Bob Weir Announces ‘Blue Mountain’ Cowboy Album & Solo Tour

At age 68 Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir has showed no signs of slowing down. Following a recently-completed, cross-country Summer Tour with Dead & Company, Bobby will return to the road this fall for a series of solo shows dubbed the “Campfire Tour.” The solo tour marks Weir’s first of the sort since 2013 and first non-Dead & Company jaunt since 2014. “Ace” has also revealed details of his new “cowboy album” titled Blue Mountain, which was written with Josh Ritter and produced by Josh Kaufman. The National’s Bryce Dessner, Aaron Dessner and Scott Devendorf are featured performers on the 12-track record.

Blue Mountain, which will be released via Columbia/Legacy on September 30, is Weir’s first solo album in over 10 years and his first album of entirely new music in over 30 years. Bobby’s new effort is said to be, “a deeply personal folk music tribute to the ranch stories and fireside songs of Bob’s youth, told new with amazing wisdom and heart.”

Weir is accompanied by a host of fellow musicians on the LP besides the Dessners and Devendorf including Ray Rizzo (drums, harmonium, harmonica, backup vocals), Joe Russo (drums), Jon Shaw (upright bass, piano), Rob Burger (keyboard, accordion, tuned percussion), Sam Cohen (electric guitar and pedal steel), Nate Martinez (guitars, harmonium, backup vocals), Jay Lane (drums, vocals), Robin Sylvester (upright bass, vocals, organ) and Steve Kimock (lap steel) as per Rolling Stone. The list of contributors mixes musicians from Weir’s RatDog band (Kimock, Lane and Sylvester) and a Furthur cohort (Russo) with indie-rockers (Dessners, Devendorf and Cohen) and veterans of the Brooklyn music scene (Shaw, Rizzo, Burger and Martinez). Brooklyn pop-trio The Bandana Splits, comprised of Annie Nero, Lauren Balthrop and Dawn Landes, provide backing vocals. Kaufman produced the record with engineering by Dan Goodwin. Blue Mountain is due September 30 and is currently available for pre-order in both CD and Digital formats with vinyl coming as well.

The tour will begin at the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael on October 7 followed by another Bay Area stop at the Fox Theater in Oakland on October 8. Bobby will then head down the coast for a performance at The Wiltern in Los Angeles on October 10. Weir travels to the Northeast to continue the run at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia on October 12 as well as two nights at Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre on October 14 and 15. The guitarist will celebrate his birthday on October 16th at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York and then ends the tour at the famed Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on October 19.

A pre-sale for tickets to Bob Weir’s “Campfire Tour” begins on August 9 at 10 a.m. local times and will be followed by public on-sales starting on August 12 at 10 a.m. local times. Every online ticket order will come with one copy of Blue Mountain on CD. A limited amount of Enhanced Experiences are available throughout the tour including two premium tickets in the first two rows, an invitation to attend soundcheck and more via CID Entertainment.

Blue Mountain Tracklist

• 1. Only A River
• 2. Cottonwood Lullaby
• 3. Gonesville
• 4. Lay My Lily Down
• 5. Gallop On The Run
• 6. Whatever Happened To Rose
• 7. What The Ghost Towns Know
• 8. Darkest Hour
• 9. Ki-Yi Bossie
• 10. Storm Country
• 11. Blue Mountain
• 12. One More River To Cross