Bob Weir Wasn’t “The Other One.” He Was “Ace” (RIP)

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Genre, era, generation, nor country of origin can contain the grief that grips the music world on a cold Saturday night in January as word of the passing of Bob Weir is disseminated. He was the pup of the Grateful Dead, but the preeminent flamekeeper of the band’s legacy ever since Jerry’s passing in 1995. He was a cowboy poet, a rock ‘n roller, a singer, songwriter, guitar player, and a sage advisor to those in the culture that ran counter to the rest of the world, no matter where in the world they reside.

Some referred to him as “The Other One.” That was the name of the documentary film made about Bob Weir in 2014. That name wasn’t exactly a term of endearment or a ringing endorsement. In Grateful Dead lore, nobody would ever rate Bob Weir above Jerry Garcia. But Garcia himself always considered every member of the band equal, and the outfit a truly democratic collaboration. Part of that was just Jerry showing off his humility. But it’s also because he got to perform beside Bob Weir for so many years.

The Grateful Dead was indeed like a super group all unto itself with the talent it amassed, certified by how bassist Phil Lesh (RIP), percussionist Mickey Hart, and rhythm guitarist, songwriter, and secondary frontman Bob Weir were all able to launch solo careers both during Jerry Garcia’s time on Earth, and after.

It was Bob Weir’s ability to be selfless and subordinate to Jerry that made the chemistry of the Grateful Dead so legendary. But when it was his opportunity to take center stage, there was no wilting. Once a student of Garcia, Bob Weir specifically tooled his rhythm guitar style to Jerry’s natural form of playing. And even though he wasn’t as prolific, Bob Weir also contributed some of the most critically important songs to the Grateful Dead canon.

Bob Weir’s 1972 solo release called Ace deserves to be in the conversation for one of the band’s best studio efforts. With some exceptions, the album was the Grateful Dead band backing Bob. “Playing in the Band,” the border town-inspired “Mexicali Blues” with its superb chorus, and the most up-tempo song in the entire Grateful Dead repertoire, “One More Saturday Night,” they all come from the Ace album, and became mainstays of Grateful Dead sets.

So did Bob Weir’s “Weather Report Suite” from the Grateful Dead’s Wake of the Flood album. Like so many of Bob Weir’s contributions to the band, he co-wrote it with songwriter John Perry Barlow. Barlow was to Bob Weir what Robert Hunter was to Jerry Garcia. 

Robert Hall Weir was born in San Francisco on October 16th, 1947. Suffering from dyslexia as a child, he struggled in school, but excelled as a musician early on, playing piano, trumpet, and later guitar. It was on New Year’s Eve in 1963 when a 16-year-old Weir was wandering the streets of Palo Alto looking for a club to sneak into when he heard banjo music coming out of Dana Morgan’s Music store. Inside was Jerry Garcia, only 21 himself at the time.

Jerry had no idea it was New Year’s Eve. He was just there setting up to give lessons. Bob Weir became his only pupil for the night. Soon, The Warlocks were formed, eventually becoming The Grateful Dead.

Bob Weir’s presence in the band never wavered, nor did his friendship with Jerry. Like Jerry’s relief pitcher or 2nd in command, Weir would regularly lead songs as the band went from a primitive jug and bluegrass band, to the pinnacle band of psychedelia, to West Coast country and country rock, to funk, blues, plain ol’ rock ‘n roll, and everything in between. There were better players. There were better singers. But there was only one Bob Weir.

After Jerry Garcia passed, Bob Weir did his best to keep the legacy of The Grateful Dead going through projects direct and indirect. RatDog Revue became the name if his solo band, later shorted to RatDog. But Weir also participated with the remaining Grateful Dead members in The Other Ones, The Dead, Further with Phil Lesh, and other on-and-off iterations, with Bob singing his own songs, and some of Jerry’s.

In 1994, Bob Weir was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the rest of The Grateful Dead. In 2024, the band was bequeathed The Kennedy Center Honors. In 2016, Weir was specifically given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Americana Music Association.

But the thing about the Grateful Dead and Bob Weir is, none of the accolades ever mattered. The were the ultimate grassroots band, the the ultimate underground heroes. They never really had a hit. They never were really given the credit they were due in their era. They just kept crafting a magic that most other bands could never concoct until it swelled out of clubs to arenas, then stadiums, then an entire cultural phenomenon of tens of thousands of people following them around the country full-time.

It was the chemistry. It was Bob Weir’s selflessness. It was the amalgam of American music all fused together in one long extended jam that allowed The Grateful Dead to open unexplored pathways in the brains of music fans of all stripes, and revolutionize music in magnanimous and monumental ways that are still felt present and palpably all across music to this very day.

Bob Weir—and Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh who preceded him in death—they were not mere “musicians.” They were the deliverers of musical incantations that made life worth living, made the ethereal feel ever-present, and made the world spin a little more perfectly.

Bob Weir leaves us, and that means one less piece of the Grateful Dead puzzle left behind on Earth. It means the moments and music they made are a little further off in the distance, and there will be no more coloring the moments of the future. But the past, present, and future are all still owed to The Grateful Dead. From the nightly performances of Billy Strings, to Tyler Childers covering Bob Weir’s “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” to Sturgill Simpson sitting in with Weir, the torch will pass on. Because the music that Bob Weir and The Grateful Dead made was for forever.

Bob Weir was 78.

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