\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotograph by Devin Oktar Yalkin<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tBy then, I had fallen in love with the Grateful Dead. It\u2019s like they had 24 notes and the rest of the world had 12. That\u2019s how it sounded to me. I was like, \u201cWhere have all these notes been hiding?\u201d I liked it so much that I remember taking out my phone and just recording what was coming off of the Grateful Dead channel [on SiriusXM], because I didn\u2019t know what songs these were. I actually liked not knowing. I like knowing, but there\u2019s just as much fun in not quite understanding what moment you\u2019re listening to.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n \n\tI probably would have ended up playing Grateful Dead music even if I hadn\u2019t done it with Bobby. I have a way of proselytizing to people what their music means to me. Or, I suppose, in some way, I was reading Bobby\u2019s fortune as I was explaining to him and Mickey what the music really meant [to me] up in Don\u2019s office. Bob looked at me and said, \u201cDo you want to be our publicist?\u201d Then he said, \u201cWhat are you doing on March 7?\u201d And I said, \u201cWhatever you want me to do,\u201d and he invited me up to his studio in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n \n\tWhat happened next?<\/strong> \n\tI think probably what I was trying to do, as much as figure out what we could do together, was to try to impress upon them, like, \u201cWhat you\u2019re doing is cool. Don\u2019t do a software update. You have no idea how much we love this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t<\/p>\n \u201cI spent every day learning songs. It was like being an actor, immersing myself.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n\tMy generation had finished hearing everything. This homogenization of even things that were supposed to be randomized, like JACK FM; we\u2019d heard every classic song through Guitar Hero, <\/em>or other outlets. And when you\u2019ve heard it all, and then you hear Grateful Dead, it\u2019s the greatest gift, because you\u2019re like, \u201cAre you telling me there\u2019s another world of music that I could get into now?\u201d Imagine someone came up to you and said, \u201cThere\u2019s 20 more seasons of The Sopranos<\/a><\/em>.\u201d That\u2019s how it feels to become a Deadhead. Every fan of the music, at one point, liked what they heard and realized, \u201cOh, my God, I\u2019m about to get into a thing that\u2019s going to change my life.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tMayer and Weir in New York, 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotograph By JAY BLAKESBERG<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tHow was it playing the music with Bobby for the first time?<\/strong> \t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n \n\tSo that\u2019s when you signed on to Dead & Company?\u00a0<\/strong> \n\tAnd honest to God, I never dined out on it. I never counted any of it up. I had the gig, and I was going to do the gig as well as I could do the gig. I always knew that I could get it right the next tour. That\u2019s all I was thinking about. I knew the thing is too big to think about. If you really think about what this meant, how could you do it? How could you pull it off? I remember watching the Long Strange Trip<\/a><\/em> documentary on Amazon. That must have come out maybe two years after I joined the band, and I thought to myself, \u201cI am so glad I didn\u2019t know all of this before I took the stage with them for the first time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThen from that period on, it was like, \u201cOK, I got to go learn these songs.\u201d I spent every day learning songs. It was like being an actor and preparing for a role \u2014 immersing myself in the material. I basically stayed in the house and learned the tunes, but I was also falling in love with the tunes at the same time. The fuse was lit. I was in the car, driving a lot at that point, and I just had the Grateful Dead channel on Sirius. Every time I heard something, I\u2019d take a picture of the screen. \u201cOK, so, that\u2019s<\/em> what that one is called.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tBackstage in North Carolina, 2016<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJosh Goleman<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tWhat were some pivotal learning moments?\u00a0<\/strong> \n\t\u201cWell, what is this?\u201d \n\tSo I\u2019m having this really full experience, not just as a listener, but as a guitar player at the same time, which was so fun.<\/p>\n \n\tI remember telling people that I felt like a contractor \u2014 like somebody walked me into a space that had really good bones, and were like, \u201cCan you make this a high-end restaurant in six months?