Bobby Weir, Part 1

Rich Mahan (0:01)

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The Good Ol Grateful Deadcast, the official podcast of The Grateful Dead. I'm Rich Mahan with Jesse Jarnow, exploring the music and legacy of The Grateful Dead for The Committed And The Curious.

Ladies and gentlemen, fellow Deadheads, welcome to season 13 of The Good Ol Grateful Deadcast. I'm your co-host Rich Mahan, thank you very much for tuning in.

In this episode of The Good Ol Grateful Deadcast, we pay tribute to the one and only Bobby Weir with a two-part look back at the life and career of this true original. Only fitting, don't you think?

There are some recent releases worth noting, first and foremost, check out the recently released Hi-Fi vinyl pressing of Working Man's Dead, as well as the very cool Reel to Reel version. Yes, you heard that right, Reel to Reel. Both of these high fidelity versions of Working Man's Dead are available exclusively at rhino.com, so hurry over there before they disappear. Also new on the release front is the new high res streaming subscription service, Play Dead. What you get with your subscription is 422 unique Grateful Dead dates, including 20 previously unreleased shows, with new vault releases every Tuesday, all curated by David Lemieux and mastered by David Glasser, so you know they sound fantastic. Check out PlayDead at dead.net. Head on over to dead.net/deadcast and check out all of our past episodes including the complete seasons 1 through 12, and you can link from there to your favorite podcasting platform so you can listen how, where and when you like to listen. Please help the Good Ol Grateful Deadcast by subscribing, sharing us with your friends on social media, hitting that like button, and if the spirit moves you, leave us a review. Very kind of you. Thank you very much. We do have transcripts for many of your favorite Deadcast episodes available for your reading pleasure. Head on over to dead.net/deadcastdashindex and check them out.

Bobby Weir. Man, what a gut punch to hear the news that he passed this past January. Every time I sit and re-realize he's gone, it still stops me for a minute. And ultimately in my head, I work around to how grateful I am for the music he made and the incredible creativity he blessed us with. I'm sure it comes as no surprise that we're kicking off this new Deadcast season by paying tribute to the other one, the uniquely original and inventive Bobby Weir. Here's Jesse Jarnow.

Jesse Jarnow (4:09)

If my math is correct, 2026 will mark the first summer since 1977 without some kind of tour or live residency by Bobby Weir. And I honestly probably haven't processed the fact that there aren't new date announcements to come.

There have been countless varieties of guitar heroes and cowboy singers over the past century, but only one Bobby Weir. And we'll be telling as much of his story as we can fit into two episodes. But before we dive too deep, we'll point to the Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions archival release and let 16-year-old Bobby Weir introduce himself, with a few assists by Jerry Garcia and some future Weirs.

Bob Weir (4:46)

My name is Bob Weir and I was originally from San Francisco and now live in Atherton. And I have nothing to say.

You won't get anything from me with my names. Oh, what am I doing?

SPEAKER_7 (5:01)

What do you do? What's your function?

Bob Weir (5:03)

Well, I play a whole mess of instruments, guitar. I sing, I dance.

SPEAKER_7 (5:33)

You tell funny stories.

Bob Weir (5:34)

You tell funny stories.

Bob Weir (5:36)

Yeah, I think I'll take advantage of this opportunity to tell you all a story.

Jesse Jarnow (5:40)

Our story over the next two episodes is how Bobby Weir got from this.

Bob Weir (5:44)

My name's Bob Weir.

Jesse Jarnow (5:45)

To this.

Bob Weir (5:46)

Joseph Campbell labeled me a conjurer one night. You know, he was watching us play, and he said, what you are is a conjurer, and I thought about it for a couple months, and decided, yeah, you're right. Yeah, Joe. Whenever he said anything, he was always right.

So I sort of see myself in that role these days.