Oteil Burbridge on Bob Weir: "He was so unique as a human and a musician."
The Dead and Company bassist shared his thoughts on Bobby. I am honored to share them here.
It really is an honor to be a portal to share these words. Everything below is by Oteil Burbridge, first class bassist and person.
I can’t think of anyone that needed to play live music any more than Bob. It went past devotion, past dedication, past obsession. It seemed to me more like self identification. I think he felt it is what and who he was. I also cannot think of anyone who played more live shows. We could depend on it like the sun coming up.
He was so unique as a human and a musician. His mannerisms when he spoke were just as singular as the way he played guitar, sang, composed and lived day to day.
After I got the news I was talking with Jimmy Herring about which Bob song was our favorite. A silly premise with so many songs to choose from, but a catalyst for remembering him. It helps one realize just how deep our history went. (I still can’t decide between “Looks Like Rain” and “Cassidy “for whatever it’s worth.) Some people can write songs that just never get old.
Thank you Bob for pulling me into your orbit. There are no words that could ever encompass the last ten years we shared together. I’m so blessed to have been a part of it all. And thank you for being so generous with your time and sharing yourself with so many of us younger musicians. It does my heart good to see so many pictures of you with so many musicians that weren’t in the Grateful Dead. Thank you for including us. There is no higher form of musical grace.
To Natascha, Monet and Chloe, my heart breaks for you. And my heart goes out to you and all of your extended family. I’m so grateful for all the laughs we have shared over the last 10 years.
Lastly, if there is anything we can do to thank and honor Bob for all that he gave us it would be to fully live our life. At some point we’re all going to be gone. This life is such a gift, such a golden opportunity. Please don’t let someone else define it. Let it proceed by it’s own design. Follow that inner voice and go for broke!
A friend of mine noted that it was sad that Bob died at just 78 years old. I told him I thought Bob packed at least 146 years into it.
And now he’s with his brothers and sisters again on the other side.
Oteil Burbridge played with Bob Weir in Dead and Company from 2015-2025. He was the longest tenured Allman Brothers Band bassist, a member of the group from 1996 until their final show in 2014. Follow him at oteilburbridge.com.
Brothers and Sisters: the Allman Brothers Band and The Album That Defined The 70s was my third straight book to debut in the New York Times Non-Fiction Hardcover Bestsellers List, following Texas Flood: The Inside Story of Stevie Ray Vaughan and One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band. My first book was Big in China: My Unlikely Adventures Raising a Family, Playing the Blues and Becoming a Star in Beijing, about my experiences raising a family in Beijing and touring China with a popular original blues band. It was optioned for a movie by Ivan Reitman’s Montecito Productions. I am also a guitarist and singer who fronts two bands, Big in China and Friends of the Brothers, the premier celebration of the Allman Brothers Band.
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Very nice - thanks Alan - saw OTEIL many times w the ABB at The Beacon but never w Dead & Company - he summed up Weir the adventurer in his quote to you:
'A friend of mine noted that it was sad that Bob died at just 78 years old. I told him I thought Bob packed at least 146 years into it.'
Thank you Alan! I was blessed to meet Oteil at the Peach festival years ago, where we stood together in the hot afternoon sun watching Victor Wooten and family perform. How lucky was I, to be standing with one of the best bass players In the world, watching one of the other best in the world! It's probably a long shot, But I hope that Dead & Company will somehow continue.