Bob Weir’s Career Of Cowboy Songs Spotify Playlist

Next week Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir will officially issue Blue Mountain, a 12-song solo album that showcases his lifelong love of country-influenced songs. Weir’s first collection of completely new original music since 1978 can be streamed early thanks to NPR and this week’s Saturday Stream Spotify Playlist offers another opportunity to spin some Bobby-led tunes.

Weir just received a Lifetime Achievement honor at the Americana Music Awards and throughout his career he’s incorporated so-called “cowboy songs” into his playing. His fondness for twangy, rockabilly-style American music can certainly be heard across Blue Mountain, as well as in a number of songs Bobby has either written himself or covered live.

Colored in part by trips to Wyoming as a child and continued throughout his life, the influence is on display in Weir’s Grateful Dead songs such as “Mexicali Blues” and “Black Throated Wind” – both of which are represented on the playlist. While Weir didn’t sing every country song the Dead played (as evidence in this JamBase list of rarities), Bobby also ran lead on a number of country-leaning covers during the Dead’s long-running career. The playlist includes Dead covers of Marty Robbins’ “El Paso,” Johnny Cash’s “Big River,” Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried” and John Phillips’ “Me and My Uncle,” which were among the songs that became staples of the band’s live setlists.

Weir also worked some cowboy music into his solo albums Ace and Kingfish, examples of both can be heard on the playlist. The 15-song set can be streamed here: