Bob Weir
Musician · 1947–2026 · San Francisco, California
Best known for
Guitar
Bob Weir was a San Francisco-born singer and guitarist best known as the rhythm guitarist of the Grateful Dead, whose path into music ran through the Bay Area folk and bluegrass coffeehouse scene of the early 1960s and whose later acoustic and Americana work threaded back to those traditional-music roots.
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- Born October 16, 1947 in San Francisco; died January 10, 2026 at age 78.
- Met Jerry Garcia on New Year's Eve 1963 in Palo Alto when Garcia was a banjo-playing local hero in the Bay Area bluegrass scene, sitting in with the Black Mountain Boys.
- Co-founded Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions in spring 1964 with Jerry Garcia and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan; the jug band evolved into The Warlocks and the Grateful Dead.
- Studied folk guitar in his teens with Jorma Kaukonen, then immersed himself in the Bay Area folk/bluegrass coffeehouse scene that ran in the same orbit as the Black Mountain Boys and the Wildwood Boys.
- Made guest appearances at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco, including a 2006 sit-in with The Waybacks.
- Toured in 2012 as the Weir, Robinson & Greene Acoustic Trio with Chris Robinson and Jackie Greene, exploring acoustic folk and Americana repertoire.
- Released the country/Western Americana solo album "Blue Mountain" (2016), inspired by his teenage ranch work in Wyoming, with most songs co-written with Josh Ritter.
- Brought roots and old-time material into the Grateful Dead and Dead & Company catalogs, including standards rooted in the bluegrass and country tradition.
