
Grateful Dead, which Weir (Bobby from here on) co-founded in 1965 and led with lead guitarist and vocalist Jerry Garcia, was deeply, genuinely one of the most American and influential bands to ever exist. Together, with other original band members Kreutzmann, bassist and vocalist Phil Lesh, and keyboardist and vocalist Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, they thoroughly lived their values of community, collaboration, and experimentation.
Recognizing obvious stylistic successors is easy: Phish and Widespread Panic for starters. But the number of thriving touring acts also inspired by the Dead, who reconcile musical roots with spontaneity and the thrill of discovery during live performance, are countless and diverse. Pearl Jam, Metallica, The National, The War on Drugs and Ryan Adams, to name a few? Yes, they publicly acknowledge Grateful Dead’s influence on them, too.
Upon Jerry’s passing in 1995, Bobby became the figurehead in imparting their band’s ideals and ideas, performing and collaborating in RatDog, the Other Ones and Wolf Bros., among others. He staged surprise guest appearances with veteran music artists such as Paul McCartney and younger professionals such as Maggie Rogers. But ultimately Bobby reached the highest heights of his post-Dead career with Dead & Company.
I sadly missed out on attending a Grateful Dead concert in my naïve youth. But if it wasn’t for Bob Weir and his commitment to that band and his values, I would never have had the opportunity to witness its closest approximation with Dead & Company not once, but twice. There won’t be another.
But the music never stops.
