Bob Weir facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Bob Weir
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Bob Weir performing in 2009
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| Birth name | Robert Hall Parber |
| Born | October 16, 1947 San Francisco, California, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1963–present |
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Robert Hall Weir (/wɪər/ WEER; born October 16, 1947) is an American musician and songwriter. He is best known as a founding member of the famous band Grateful Dead. After the Grateful Dead stopped performing in 1995, Weir played with other former members in bands like The Other Ones and The Dead.
Weir also started and played in several other bands. These include Kingfish, the Bob Weir Band, Bobby and the Midnites, Scaring the Children, RatDog, and Furthur. He led Furthur with former Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh. In 2015, Weir joined with Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann (also from Grateful Dead) and new members John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, and Jeff Chimenti. They formed the band Dead & Company.
During his time with the Grateful Dead, Weir mainly played rhythm guitar. He also sang many of the band's rock & roll and country & western songs. In 1994, he was honored by being added to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Grateful Dead.
Contents
Early Life and Music Beginnings
Weir was born in San Francisco, California. He was adopted and raised by Frederic and Eleanor Weir in Atherton. He started playing guitar at age thirteen. Before that, he tried the piano and the trumpet, but they didn't work out as well.
Weir had trouble in school because of undiagnosed dyslexia. He even had to leave several schools, including Menlo School and Fountain Valley School. At Fountain Valley School, he met John Perry Barlow, who would later write songs for the Grateful Dead.
On New Year's Eve in 1963, when Weir was 16, he was looking for a club in Palo Alto. He heard banjo music coming from Dana Morgan's Music Store. Inside, he found 21-year-old Jerry Garcia. Weir and Garcia spent the night playing music together. They decided to form a band. The Beatles greatly influenced their music. Bob Weir said, "The Beatles were why we turned from a jug band into a rock 'n' roll band." Their band was first called Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions. Later, they became The Warlocks and then the Grateful Dead.
Career Highlights
Bob Weir played rhythm guitar and sang many of the main vocals throughout the Grateful Dead's 30-year career. In late 1968, the band played some shows without Weir. This led to a time of great improvement in Weir's guitar playing. Phil Lesh, the bassist, said he was "astonished" by Weir's unique style. Lesh described Weir's playing as "quirky, whimsical and goofy." He noted Weir's ability to play complex guitar chords that sounded like they were played on a keyboard.
In the late 1970s, Weir started using slide guitar techniques. His guitar style was influenced by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner. He also mentioned artists like John Coltrane, Rev. Gary Davis, and Igor Stravinsky as influences.
Weir's first solo album, Ace, came out in 1972. The Grateful Dead members played on the album, but they were credited individually. While still with the Grateful Dead, Weir also played in the band Kingfish in 1975 and 1976. In 1978, he led the Bob Weir Band. In 1980, he formed another band called Bobby and the Midnites.
Just before Jerry Garcia passed away in 1995, Weir formed a new band called RatDog Revue, later shortened to RatDog. With RatDog, Weir plays songs by artists like The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Chuck Berry. He also performs many Grateful Dead songs and RatDog's own original music.
Weir has been part of several reunions of the Grateful Dead's members. These include performances as The Other Ones and The Dead. In 2009, Bob Weir and Phil Lesh formed a new band called Furthur. The name honored Ken Kesey's famous painted bus.
In 2011, Weir started the Tamalpais Research Institute, also known as TRI Studios. This is a high-tech recording studio. It is used to stream live concerts over the internet in high-definition. In 2012, Weir toured with Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes and singer/songwriter Jackie Greene.
RatDog started performing again in March 2013. The RatDog Quartet, with Weir, Jay Lane, Robin Sylvester, and Jonathan Wilson, played their first show on March 3.
On April 25, 2013, Weir felt unwell onstage during a Furthur show. He had to leave the stage. He performed again two days later. However, a representative announced that Weir would need to rest for several weeks. He returned to performing that summer.
On April 23, 2014, a documentary film about Bob Weir called The Other One: The Long Strange Trip of Bob Weir was shown for the first time.
In August 2014, Weir had to cancel all his upcoming shows for the rest of the year. This included concerts with Ratdog and Furthur.
In July 2015, Weir joined the other living original members of the Grateful Dead: Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, and Phil Lesh. They played three shows in Chicago. These four members were joined by Jeff Chimenti on keys, Phish's Trey Anastasio on lead guitar and vocals, and Bruce Hornsby on piano. These concerts, called "Fare Thee Well," celebrated 50 years of the Grateful Dead. They were planned as the original members' last performances together. Due to high demand, two more "Fare Thee Well" concerts were added in California.
On October 5, 2015, Weir performed with Ratdog for a special 60th Birthday Bash for Steve Kimock. This was Ratdog's first performance since Weir's 2014 tour cancellations.