\u201d I look around and go, \u201cI can give you a restaurant in six months,\u201d and I just got to work. I would love to say that I had known every one of these songs front to back before I met Bobby, but that\u2019s not how life works. We get into stuff when we get into stuff.<\/p>\n \n\t<\/p>\n \u201cThere were moments where the landing gear would go up and we\u2019d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n\tTalk a bit about playing next to Bobby. Watching you both, it seemed like there was a lot of signaling going on.<\/strong> \n\tYou could tell yourself not to get nervous, you know exactly why you shouldn\u2019t be nervous, and your hands are going to shake. It\u2019s just a natural, physiological moment you have to break through to get comfortable through experience.\u00a0I was obsessed with trying to get it better. I loved the sport of people saying that I was basically a buffoon. Because obviously some of it\u2019s cartoonish, but some of the notes were good. I loved taking those notes and getting another crack at the ball. \u2026 It was very athletic for me. I want to get my pitch mechanics better. I want my mind to go slower. I want to spend more time in the song.<\/p>\n \n\tWe never talked about it. But towards the end, maybe from \u201923 on, and certainly the two Sphere<\/a> runs, we had done it for so long. How did I read his signals? I just knew the way his head moved \u2014 we all do \u2014 and had an understanding of what his instincts were night after night. It got to the point where, in those last few tours, he knew when I would step forward and really hit the gas. And because I\u2019d figured it out by then, I knew when to step back, look at Bobby and say, \u201cIt\u2019s yours again.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tWe were aligned. Bobby and I both had the same clock \u2014 where he knew what I was going to do, and he knew I\u2019d give it back and go, \u201cAll yours.\u201d There were times where Bobby started singing as a way of letting me know, \u201cThat\u2019s the end of your solo, son.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tMountain View, California, 2019<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a9 Jay Blakesberg<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tI spent a lot of shows in the beginning wondering if he was upset. I\u2019d think: \u201cI hope he\u2019s happy. He might not be. Oh, he just went and turned his guitar amp up. Does that mean he thinks I\u2019m too loud? Is someone going to come into my [dressing] room and say, \u2018Hey, can you turn your guitar down?\u2019\u201d Then one day, you walk up onstage and there\u2019s plexiglass between the amps and you go, \u201cI have a feeling I\u2019m a little too loud.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThis might be hard to quantify, but was there a time when you felt you finally belonged on that stage?\u00a0<\/strong> \n\t<\/p>\n \u201cI realized Bobby would entrust me with anything, and I would come through.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n\tThese were the things that we look back on now \u2014 all the fabric of the sadness \u2014 that made these loving feelings I have for him forever. We never got in a fight. When I felt like I had a little tenure, I could speak up. I think, in his eyes, I began as this kind of cocky kid who rolled in and went, \u201cI want to play this music. Let\u2019s go. Here\u2019s how I think it should be.\u201d And he\u2019s like, \u201cJust wait, just hold on a minute.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBut that\u2019s always been the way that I am. I\u2019m not trying to do anything other than enthusiastically get it to where it\u2019s great. And I think whatever conversations Bob had on the bus about me in the very beginning changed over the years.\u00a0By the end of it, the music taught me how to just play. You\u2019re allowed to get \u201cSlipknot!\u201d wrong. They love it when you do. That\u2019s why \u201cSlipknot!\u201d was written. It\u2019s like a water park, and sometimes you get water up your nose, and that\u2019s what you love. <\/p>\n \n\tWhat else changed over the years?<\/strong> \n\tEven as he got older, I started to give myself the responsibility of being another set of eyes and hands and ears. It was like, \u201cI want to put it where you want to put it. I want to help you get it to where you hear it.\u201d Because I think as the years went on, I knew what he was saying. He was ultimately right about where to put the song, where to make it relax.<\/p>\n \n\tI sat in with him with Wolf Bros<\/a> one night, and it was the best experience for me, because I think Wolf Bros was Bobby\u2019s opportunity to have a band where he\u2019s not collaborating with somebody. I always understood that. And when I got to see Bobby do Wolf Bros shows, I went, \u201cOh, if this is what he\u2019s thinking, I can give him that. I can give him that in Dead & Company.