Bob Weir

Infobox musical artist
Name = Bob Weir


Img_capt = Bob Weir performing in 2007
Img_size = 250
Landscape = yes
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Robert Hall Weir
Alias =
Born = birth date and age|1947|10|16
San Francisco, California
Died =
Instrument = Guitar
Genre = Rock
Years_active = 1960s – present
Label = Warner Bros.
Arista
Grateful Dead Records
Associated_acts = Grateful Dead
Kingfish
Bobby and the Midnites
Ratdog
URL = [http://www.rat-dog.com/ www.rat-dog.com]
Notable_instruments =

Bob Weir (born Robert Hall Weir, October 16, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, most recognized as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the Grateful Dead disbanded, Weir performed with The Other Ones, later known as The Dead, together with other former members of the Grateful Dead. Weir also founded and played in several other bands during and after his career with the Grateful Dead, including Kingfish, the Bob Weir Band, Bobby and the Midnites, and his current band, RatDog.

Weir played mostly rhythm guitar during his career with the Grateful Dead. He is known for his unique style of complex voiceleading, bringing unusual depth and a new approach to the role of rhythm guitar expression.

Career

Weir was born in San Francisco, California and raised by his adoptive parents in the suburb of Atherton. He began playing guitar at age thirteen after less successful experimentation with the piano and the trumpet. He had trouble in school because of undiagnosed dyslexia and he was expelled from nearly every school he attended.McNally, Dennis. "A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead." New York: Broadway Books, 2002. ISBN 0767911857] One of these was the Fountain Valley School in Colorado, where he befriended John Perry Barlow, who, along with Robert Hunter, would in time become the two main lyricists for the Grateful Dead.

On New Year's Eve, 1963, 16-year-old Weir and another underage friend were wandering the back alleys of Palo Alto, looking for a club that would admit them, when they heard banjo music. They followed the music to its source, Dana Morgan's Music Store. Here, a young Jerry Garcia, oblivious to the date, was waiting on his students to arrive. Weir and Garcia spent the night playing music together and then decided to form a band. Originally called Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, the band was later renamed The Warlocks and eventually the Grateful Dead.

Weir played rhythm guitar and sang a portion of the lead vocals through all of the Dead's 30-year career. (In the fall of 1968, the Dead played some concerts without Weir and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan. These shows, with the band billed as "Mickey and the Hartbeats", were intermixed with full-lineup Grateful Dead concerts. Late in the year, the band relented and took Weir and Pigpen back in full time.) [McNally, p. 279, 284] [Scott, John W. et al. (1999). "DeadBase XI: The Complete Guide to Grateful Dead Song Lists", DeadBase, ISBN 1-877657-22-0, p. 8] In the late 1970s, he began to experiment with slide guitar techniques and perform certain songs during Dead shows using the slide. His unique guitar style is strongly influenced by the hard bop pianist McCoy Tyner and he has cited artists as diverse as John Coltrane, the Rev. Gary Davis, and Igor Stravinsky as influences.Thanks, Dennis!]

Weir's first solo album, "Ace", was released in 1972, with the members of the Grateful Dead performing as the band on the album, though credited individually. While continuing to perform as a member of the Grateful Dead, in 1975 and 1976 Weir played in the Bay Area band Kingfish with friends Matt Kelly and Dave Torbert. (He later contributed to Kelly's 1987 album "A Wing and a Prayer", on Relix Records). In 1978 he fronted the Bob Weir Band, with future Grateful Dead member Brent Mydland on keyboards. In 1980 he formed another side band, Bobby and the Midnites.

Shortly before Garcia's death in 1995, Weir formed another band, Ratdog Revue, later shortened to Ratdog. As of April 9, 2008, Weir has performed approximately 800 shows with Ratdog.Known for his raspy, deep tone, in Ratdog Weir sings covers by The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, and Willie Dixon while also performing many Grateful Dead classics. In addition, Ratdog performs many of their own originals, most of which were released on the album Evening Moods. Weir has also participated in the various reformations of the Grateful Dead's members, including 1998, 2000 and 2002 stints as The Other Ones and in 2003 and 2004 as The Dead.

Weir is an honorary member of the board of directors of the environmental organization Rainforest Action Network, along with Woody Harrelson, Bonnie Raitt, and John Densmore. He is also on the board of directors of the Rex Foundation.