In late 2015, Weir teamed up with Mickey Hart, Billy Kreutzmann, John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, and Jeff Chimenti to form Dead & Company. They played many shows, including a New Year's Eve run. The band finished its final tour on July 16, 2023. On January 31, 2024, the band announced they would perform at Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada. They initially announced eighteen shows, but extended it to thirty shows, ending in August 2024.
In May 2016, Weir was a guest speaker and performer at the Einstein Gala in Toronto, Canada. He spoke about how science and innovation influenced him. Weir also confirmed in an interview that he was writing a book.
In June 2016, at the Bonnaroo Arts And Music Festival, Weir received the first-ever Les Paul Spirit Award. This award honored his talent and his innovative approach to music and technology.
Weir received the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2016 Americana Honors & Awards in Nashville, TN.
In September 2016, Weir released a new album of "cowboy songs" called Blue Mountain. He then went on a tour starting in October 2016. The album was inspired by his time working on a ranch in Wyoming when he was fifteen.
In 2018, Weir formed a band called Wolf Bros. The group started as a trio with Weir on guitar and vocals, Don Was on upright bass, and Jay Lane on drums. They toured the U.S. In late 2020 and early 2021, the band played concerts at TRI Studios. They added Jeff Chimenti on keyboards and Greg Leisz on pedal steel guitar. Later, they added a horn and string section called the Wolfpack. This larger group is now known as Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros.
Personal Life
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On July 15, 1999, Weir married Natascha Münter in Mill Valley, California. They have two daughters, Shala Monet Weir and Chloe Kaelia Weir. Bob Weir's sister-in-law is Leilani Münter, a former race car driver. Weir is a long-time vegetarian and supports animal rights. He helped start Farm Sanctuary, an organization that rescues farm animals.
Weir is on the board of directors for several foundations, including the Rex Foundation and the Furthur Foundation. He is also on the advisory board of the Jerry Garcia Foundation. He is an honorary board member of the environmental group Rainforest Action Network. He is also on the honorary board of Little Kids Rock, a non-profit that provides free musical instruments and lessons to children in public schools.
Guitars
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Early pictures show Bob Weir playing different guitars. He played a Gretsch Duo-Jet, a Rickenbacker 365, and a Guild Starfire IV. He also played a Fender Telecaster. For about ten years, his main guitar was a cherry red 1965 Gibson ES-335. He can also be seen playing a sunburst ES-335 in The Grateful Dead Movie. In the early 1970s, Weir also used a Gibson ES-345, a 1961 or 1962 Gibson SG, and a black Gibson Les Paul.
In 1974, Weir started working with Jeff Hasselberger at Ibanez to create a custom guitar. Weir used the Ibanez 2681 while recording Blues for Allah. This guitar helped develop other 2681s for his live shows. He also got his custom "Cowboy Fancy" guitar, which he played from 1976 until the mid-1980s. After that, Weir started using a Modulus Blackknife. He continued to play the Blackknife and a Modulus/Casio hybrid guitar for the "Space" part of Grateful Dead concerts. Weir's acoustic guitars include several Martins, a Guild, an Ovation, and his own line of Alvarez-Yairi signature models.
With his bands after the Grateful Dead, Weir has played a Modulus G3FH custom, a Gibson ES-335, and a 1956 Fender Telecaster. This Telecaster used to belong to his late half-brother, James Louis Parber.
In August 2016, Weir said that he only used a Martin acoustic guitar to record his solo album, Blue Mountain.
Since 2017, Weir has worked with D'Angelico Guitars to create several signature guitars. The Premier, a semi-hollow guitar, was released in 2017. The Deluxe Bedford, a solid-body guitar, was released in 2020.
Discography
Grateful Dead and related bands
- Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions – Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions (1999)
- The Strange Remain – The Other Ones (1999)
- Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead – Fare Thee Well (2015)
Solo albums
- Ace (1972)
- Heaven Help the Fool (1978)
- Weir Here – The Best of Bob Weir (2004) – compilation
- Blue Mountain (2016)
Kingfish
- Kingfish (1976)
- Live 'n' Kickin' (1977)
- Kingfish in Concert: King Biscuit Flower Hour (1996)
Bobby and the Midnites
- Bobby and the Midnites (1981)
- Where the Beat Meets the Street (1984)
Bob Weir and Rob Wasserman
- Live (1998)
- Fall 1989: The Long Island Sound (2013) – also Jerry Garcia Band
RatDog
- Evening Moods (2000)
- Live at Roseland (2001)
Wolf Bros
- Live in Colorado (2022)
- Live in Colorado Vol. 2 (2022)
With other artists
- Gathering – Josh Ritter (2017)
- Bear's Sonic Journals: Dawn of the New Riders of the Purple Sage – New Riders of the Purple Sage (2020)
- Bear's Sonic Journals: Sing Out! – various artists (2024)
Videos
- Move Me Brightly (2013)
- The Other One: The Long, Strange Trip of Bob Weir (2015)
See also
In Spanish: Bob Weir para niños