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAnd I think towards the end I did. I knew what he wanted and also started knowing that my best versions of some of these songs had already been played, that there were tours that probably had the versions of some of these songs that would go down in the books. So let\u2019s get it.<\/p>\n \n\tDead & Company at the Sphere<\/a> was an interesting undertaking in that it didn\u2019t allow for as much improvisation, but still provided a true Dead experience.\u00a0<\/strong> \n\tI really saw him enjoy a Vegas residency, and he got to be a little bit of Mr. Showbiz, in terms of [call times] every day. I think Bobby loved flying to Vegas for the big show, and having the same dressing room, and the same bus, and the same hallways.<\/p>\n \n\tIt was never spoken, but there was a moment I realized Bobby would entrust me with anything, and I would come through. Those final years, Bobby would be walked to the stage by his security guy, and I was the guy who took it from that point. Like an auxiliary. I would always take care of him.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tWhat went through your mind when Bobby died?<\/strong> \n\tI have a feeling that a lot of people were like, \u201cI don\u2019t know this guy or this music, but why is everyone I love really upset?\u201d And it\u2019s because this guy was so integral to the entire structure. He carried it. I mean, he couldn\u2019t explain it when it was here. You can\u2019t explain it when it\u2019s gone. How do you explain the loss of something that they tried to write books explaining the presence of?<\/p>\n \n\tAnd I get upset when I talk about it because that\u2019s the part \u2026 Now that I\u2019m on the other side of that, and obviously it\u2019s not the first time I\u2019d ever thought about life after Dead & Company, but I had no idea exactly what would light up, both in the things I\u2019m grateful for and the things that I\u2019m so sad not to have.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tYour eulogy<\/a> at Bobby\u2019s memorial in San Francisco was so perfect and loving. Did you struggle writing it, or did it just flow out?\u00a0<\/strong> \n\tYou said, \u201cI\u2019ll do it your way, Bob.\u201d What did that mean?\u00a0<\/strong> \n\t\u201cHis way\u201d is a short tip of the hat in which everything else is implied. It\u2019s \u201cVaya con Dios<\/em>.\u201d It\u2019s \u201cSee you down the road.\u201d In my mind, it\u2019s a violent simplification of emotion.\u00a0 And I was so emotional when I did it because I was proud that I had figured out how to honor him. I couldn\u2019t believe that I was going to press send and hated letting go of someone\u2019s hand, that it was going to be that short. But by the way, that\u2019s my greatest tribute to Bob Weir, the guy who couldn\u2019t wait [for me] to finish talking. I mean, he loved it by the end, but I\u2019m verbose. \u201cHis way\u201d is sending him off in his language, and I think he would\u2019ve been so touched. My offering was doing this thing I have never done before in my life, and probably never will again, which is: forgo language.<\/p>\n\n
Bobby and Mickey were kicking around this idea of taking Grateful Dead music and modernizing it, technologically. And I remember thinking, \u201cPlease don\u2019t do that,\u201d because what they didn\u2019t know, and what I could see, was that \u2014 and I think I said pretty close to this \u2014 the most state-of-the-art thing they could do in 2015 was to present the music exactly as they always had. Don\u2019t get bored. Don\u2019t get clever. If you just go analog Grateful Dead, without any modernization, it\u2019s going to be the most state-of-the-art thing to people my age and younger.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Bob-Weir-FOREVER-GRATEFUL-Mayer-LEAD.jpg?w=881\")
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I went up to the studio with maybe eight songs under my hands. And I remember recording it so I could listen back to it later and there being maybe eight seconds at a time that would sound like magic, for me. Like, \u201cOh, that, right there, was a spark\u201d \u2014 and the rest of it, me just cringing.\u00a0 The songs under my hands first were the ones that I think I gravitated to as a writer. They were a little simpler. They were a little more on the pop side in terms of the way they were written. And it didn\u2019t matter if I didn\u2019t know the other songs. There would just be these moments where the landing gear would go up and we\u2019d just lift.<\/p>\n\n
