Robert "bob" hall weir (October 16 1947-present)
Robert "Bob" Hall Weir was born in San Francisco, California on October 16, 1947 and was raised in the suburb of Atherton by his adoptive parents, Frederick and Eleanor Weir. Frederick Weir, according to Bobby, was a mild-mannered and easygoing father with an unusually dry sense of humor. Eleanor, on the other hand, was a strong woman whom Bobby said was "not about to let the kids be anything but successful." While growing up in Atherton, young Bob Weir was enthralled with it's forest-like appearance and was attracted to the trees, he also was an athlete from early on, inspired by the likes of Willie Mays from the San Francisco Giants. He ran track, played football, and lived a rather contained, normal American childhood, taking summer vacations to a lake house in the Sierra Nevada and wrestling playfully with his older brother John. The family was not a musical one but Bobby's life would change when the son of a family friend stopped by his house carrying an acoustic guitar, a relatively quiet instrument that could be practiced inside. In an effort to mediate his problems in school, Bobby received his first guitar, a seventeen dollar Japanese model, at age thirteen. Unfortunately, Bobby's undiagnosed dyslexia resulted in an inability to sit still in a classroom, as a result, he was forced to move from school to school, even spending a stint at the Fountain Valley School in Colorado Springs, Colorado where he met lifelong friend and future Grateful Dead lyricist, John Perry Barlow. Characterized by a short attention span and his long, golden hair, Bobby was branded an oddball and awarded the nickname of "Blob Weir" at his next school, Menlo-Atherton High School. His troubles in school and general disregard for authority provided him with plenty of time to practice his guitar playing, the only thing that might have meant as much to him was women. Contrary to the meaning of his nickname, Bobby was very popular with the girls, his angelic appearance and eclectic attitude turned him into somewhat of a heartthrob, something that would stick with him throughout his years with the Grateful Dead.
By the age of sixteen, Bobby had his own rag-tag gang of hooligans, which included his best friend Bob Matthews and his girlfriend Debbie Peckham. Fortunately, they all had guitars and played together on a regular basis drawing on various folk and rock influences like Joan Baez and the Kingston Trio. For Weir, however, the player he identified with most closely around that time was Jorma Kaukonen, future guitarist of the San Francisco legend, Jefferson Airplane, and friend of Jerry Garcia. New Years Eve of that year would provide Bobby with the opportunity to meet Garcia. Bobby and his friends were wandering the back alleys of Palo Alto searching for a club that would admit three sixteen year old boys when they heard a lingering sound that they instantly recognized as the strumming of a banjo. The sound led them to Dana Morgan's Music Store where they found a young Jerry Garcia plucking away on his banjo, waiting for his students to arrive. Since Weir's friend, Bob Matthews, was a student of Garcia's, they were able to sit down together and jam all night, leading to the inception of Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, then the Warlocks, and eventually the Grateful Dead, and Weir was just a kid.
Five years younger than Garcia and almost seven years younger than Lesh, Weir would remain stigmatized as "the kid" in the band for quite some time, a fact he would rather dismiss. Throughout the Grateful Dead's thirty year career, Weir enjoyed success as the rhythm guitarist as well as singing lead vocals for a large portion of the Dead's material, however, just like Pigpen, he didn't always get along with the other members of the band. Consequently, in the fall of 1968, the Dead played a few shows without Weir and Pigpen. Blair Jackson, author of Garcia: An American Life, explained that "Garcia and Lesh determined that Weir and Pigpen were not pulling their weight musically in the band... most of the band fights around this time were about Bobby's guitar playing." Of course, it couldn't have been that serious because later that year, the band came back around and took in Weir and Pigpen full time. The incident could have served as a smack in the face for Weir, as his guitar playing quality began to increase exponentially thereafter. Many years later during the late 1970's and with a uniquely defined sound, Weir began experimenting with various slide guitar techniques and was even seen up on stage playing the slide on various Grateful Dead songs. With an original sound and style influenced by artists like the hard bop pianist McCoy Turner and the American jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, Bob Weir turned the role of a rhythm guitarist into his own.
