Oteil Burbridge Talks Singing Lead With Dead & Company

One of the big stories coming into the latest Dead & Company tour was bassist Oteil Burbridge hinting the band would give him the opportunity to sing lead. Burbridge made his debut as Dead & Company lead vocalist on “China Doll” at Shoreline on June 3 and has also started to front the band on “Fire On The Mountain.” Oteil talked about singing “China Doll” and more in a new interview with the Washington Post.

“I never thought I would be singing lead at all when I started playing, much less in a stadium, much less with original members of the Grateful Dead, singing one of Jerry’s songs,” Burbridge told the post [Note: the conversation took place before his brother Kofi Burbridge’s health issues]. “It’s all very surreal.”

Dead & Company followed the Shoreline version with Oteil-sung “China Dolls” in Boulder and most recently at SPAC. The bassist also handled lead vocals for “Fire On The Mountain” at Fenway Park on Sunday.

“China Doll” plays a prominent role in Amir Bar-Lev’s Long Strange Trip documentary. “When they get to the part where Jerry is about to die, they play [‘China Doll’] and it just really brought it home for me,” Oteil said. “When did we start this, a year and a half ago? That’s when I zeroed in on that song. I really did connect with something meaningful and important there. It wasn’t just some random [song]. That was pretty heavy when I was watching it.”

Another topic broached was handling Phil Lesh’s role in Dead & Company. “Fortunately for me, I have a really good relationship with Phil and we’ve had some great talks since I joined the band,” Burbridge said. “The original members, they were all like, ‘You have to respond to this music in the way that it makes you feel because that’s the only way it’s going to be authentic.’”

Head to the Washington Post for more from Oteil about his relationship with the music of the Grateful Dead, losing his friends and bandmates earlier this year and additional topics.

[China Doll (6/3/17) | Captured by Nala ThaBoxer]