It was up there that I had this incredible offer to join whatever the band was going to be, to enter into that partnership. To me, that was like, \u201cI\u2019m going to be in the next Star Wars<\/a> <\/em>movie,\u201d or, \u201cI\u2019m going to play on the Yankees.\u201d I\u2019m joining an institution that is beyond an honor. It\u2019s invaluable. It\u2019s above anyone\u2019s ability to quantify what it is. I remember saying to Don Was, \u201cAm I in some form of the Dead now?\u201d And he was like, \u201cYeah, you are.\u201d We were on our way to dinner, and I was sitting in the car with Don, like, \u201cUm, does this mean I\u2019m in the Dead?\u201d Don is like, \u201cI think it means you\u2019re in the Dead.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Bob-Weir-FOREVER-GRATEFUL-goleman-EMBED.jpg?w=1024\")
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I knew \u201cDark Star,\u201d but I didn\u2019t know the core theme of the tune until I really kept listening to it, and broke it down after several versions and went, \u201cOK, I understand now.\u201d And this happened for every song. As I\u2019m learning how great \u201cRamble On Rose\u201d sounds, I\u2019m also learning it\u2019s in D. It moves from the one to the major two-seven. They must have not been precious about arrangements. They had something called \u201ca new One.\u201d No one has ever said this in music. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a new One\u2026 which means you just count from one again on this beat.\u201d
\u201cWell, does that put it in a different time signature?\u201d
\u201cWe don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
just lift.\u201d<\/p>\n
It changed over the years, because we both got to know each other and trust each other. And I also became more comfortable with the music. I\u2019ll give you an example: As much as I want to lean back at the very beginning when I\u2019m playing, I couldn\u2019t help overplaying in some of those first few tours. You just do. Even if I knew not to overplay, I\u2019m still going to overplay. It\u2019s going to be wordy. I have to adjust my way into the 10-ring on the target.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Bob-Weir-FOREVER-GRATEFUL-blakesberg-EMBED_3a1773.jpg\")
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The first couple of tours were proving to the audience that I had a right to be there. And the rest of the tours were proving to Bobby that I meant well for everything I was trying to do. You got to understand, I never quantified it. And I don\u2019t think Bob ever quantified it. Looking at it now, I think he never interacted with whatever that energy field was of adulation, or \u201cOh, my God, can you believe?\u201d He didn\u2019t account for it. And oddly, I didn\u2019t account for it \u2014 only when I heard what it meant to people.<\/p>\n
I learned exactly where Bobby wanted his tempos. That was huge, because tempos were important to Bob. Once he let me start the tunes, even the ones he sang, I put that fucker \u2014 the song, not him \u2014 in the right tempo so that Bobby could do his best stuff on it. I loved that part.<\/p>\n
Yeah. And I know the Sphere had a little of a hermetically sealed thing to it, if you are a purist when it comes to the vibrations of going to a Dead concert. But it was a big step forward in terms of how you could make the technology work with the music. And that is where the Bobby and John crossover was complete. Those last two Sphere concert runs, those residencies, is where Bob loved going over the show, knowing that you can\u2019t change the content because it takes them half a day to lock the [visuals].\u00a0<\/p>\n
When Bobby died, I thought, \u201cThese circuits are going to light up so bright. The love for him is going to be so off the charts, it\u2019s going to shock people who aren\u2019t in the know.\u201d And then I immediately thought, \u201cBoy, that\u2019s a lot of people who become disconnected from the mainframe.\u201d <\/p>\n
Well, I struggled with it because it all came out so quickly that it wouldn\u2019t fit Instagram<\/a>, and I didn\u2019t want to do \u201ccontinued in comments.\u201d I had been writing it since the day after he died.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I realized that none of what I could say was going to get me anywhere. The more I wrote, the further away I got. The more I wrote, the bigger the book got. I knew I had hit it because I started sobbing. And I wrote, \u201cOK, Bobby, I\u2019ll do it your way. Thank you for letting me ride alongside you. It sure was a pleasure.\u201d Do you have any idea how brutal that feels to be that simple? It broke me, because I had found the way to say it. When I looked at it, I just sobbed and went, \u201cGod damn it, this is going to be it, isn\u2019t it?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n