Tonight we feature the music of Grateful Dead lyricist and vocalist Bob Weir.
Bobby's had an interesting career from playing with the Dead and Kingfish to Bobby and the Midnights, an acoustic tour opening for the Jerry Band with Rob Wasserman all the way up to his current band Ratdog. The videos I've selected are a mix of different songs through his career.
First, from 1983, Bobby and the Midnights performing Easy to Slip from Switzerland:
Next we have what is probably the best song to come out of the Weir/John Barlow collaboration--Estimated Prophet. This song always struck me as it describes the phenomenon of California and the people it attracted. People thought if they make it to Califoria, life would be better only to realize that it was not the heaven they had hoped for. To me, it was one of Weir's strongest song writing efforts and was a nice compliment to Jerry's epic Terrapin Station found on the same album. I included this version because it's from the last show ever at JFK Stadium in Philly. I met my future wife several hours after this was played. JFK was torn down several years later.
Video quality is poor but the sound isn't bad:
Next is a nice little twosome of Bobby doing what he did best--playing cowboy tunes that still sounded great. Me & My Uncle--a John Phillips tune-- was always a great first set crowd pleaser and remains my wife's favorite Dead song. The "left his dead ass there by the side of the road" portion comes out of nowhere. It was the most-played Dead song live in the Dead's history according to some.
Big River always appealed to me for some reason I can't quite express. I liked the beat and the way the song flows and Bobby gave a different life and feel to the Johnny Cash classic:
Finally, from the present Weir band Ratdog doing Standing on the Moon with an intro interview with Bobby talking about Jerry. This is pretty sweet and I have to admire bobby for keeping the great Jerry songs alive:
Bobby's had an interesting career from playing with the Dead and Kingfish to Bobby and the Midnights, an acoustic tour opening for the Jerry Band with Rob Wasserman all the way up to his current band Ratdog. The videos I've selected are a mix of different songs through his career.
First, from 1983, Bobby and the Midnights performing Easy to Slip from Switzerland:
Next we have what is probably the best song to come out of the Weir/John Barlow collaboration--Estimated Prophet. This song always struck me as it describes the phenomenon of California and the people it attracted. People thought if they make it to Califoria, life would be better only to realize that it was not the heaven they had hoped for. To me, it was one of Weir's strongest song writing efforts and was a nice compliment to Jerry's epic Terrapin Station found on the same album. I included this version because it's from the last show ever at JFK Stadium in Philly. I met my future wife several hours after this was played. JFK was torn down several years later.
Video quality is poor but the sound isn't bad:
Next is a nice little twosome of Bobby doing what he did best--playing cowboy tunes that still sounded great. Me & My Uncle--a John Phillips tune-- was always a great first set crowd pleaser and remains my wife's favorite Dead song. The "left his dead ass there by the side of the road" portion comes out of nowhere. It was the most-played Dead song live in the Dead's history according to some.
Big River always appealed to me for some reason I can't quite express. I liked the beat and the way the song flows and Bobby gave a different life and feel to the Johnny Cash classic:
Finally, from the present Weir band Ratdog doing Standing on the Moon with an intro interview with Bobby talking about Jerry. This is pretty sweet and I have to admire bobby for keeping the great Jerry songs alive:
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