In addition to his work with the Grateful Dead, Weir played with a few other side projects. He produced his first solo album, Ace, in 1972, although members of the Grateful Dead served as the band, they were each credited individually. Also, throughout the years 1975 and 1976, while still performing as a member of the Grateful Dead, Weir was featured in the bay area band Kingfish, with jamming partners Matt Kelley and Dave Tolbert. Weir would later be featured on Kelley's 1987 album titled, A Wing and a Prayer. Shortly before the passing of Jerry Garcia in 1995, Weir formed a separate band which he named RatDog Revue, later shortened to simply RatDog, in which he was known for his uniquely raspy, deep tone while singing. The band covered classic songs all the way from The Beatles to Chuck Berry and Bob Dylan, while also performing numerous Grateful Dead numbers. After the disbandment in 1995 following Garcia's death, RatDog became Weir's primary band, although he did participate in the reformations of the Grateful Dead, those being in 1998, 2000, and 2002 as The Other Ones and in 2003, 2004, and 2009 as The Dead. At the end of 2009, Weir and Lesh came together and formed another new band, Furthur, nicknamed after Ken Kesey's famous psychedelic bus from the acid-test days. To this day, even at the ripe old age of 66, Bob Weir continues to promote the music and spirit of the Grateful Dead.
By the age of sixteen, Bobby had his own rag-tag gang of hooligans, which included his best friend Bob Matthews and his girlfriend Debbie Peckham. Fortunately, they all had guitars and played together on a regular basis drawing on various folk and rock influences like Joan Baez and the Kingston Trio. For Weir, however, the player he identified with most closely around that time was Jorma Kaukonen, future guitarist of the San Francisco legend, Jefferson Airplane, and friend of Jerry Garcia. New Years Eve of that year would provide Bobby with the opportunity to meet Garcia. Bobby and his friends were wandering the back alleys of Palo Alto searching for a club that would admit three sixteen year old boys when they heard a lingering sound that they instantly recognized as the strumming of a banjo. The sound led them to Dana Morgan's Music Store where they found a young Jerry Garcia plucking away on his banjo, waiting for his students to arrive. Since Weir's friend, Bob Matthews, was a student of Garcia's, they were able to sit down together and jam all night, leading to the inception of Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, then the Warlocks, and eventually the Grateful Dead, and Weir was just a kid.
Five years younger than Garcia and almost seven years younger than Lesh, Weir would remain stigmatized as "the kid" in the band for quite some time, a fact he would rather dismiss. Throughout the Grateful Dead's thirty year career, Weir enjoyed success as the rhythm guitarist as well as singing lead vocals for a large portion of the Dead's material, however, just like Pigpen, he didn't always get along with the other members of the band. Consequently, in the fall of 1968, the Dead played a few shows without Weir and Pigpen. Blair Jackson, author of Garcia: An American Life, explained that "Garcia and Lesh determined that Weir and Pigpen were not pulling their weight musically in the band... most of the band fights around this time were about Bobby's guitar playing." Of course, it couldn't have been that serious because later that year, the band came back around and took in Weir and Pigpen full time. The incident could have served as a smack in the face for Weir, as his guitar playing quality began to increase exponentially thereafter. Many years later during the late 1970's and with a uniquely defined sound, Weir began experimenting with various slide guitar techniques and was even seen up on stage playing the slide on various Grateful Dead songs. With an original sound and style influenced by artists like the hard bop pianist McCoy Turner and the American jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, Bob Weir turned the role of a rhythm guitarist into his own.
In addition to his work with the Grateful Dead, Weir played with a few other side projects. He produced his first solo album, Ace, in 1972, although members of the Grateful Dead served as the band, they were each credited individually. Also, throughout the years 1975 and 1976, while still performing as a member of the Grateful Dead, Weir was featured in the bay area band Kingfish, with jamming partners Matt Kelley and Dave Tolbert. Weir would later be featured on Kelley's 1987 album titled, A Wing and a Prayer. Shortly before the passing of Jerry Garcia in 1995, Weir formed a separate band which he named RatDog Revue, later shortened to simply RatDog, in which he was known for his uniquely raspy, deep tone while singing. The band covered classic songs all the way from The Beatles to Chuck Berry and Bob Dylan, while also performing numerous Grateful Dead numbers. After the disbandment in 1995 following Garcia's death, RatDog became Weir's primary band, although he did participate in the reformations of the Grateful Dead, those being in 1998, 2000, and 2002 as The Other Ones and in 2003, 2004, and 2009 as The Dead. At the end of 2009, Weir and Lesh came together and formed another new band, Furthur, nicknamed after Ken Kesey's famous psychedelic bus from the acid-test days. To this day, even at the ripe old age of 66, Bob Weir continues to promote the music and spirit of the Grateful Dead.