Bob Weir

Although best known as a founder member of the Grateful Dead, guitarist Bob Weir has always enjoyed a parallel musical career working on solo projects and with the bands Kingfish, The Ratdog Quartet and Bobby And The Midnites. Weir has a unique style and in the early days of Grateful Dead this created a degree of tension between Weir and bandmate Jerry Garcia. Garcia didn't appreciate Weir's early experimentation with voiceleading - a musical term for creating interacting harmonies on an instrument. The friction forced Weir to take a break from the band in 1968, returning later in the year apparently re-energised and even more committed to developing his sound. Weir's style of rhythm playing became one of the main building blocks upon which the Grateful Dead's unique blend of rock, blues, country and jazz is based. Weir played guitar and often sang lead vocals during the Grateful Dead's 30-year career. Since then he has taken part in various Grateful Dead revival concerts and tours as well as performing with his band The Ratdog Quartet. A solo album, Blue Mountain was released in 2016 and was well-received by the music press. The album contains a collection of songs inspired by Weir's experiences as a teenage ranch hand in Wyoming. Outside the music industry he is active in a number of charitable fields, most notably as a director of the environmental pressure group The Rainforest Action Network.

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