In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Bob Weir dishes on a variety of topics including his new documentary, Jerry Garcia and the upcoming Fare Thee Well shows.
In talking about the documentary, Weir says he didn’t view it as a way to step outside of Jerry Garcia’s shadow. “I’ll never step out of Jerry’s shadow nor he out of mine,” he said. “People don’t really understand the dynamic we worked in, and perhaps when I get a chance to write a book, I can elucidate on that a bit. We worked together.”
On what he learned about himself following the movie, Weir said, “It drove home the point that I’m a guy who loves adventure. I need adventure in the music I’m going to be involved in or else it’s not going to hold my interest.”
The guitarist also briefly discusses his role as Garcia’s “bag man” on the road, saying that “nothing is particularly more difficult than anything else” to talk about.
When the topic of the Fare Thee Well shows came up, Weir said he’s in New York to work with Trey Anastasio on some material. “Having good fun doing it,” he added. Expanding on Trey, Weir said, “I think, really, he’s the guy.”
He added, “There are a couple of other guitarists who might be able to handle that load. One of the guitarists — and I’ll leave names out of this conversation — is real good but he doesn’t sing. And Trey does the whole thing, and he also gets what we’re up to. He was profoundly influenced by us early on, and he knows what we’re drawing from. He’s the right guy.”
Weir also recounted his time with Lesh and Anastasio at Terrapin Crossroads in early May, saying, “That was the first time we’ve convened for this project and that was just fine. We put in a fair amount of work.”
Weir continued, “I can’t bring to mind what songs we were working on, but there were a couple dozen. It’s safe to say a lot of your favorite chestnuts will be played. The point we’re making to the guys in general is: It’s not the playing that made us famous. It was the songs. I want to make sure we have the right songs trotted out.”
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