Despite breaking his ribs in a tour bus accident in early October 2008, described in media outlets that "It only hurts when I breathe, laugh, or hold a guitar," Weir is expected to perform with the remaining members of the Grateful Dead (Lesh, Kreutzmann, and Hart) with Jeff Chimenti (Ratdog) on Keyboards and Warren Haynes (Gov't Mule, Allman Brothers) on Lead Guitar and Vocals, on October 13, 2008, in a get out the vote Concert for Change at Penn State University.

Personal life

On July 15, 1999 Weir married Natascha Muenter. They have two daughters, Shala Monet Weir and Chloe Kaelia Weir. Natascha's younger sister Leilani Munter is a race car driver in the NASCAR circuit.

Guitars

Throughout his career, Weir has used a wide variety of instruments and equipment. Early pictures of The Warlocks in concert show him playing a Gretsch Duo-Jet, [ [http://www.classicrockpage.com/newslet/newsgrap/dec99/grate.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.classicrockpage.com/newslet/issues/deciss3.htm&h=144&w=220&sz=14&hl=en&start=4&tbnid=281di-Kd-S-e9M:&tbnh=70&tbnw=107&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522the%2Bwarlocks%2522%2B%2522grateful%2Bdead%2522%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26sa%3DG Psychedelic News] ] and after the Warlocks became the Grateful Dead, Weir briefly played a Rickenbacker 365 as well as a Fender Telecaster before settling on his primary guitar for the following decade, the Gibson ES-335. [Hunter, Robert, Stephen Peters, Chuck Wills, Dennis McNally. "Grateful Dead: The Illustrated Trip." DK ADULT; 1 Amer ed edition (October, 2003). ISBN 0-7894-9963-0] Weir usually played a cherry red 1965 ES-335 until the band's hiatus in 1974, although he did occasionally use a Gibson ES-345. Weir played a black Gibson Les Paul in 1971. Weir can also be seen playing a sunburst ES-335 in The Grateful Dead Movie, filmed in October of 1974. During the early 1970s, Weir also used a 1961 or 1962 Gibson SG.

In 1974, Weir began working with Jeff Hasselberger at Ibanez to develop a custom instrument. [ [http://dozin.com/bobs/guitars/Ibanez/guitar.html Ibanez] ] Weir began playing the Ibanez 2681 during the recording of Blues for Allah; this was a testbed instrument with sliding pickups that Hasselberger used to develop several additional 2681s for use onstage, as well as Weir's custom "Cowboy Fancy" guitar, which he played from 1979 until the mid-1980s. [ [http://dozin.com/bobs/interview/weir.html Weir Interview] ] Weir began using a Modulus Blackknife at that point, and continued to play the Blackknife, along with a hybrid Modulus/Casio guitar for the "Space" segment of Grateful Dead concerts for the rest of that band's history. Weir's acoustic guitars include several Martins, a Guild, an Ovation, and a line of Alvarez-Yairi signature models.

Post-Grateful Dead, Weir has played a Modulus G3FH custom, but primarily uses a 1956 Fender Telecaster previously owned by his late half-brother, James Parber. [ [http://dozin.com/bobs/tele.htm Tele Story] ]

Discography

*"Ace" - Bob Weir (1972)
*"Kingfish" - Kingfish (1976)
*"Live 'N' Kickin'" - Kingfish (1977)
*"Heaven Help The Fool" - Bob Weir (1978)
*"Bobby & the Midnites" - Bobby and the Midnites (1981)
*"Where the Beat Meets the Street" - Bobby and the Midnights (1984)
*"" - Kingfish (1996)
*"Live" - Bob Weir and Rob Wasserman (1998)
*"Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions" - Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions (1999)
*"Evening Moods" - Ratdog (2000)
*"Live at Roseland" - Ratdog (2001)
*"Weir Here - The Best Of Bob Weir" - compilation (2004)

Notes

External links

* [http://www.rat-dog.com/ The Official Bob Weir & Ratdog Site]
* [http://www.ratdog.org/ Ratdog Fan Site]
* [http://www.culturecatch.com/vidcast/bob_weir Bob's Vidcast Interview on CultureCatch.com]
* [http://www.themoetrain.com/?page_id=28/ Bob Weir Audio Interview]