Bob Weir Explains Trey Anastasio Choice For Fare Thee Well
By Scott Bernstein May 20, 2015 • 1:25 pm PDT
When asked about why the “core four” chose Anastasio, Weir responded “I think, really, he’s the guy. 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.” Bob’s latest version of RatDog featured Steve Kimock on guitar, so perhaps that’s the non-singing guitarist Weir mentioned without naming names.
Bobby also shared a bit of backstory on Trey & Phil Lesh’s recent performance at Terrapin Crossroads. Weir revealed the first rehearsal for Fare Thee Well took place earlier in the day at Lesh’s restaurant/venue. “We put in a fair amount of work. It was one day, but a long day. Phil had it set up for us to play [that night], but I didn’t stick around. I was spent by the time we were done. I think Trey did stick around, but I don’t think he played much [laughs].” Phil and Trey wound up performing two songs with other musicians. As for what Dead songs we’ll hear at Fare Thee Well? “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.”
Weir addressed the health issues he’s been battling and the resulting operation, “The operation was a semi-success. It didn’t help my shoulder, but it helped my neck, which was also a situation. Going into six decades now, I’ve been hanging my head to the left to watch my chording hand, and it’s caused stress over decades. So I have to realign myself to play the instrument. What I have to do now is play without looking at my hands, so I’m doing lots of practice blind-folded. I’m forced to listen more intently to what I’m doing, and it takes me out of certain patterns I might fall into. I think it’ll have some pretty big payoff if I can do it.”
Head to Rolling Stone for the full interview including why Bobby liked to wear short shorts (“it’s always July under the lights”), his role as Jerry Garcia’s bag man and additional topics. Be sure to check out our Grateful Dead 50 tribute -the Songs Of Their Own video series:
