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Breaking news, dead & company plays their final show as a band in san francisco at deadhead-packed oracle park.

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The  long strange trip  made its final stop.

Deadheads from all corners of the world flocked to San Francisco’s Oracle Park Sunday night to see iconic jam band the Grateful Dead’s successor, Dead & Company, play the last show of their ‘Final Tour.’

Two of the surviving members of the Grateful Dead, Bob Weir and Mickey Hart — along with singer-songwriter John Mayer, ex-Allman Brothers Band bassist Oteil Burbridge, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and newly added drummer Jay Lane (who replaced one of the band’s original drummers, Bill Kreutzmann, for the final tour) — thrilled fans in the town where the original Dead was formed in 1965.

Kicking off their last run of shows on Friday, over 40,000 fans had packed into the ballpark each night, with all three shows sold out.

For their final show, Deadheads were treated to some of the band’s more popular but cherished tunes, like “Bertha” and “Althea” during their first set, and after the intermission, heard Mayer slide on the guitar and bop around on stage to the likes of “Help on the Way” and “Cumberland Blues.”

The band’s encore and final performance ended with “Truckin’,” “Brokedown Palace,” and closed with “Not Fade Away” — accompanied by a dazzling drone performance above the stadium — before Dead & Company gave their last bow to the audience.

For Deadheads tuning in via live stream through Nug.net — a live concert streaming service that had the exclusive rights to broadcast the show — the experience was less than ideal, with many missing segments of the show due to login issues or not being able to access their accounts altogether for the final hurrah.

‘The Final Tour’ started in Los Angeles on May 19, spanning to major US cities like New York and Chicago.

Showing love from the Big Apple , the Empire State Building took “tie dye to the skies,” illuminating the building in rainbow colors in honor of their final performance.

Dead & Company breathed new life into a fading culture after its formation in 2015. 

It expanded its already diehard fan base to new lengths when adding Mayer, 45, to fill in the enormous shoes left by legendary frontman Jerry Garcia — who died in 1995 from a heart attack at 53 years old.

Traditional Deadheads were originally against the idea of Mayer — commonly perceived as a popish, billboard guitar player due to some of his solo work — being integrated as one of the faces of their decades-old lifestyle when it was first announced eight years ago.

The guitarist first discovered the band in 2011 when he heard “Althea” during a random streaming session.

“When Grateful Dead music found me, it was the perfect moment,” Mayer said in a 2016  interview with CBS Sunday Morning , “For me, [Grateful Dead songs] rekindled the color of music.”

After linking up with Weir years later in 2015 for a jam session, the two rockers began laying the groundwork for Dead & Company.

After the first summer tour, it became apparent to many that Mayer’s fluency and freedom with scaling the guitar, charismatic mannerisms on stage, and blues-toned voice played homage to Garcia and became a beloved and embraced addition to the scene.

Mayer brought with him an explosion of younger millennials and Gen Zers, who were quickly exposed to the band’s thick catalog of live performances, with some even connecting with their parents over the music due to the band’s span through multiple generations.

“I know that the music will continue, but it’s heartbreaking to see ‘my’ version of the Dead end,” Aidan Chism, 20, of Indiana, told The Post — saying he went to his first Dead & Company show in 2016 with his dad, and has been to 13 since.

“The memories will always be tied to bonding with my dad, and the transitional periods of my life from high school, through COVID, and now college. I’ve met so many friends traveling to shows, and have introduced my own friends to the music and they’ve fallen in love with it.”

The band has toured regularly each summer since 2015 — except for 2020 due to the pandemic.

Drones during Space. #DeadandCompany #DeadandCoFinalTour #drones pic.twitter.com/P5npxs7a2K — Freedom (@sfmuller73) July 17, 2023

Weir, 75, was only 16 years old when he met Garcia in Palo Alto in 1963 — forming a jug band with the banjo player-turned-guitarist that would later transcend into the psychedelic rock band the Grateful Dead — announced in September of 2022 Dead & Company would be hanging it up after the 2023 tour.

“Well, it looks like that’s it for this outfit,” Weir  tweeted . “But don’t worry we will all be out there in one form or another until we drop.”

But Weir, along with drummer Hart, is no stranger to goodbyes.

Months before Dead & Company’s formation — Weir, Hart, original bassist Phil Lesh, and Kreutzmann performing as ‘The Dead’ had their ‘Fare Thee Well’ tour to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead.

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Dead & Company Detail Final Tour With 2023 Concert Dates

By Matthew Strauss

Dead & Company have revealed the details of the concerts that will comprise their final tour . The U.S. shows take place in May, June, and July 2023. Take a look at the band’s schedule below.

Dead & Company played their first shows in 2015. The lineup for the final tour includes Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, John Mayer, and Bob Weir (with Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti).

Read the 2017 feature “ The Grateful Dead: A Guide to Their Essential Live Songs .”

All products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Dead & Company:

05-19 Inglewood, CA - Kia Forum 05-20 Inglewood, CA - Kia Forum 05-23 Phoenix, AZ - Ak-Chin Pavilion 05-26 Dallas, TX - Dos Equis Pavilion 05-28 Atlanta, GA - Lakewood Amphitheatre 05-30 Charlotte, NC - PNC Music Pavilion 06-01 Raleigh, NC - Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek 06-03 Bristow, VA - Jiffy Lube Live 06-05 Burgettstown, PA - The Pavilion at Star Lake 06-07 St. Louis, MO - Hollywood Casino Amphitheater 06-09 Chicago, IL - Wrigley Field 06-10 Chicago, IL - Wrigley Field 06-13 Cincinnati, OH - Riverbend Music Center 06-15 Philadelphia, PA - Citizen’s Bank Park 06-17 Saratoga Springs, NY - Saratoga Performing Arts Center 06-18 Saratoga Springs, NY - Saratoga Performing Arts Center 06-21 Queens, NY - Citi Field 06-22 Queens, NY - Citi Field 06-25 Boston, MA - Fenway Park 06-27 Noblesville, IN - Ruoff Music Center 07-01 Boulder, CO - Folsom Field 07-02 Boulder, CO - Folsom Field 07-03 Boulder, CO - Folsom Field 07-07 George, WA - The Gorge 07-08 George, WA - The Gorge 07-14 San Francisco, CA - Oracle Park 07-15 San Fransisco, CA - Oracle Park

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Dead & Company Announce ‘The Final Tour’ Dates For 2023

Dead & Company have announced the dates and venues for their final tour, set to run from mid-May to mid-July of 2023. The  Grateful Dead  offshoot featuring Bob Weir ,  Bill Kreutzmann , Mickey Hart ,  John Mayer ,  Oteil Burbridge , and  Jeff Chimenti  previously revealed that the 2023 outing will be the last for this outfit , which formed in 2015.

Dead & Company’s last ride will kick off on May 19th and 20th at Los Angeles, CA’s  Kia Forum . The group will continue on from there to amphitheaters in Phoenix, AZ (5/23); Dallas, TX (5/26); Atlanta, GA (5/28); Charlotte, NC (5/30); Raleigh, NC (6/1); Bristow, VA (6/3); Burgettstown, PA (6/5); and St Louis, MO (6/7). On Friday, June 9th and Saturday, June 10th, Dead & Company will pay their last visit to Chicago, IL’s Wrigley Field before moving along to Cincinnati, OH’s  Riverbend Music Center  (6/13) and Philadelphia, PA’s  Citizens Bank Park (6/15).

Following two-night runs at Saratoga Springs, NY’s  Saratoga Performing Arts Center  (6/17, 6/18) and New York, NY’s  Citi Field (6/21, 6/22), the East Coast portion of the tour will wrap up with shows at Fenway Park  in Boston, MA (6/25) and  Ruoff Music Center  (formerly known as Deer Creek) in Noblesville, IN (6/27). Dead & Company will then head west once again for a three-night run at Boulder, CO’s Folsom Field over Independence Day weekend (7/1, 7/2, 7/3) and a two-night stand at The Gorge in George, WA (7/7, 7/8) before wrapping up  The Final Tour in the Grateful Dead motherland with their first-ever shows at San Francisco’s Oracle Park .

Related: Dead & Company 2022 Tour Recap: Highlights, Stats, & Top Shows

Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, and Bill Kreutzmann, the three Dead & Company members who also played in the Grateful Dead, weighed in on the end of this chapter when the finality of the 2023 tour was confirmed.

“I want you to know that this has all been because of you,” Hart said in a post about the final run of Dead & Co shows. “When we saw what Fare Thee Well meant to all of you, and how good it felt to be back together, we knew there was a chance for a second life, another dance around the sun. Little did I know the life [Dead & Company] would have. I’m so looking forward to the festivities that lie ahead. This tour will be one for the books.”

“The Grateful Dead always felt timeless from our very beginnings at the Acid Tests where “time” did some funny things so we left it behind altogether,” added Kreutzmann in a post of his own. “This music will always exist, always evolve, always be the soundtrack of our ever changing lives. But the form changes. It always has, from when we invited Mickey to join the band to the many shapes and forms it took after Jerry [ Garcia ] left us. And so it’s almost time for another change. I have loved this chapter with Dead & Company, as we got to explore The Music with some new interpreters and different antennas, but we always knew it was just a chapter. The Music never stops.”

Weir cut right to the chase in expressing the same sentiments in his comment: “Well it looks like that’s it for this outfit; but don’t worry we will all be out there in one form or another until we drop.”

To ensure that tickets get directly into the hands of fans, advance pre-sale registration powered by  Seated is now available here . Artist pre-sale begins Wednesday, October 12th at noon local venue time and runs through Thursday, October 13th at 10:00 p.m. local venue time. Advance registration does not guarantee tickets. Supplies are limited.

Guests who prefer an enhanced experience can purchase a variety of VIP and Travel Packages. Packages include seamless venue access, early GA entry, pre-show lounge with food and a cash bar, exclusive merchandise, or travel packages for multi-night runs in various cities. Packages from 100X Hospitality will go on sale October 12th at noon local venue time. For full details, click here .

Tickets go on sale to the general public beginning Friday, October 14th at 10 a.m. local venue time via the band’s website . Click below to view a complete list of dates.

Dead & Company –  The Final Tour 2023 Dates

Fri May 19 | Los Angeles, CA | Kia Forum Sat May 20 | Los Angeles, CA | Kia Forum Tue May 23 | Phoenix, AZ | Ak-Chin Pavilion Fri May 26 | Dallas, TX | Dos Equis Pavilion Sun May 28 | Atlanta, GA | Lakewood Amphitheatre Tue May 30 | Charlotte, NC | PNC Music Pavilion Thu Jun 01 | Raleigh, NC | Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek Sat Jun 03 | Bristow, VA | Jiffy Lube Live Mon Jun 05 | Burgettstown, PA | The Pavilion at Star Lake Wed Jun 07 | St. Louis, MO | Hollywood Casino Amphitheater Fri Jun 09 | Chicago, IL | Wrigley Field Sat Jun 10 | Chicago, IL | Wrigley Field Tue Jun 13 | Cincinnati, OH | Riverbend Music Center Thu Jun 15 | Philadelphia, PA | Citizen’s Bank Park Sat Jun 17 | Saratoga Springs, NY | Saratoga Performing Arts Center Sun Jun 18 | Saratoga Springs, NY | Saratoga Performing Arts Center Wed Jun 21 | New York, NY | Citi Field Thu Jun 22 | New York, NY | Citi Field Sun Jun 25 | Boston, MA | Fenway Park Tue Jun 27 | Noblesville, IN | Ruoff Music Center Sat Jul 01 | Boulder, CO | Folsom Field Sun Jul 02 | Boulder, CO | Folsom Field Mon Jul 03 | Boulder, CO | Folsom Field Fri Jul 07 | George, WA | The Gorge Sat Jul 08 | George, WA | The Gorge Fri Jul 14 |San Francisco, CA | Oracle Park Sat Jul 15 | San Francisco, CA | Oracle Park

  View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Dead & Company (@deadandcompany)

Bob Weir Shot Down Reports That Dead & Company Won’t Tour After 2022: ‘News To Me’

In an era of fake news, social media gossip, and rumors galore, sometimes going straight to the source is the way to do it. After Dead and Company released the news of their latest tour in late March, fans were thrilled the band would be getting back together. A hodgepodge of Grateful Dead members and new musicians carrying on the legacy of the late Jerry Garcia, Dead & Company includes Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, John Mayer , and Bob Weir, with Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti. Their 2022 set is slated to quick off on June 11 in LA at Dodger Stadium and runs through July, with a two-night stand at in New York on July 15 and July 16.

And for all the excitement that news of the band’s band’s seventh tour since forming in 2015 caused, even more hullaballoo broke out over a report that this would, in fact, be their last tour together. But as band member Bob Weir tweeted earlier today, that’s news to him! After Rolling Stone published a tweet confirming the band would stop touring after this year, he pretty much put the rumor to rest:

News to me… https://t.co/Yjf1aCkwRA — Bobby Weir (@BobWeir) April 8, 2022

The body of the story doesn’t quite assert what the tweet does, relying on rumors that this might be the last tour, and not really asserting that. So perhaps something got lost in translation along the way. Anyway, it comes back to good news for Dead & Company fans in the end.

Music | Dead & Company kicked off farewell tour…

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Music | oakland airport to be renamed ‘san francisco bay oakland international airport’ after commission vote, music | dead & company kicked off farewell tour with a soaring show in la, “i need a miracle.” it’s been deadhead code for decades.

“I need a miracle.” It’s been Deadhead code for decades, long before Dead & Company brought three surviving members of the legendary San Francisco group together with singer-guitarist John Mayer in 2015 to keep the music of the Dead alive. In the parlance of the parking lot, it’s a prayer, a plea from the ticketless to the ticketed for a way into the show.

Now the miracles are running out. For Dead & Company, despite success enough to fill arenas and stadiums, this is the final tour. What began at the Forum on Friday and Saturday will end at Oracle Park in San Francisco on July 14-15.

John Mayer of Dead & Company performs on the first of two nights at the KIA Forum in Inglewood on Friday, May 19, 2023. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)

Mickey Hart of Dead & Company performs on the first of two nights at the KIA Forum in Inglewood on Friday, May 19, 2023. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)

Dead & Company performs on the first of two nights at the KIA Forum in Inglewood on Friday, May 19, 2023. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)

Bob Weir of Dead & Company performs on the first of two nights at the KIA Forum in Inglewood on Friday, May 19, 2023. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)

John Mayer of Dead & Company performs at the KIA Forum in Inglewood on Friday, May 19, 2023. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)

Jay Lane of Dead & Company performs on the first of two nights at the KIA Forum in Inglewood on Friday, May 19, 2023. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)

From left, long time Dead & Company fans Andy Bielanow and Clay Archer pose for a photograph before their performance at the KIA Forum in Inglewood on Friday, May 19, 2023. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)

From left, Wendy Calhoun, Nichole Banks and Allison Wolcott pose for a photograph before attending Dead & Company’s performance at the KIA Forum in Inglewood on Friday, May 19, 2023. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)

Bob Weir of Dead & Company performs at the KIA Forum in Inglewood on Friday, May 19, 2023. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)

What do you do when the end is nigh? For the Dead, you celebrate life, and that’s exactly what happened as the band played 18 songs in two sets over four glorious hours of music like only Dead & Company, and the Grateful Dead before them, can make.

Taking off: Set 1

“Shakedown Street,” the title track of the Dead’s 1978 album, kicked off the show, its laidback dance-beat rhythms getting the sold-out crowd onto their feet, dancing, hands aloft, chiming in on every “Woo!” in the song.

Guitarist Bobby Weir , 75, took lead vocals on this one. He and drummer Mickey Hart, 79, got huge cheers as their faces appeared on the video screens. With drummer Bill Kreutzmann, 77, choosing to sit out this tour, Weir and Hart are the last of the original Dead.

John Mayer, 45, a star in his own right before his love for the Dead led him to co-create Dead & Company, stood to Weir’s right, singing backing vocals on “Shakedown Street” before taking the first of many long, lyrical guitar solos that wove in and out of the jams laid down by the rest of the band – bassist Oteil Burbridge, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, and drummer Jay Lane.

“Cold Rain and Snow,” a song from the Grateful Dead’s 1967 debut followed, done here with more of a funk feel than the country vibe of the original recording. This time Mayer sang lead, filling the vocal and instrumental role once played by the late Jerry Garcia.

Other highlights of the opening set included the rollicking “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo” and the slow blues of “They Have Each Other.” The fan favorite “St. Stephen,” at 20 minutes, the longest single song of the night, was gorgeous from start to finish, but especially an extended section where Weir and Mayer traded guitar licks back and forth.

Ninety minutes after it started, “Deal,” one of three songs pulled from Jerry Garcia’s 1972 solo debut “Garcia,” wrapped up the first set with a hard-rocking blues that showcased both Mayer’s similarities to Garcia as a musician – the lyrical beauty of his playing most of all – and his differences: He’s often got a heavy, harder edge to his sound.

Earlier in the parking lot

There’s no opening act for Dead & Company. You don’t really need one given the show that takes place hours before the concert in Participation Row, a vendor village that travels with the Dead from venue to venue selling, well, anything a Deadhead might want or need.

Tie-dyed T-shirts and other wearable merch filled many of the 100 or so booths on the Manchester Avenue border of the Kia Forum. You want something with a skull or a skeleton on it? They got you covered. Dancing bears, a nod to the Dead’s legendary soundman Owsley “Bear” Stanley, were another popular motif on everything from infant onesies to bucket hats made of hemp.

You may not be surprised to learn that other things are also on offer throughout the parking lot. From pot – duh, it’s legal here now – to mushroom-infused chocolate to giant balloons filled with nitrous oxide – laughing gas like your dentist used to give you, you could find it.

If you thought that hippies in the style of the Summer of Love were a thing of the past, a stroll down Participation Row would quickly change that idea.

Peaking: Set 2

“Sugaree,” another crowd favorite, opened the second set of the night, a gentler, rolling blues that demonstrated Chementi’s jaunty piano and Mayer’s ability to unleash long single-note licks that show off his technical chops without ever losing the emotional content of the song.

“New Speedway Boogie” gave fans a cut from the popular 1970 release “Workingman’s Dead,” with Weir’s gruff vocals meshing wonderfully with the chunk-a-chunk rhythms of the song. “Eyes of the World” clocked in at 18 minutes, enough time for everyone in the band to take a solo – Burbridge’s bass solo was particularly lovely – and enough time, too, to close your eyes and let the spotlights flash in random patterns on your eyelids as you felt the groove wash over you.

Weir and Mayer eventually came back on stage to add guitars to the almost ambient music of “Space,” and then segue into “The Wheel” and “Wharf Rat,” the latter a highlight for Weir’s vocals in particular.

“Sugar Magnolia,” after “Shakedown Street” the song even the most casual fan would know in the show, closed out the main set with a sweet, upbeat glide through its lyrics and music. The only track in the set from 1970’s “American Beauty” album, it wrapped things up beautifully, with Weir’s shift into the “Sunshine Daydream” coda a perfect finish to the song.

“Thank you, you’re too kind,” Weir said on returning to the stage for the encore, and that was pretty much the extent of the stage banter on Friday. Why bother when you’ve got the music to speak for you, I suppose? “Black Muddy River,” a gorgeous Americana blues, delivered the encore, and then it was back to the parking lot, one less show on the road to the finish.

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Rock And Roll Garage

Grateful dead’s bob weir announce 2023 tour dates.

Classic Rock

During the last 7 years, the classic Grateful Dead guitarist and singer Bob Weir toured with Dead & Company, band formed in 2015 by the former members of the Dead and guitarist John Mayer, the singer. But he also played live with his own band, Bob Weir & The Wolf Bros and he announced new 2023 tour dates for February and March.

The concerts will happen months before the farewell tour dates of Dead & Company that decided to end their activities next year.

Bob Weir & The Wolfbros 2023 tour dates

• 2 – North Charleston, SC
• 3 – Jacksonville, FL
• 4 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL
• 7 – Port Chester, NY
• 8 – Port Chester, NY
• 10 – Port Chester, NY
• 11 – Port Chester, NY
• 17 – Atlanta, GA
• 18 – Atlanta, GA
• 19 – Atlanta, GA
• 21 – Memphis, TN
• 22 – Asheville, NC
• 24 – Chattanooga, TN
• 25 – Louisville, KY
• 26 – Detroit, MI
• 28 – Madison, WI
• 1 – St. Paul, MN
• 2 – Ames, IA
• 4 – Omaha, NE
• 5 – Kansas City, MO
• 7 – Austin, TX
• 8 – Austin, TX
• 9 – Dallas, TX
• 11 – Nashville, TN
• 12 – Nashville, TN

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bobby Weir (@bobweir)

Possible setlist

• Viola Lee Blues (Memphis Jug Band cover)
• Crazy Fingers (Grateful Dead cover) (live debut by Wolf Bros)
• She Belongs to Me (Bob Dylan cover)
• Money for Gasoline (Ratdog cover) (live debut by Wolf Bros)
• Mission in the Rain (Jerry Garcia cover)
• New Speedway Boogie (Grateful Dead cover)
• Weather Report Suite (Grateful Dead cover)
• Let It Grow (Grateful Dead cover)
• Me and My Uncle (John Phillips cover)
• Tennessee Jed (Grateful Dead cover)
• Throwing Stones (Grateful Dead cover)
• Estimated Prophet (Grateful Dead cover)
• The Other One (Grateful Dead cover)
• Stella Blue (Grateful Dead cover)
• China Cat Sunflower (Grateful Dead cover)
• I Know You Rider ([traditional] cover)
• One More Saturday Night
• Brokedown Palace (Grateful Dead cover)

I'm a Brazilian journalist who always loved Classic Rock and Heavy Metal music. That passion inspired me to create Rock and Roll Garage over 6 years ago. Music has always been a part of my life, helping me through tough times and being a support to celebrate the good ones. When I became a journalist, I knew I wanted to write about my passions. After graduating in journalism from the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, I pursued a postgraduate degree in digital communication at the same institution. The studies and experience in the field helped me improve the website and always bring the best of classic rock to the world! MTB: 0021377/MG

How a Drug Trade Dissolved When the Grateful Dead Stopped Touring

T he Grateful Dead’s final show with Jerry Garcia marked the end of an era—for music lovers and acid trippers alike.

Twenty years ago today, on July 9, 1995, the consummate jam band played live for the last time at Chicago’s Soldier Field. Frontman Garcia died the following month, at 53. This past weekend , the band’s surviving members plus guest artists, including Trey Anastasio of that other jam band, Phish, commemorated the historic concert and the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead’s formation with a three-show tribute at the same venue.

But while fans mourned the end of the band’s 30-year run, the final show heralded another milestone: a steep decline in the use of LSD, which still hasn’t bounced back. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent—who ostensibly went to great tie-dyed lengths to blend in with what TIME estimated, in 1985, to be between 10,000 and 37,351 devoted Deadheads—discovered that, without the shows to bring acid users and their dealers together, the supply chain became irrevocably severed, per Slate. “Phish picked up part of the Dead’s fan base—and presumably vestiges of the LSD delivery system,” Ryan Grim, who later wrote a book on drug culture in America, wrote for the site in 2004. “At the end of 2000, Phish stopped touring as well, and perhaps not coincidentally, [reported LSD use] began to plummet.”

7 Pictures That Show the Grateful Dead’s Evolution Over the Years

LSD had been an essential element of the Grateful Dead experience from their early days, when they were “the house band for (Ken Kesey’s) acid tests,” according to What’s That Sound?: An Introduction to Rock and Its History . And it’s worth noting that even some of the DEA’s later acid busts retained a Grateful Dead connection, such as the 2007 arrest of an Alaskan drug dealer with the words “DEAD” and “HEAD” tattooed on his knuckles—who, according to a DEA press release , “proclaimed ‘Sweet!’ when he received (a package containing LSD) from an officer posing as a postal service employee.”

The Grateful Dead’s music was more than just a soundtrack for psychedelic trips, of course. As TIME’s late film critic, Richard Corliss, noted in 1995, the band had fans far and wide—including some who presumably dropped little, if any, acid: then-Vice President Al Gore, Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld, and Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, among others. Corliss added:

Though he often treated his body as a laboratory for exotic pharmacological experiments, Garcia was admired–with sensible reservations–by the nation’s most famous noninhaler, Bill Clinton. In an MTV interview last week the President called him “a great talent.”

Recently, some researchers have investigated beneficial medical uses of psychedelic drugs—but acid was only one element of Garcia’s pharmacological experiments, which also extended to the heroin he also regularly used. And while sales of LSD tanked after the Dead stopped touring, heroin has only flourished . If Garcia’s early death could be taken as a warning against long-term drug use, his celebrity gave it a glamorous luster, according to Corliss, who wrote:

In his drug taking he was a role model to some, a sacrificial totem to others. Wasn’t he killing himself to create more beautiful music? That music was often swell, and as leader of the most fan-friendly band in rock, Garcia was a sort of secular saint of pop culture. But he stuffed himself with seductive toxins–and the myth of the bohemian king–until he burst. His epitaph could be three words: Great. Full. Dead.

Read Garcia’s full obituary, here in the TIME archives : Jerry Garcia: The Trip Ends

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Bob Weir and Wolf Bros.

Bob weir and wolf bros. concert setlists & tour dates, new year's run 2023 tour, bob weir and wolf bros. at dead ahead festival 2024.

• Easy to Slip
• When I Paint My Masterpiece
• Brown-Eyed Women
• Greatest Story Ever Told
• Weather Report Suite
• Let It Grow
• New Speedway Boogie
• Playing in the Band
• He's Gone
• Lady With a Fan
• Edit setlist songs
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Bob Weir and Wolf Bros. at Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA

• The Winners
• Samson and Delilah
• Hell in a Bucket
• Black-Throated Wind
• Estimated Prophet
• Eyes of the World
• What's Going On
• Only a River
• Ramble On Rose
• You Win Again
• Uncle John's Band
• Supplication
• Twilight Time
• She Belongs to Me
• Catfish John
• October Queen
• Good Lovin'
• Me and Bobby McGee
• Lost Sailor
• Saint of Circumstance

Bob Weir and Wolf Bros. at Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY, USA

• Artificial Flowers
• Friend of the Devil
• Big Boss Man
• My Brother Esau
• Me and My Uncle
• Shakedown Street
• Help on the Way
• Mission in the Rain
• Truckin'
• Turn On Your Love Light
• Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo
• Tennessee Jed
• I Need a Miracle
• Man Smart, Woman Smarter
• Queen Jane Approximately
• The Music Never Stopped
• Easy Answers
• Scarlet Begonias
• Throwing Stones
• Viola Lee Blues
• Come Together
• Don't Let Go
• Mexicali Blues
• She Knows What I'm Thinkin'

Bob Weir and Wolf Bros. at Frost Amphitheater, Stanford, CA, USA

• China Cat Sunflower
• I Know You Rider

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Most played songs

• The Other One ( 52 )
• Cassidy ( 49 )
• Jack Straw ( 49 )
• Dark Star ( 48 )
• Playing in the Band ( 44 )

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Artists covered

[traditional] The Band The Beatles Chuck Berry Bobby “Blue” Bland Bobby & The Midnites Bill Browning and His Echo Valley Boys Cannon’s Jug Stompers Johnny Cash The Champs Guy Clark The Clash The Coasters John Coltrane Eddie Cooley The Crickets Bobby Darin Miles Davis Willie Dixon Bonnie Dobson Donovan Bob Dylan Eagles Duke Ellington and His Orchestra Jerry Garcia Marvin Gaye Grateful Dead Merle Haggard Roy Hamilton Mildred J. Hill & Patty Hill Son House Howlin’ Wolf Robert Hunter Mississippi John Hurt George Jones The Judds King Radio Kingfish Kris Kristofferson Daniel Lanois Little Feat Bob McDill Memphis Jug Band Willie Nelson The Olympics Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers John Phillips Wilson Pickett The Platters Jean‐Luc Ponty

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1,644 people have seen Bob Weir and Wolf Bros. live.

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Live Review: Bob Weir & Wolf Bros Wrap Up a Four-Night Run at The Capitol Theatre

As Bob Weir closed out his four-night stint at Port Chester’s Capitol Theatre, there was a collective feeling that the audience had been a part of something special.

By guest writer max kalnitz, •• •• •• ••.

A s Bob Weir closed out his four-night stint at Port Chester’s Capitol Theatre Saturday evening with a ripping encore of “One More Saturday Night,” there was a collective feeling throughout the theater that the audience had been a part of something special.

Backed by the Wolf Bros — bassist Don Was, drummer Jay Lane, and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti — his string and horn quintet the Wolfpack, and Barry Sless on pedal steel guitar, Weir treated fans to more than 70 songs from the Dead, Ratdog, Jerry Garcia Band, and his solo catalogue.

The four shows, on February 7, 8, 10, and 11, were the first time Weir has played The Capitol Theatre since founding Wolf Bros in 2018. Fans lucky enough to grab tickets for any of the four sold-out shows were treated to imaginative setlists and thrilling solos from the band.

Night one featured an exceptional setlist but was typical for the start of a run. The band needed some warming up after traveling from Florida, but jams like “Catfish John,” “Lost Sailor>Saint of Circumstance” and “He’s Gone” brought the house down.

By night two the band had found their groove and proceeded to deliver an evocative rendition of “Weather Report Suite” to close out the first set. “Trucking” got the whole audience singing along for set two before transitioning into a monstrous jam of “Playing in the Band,” “Uncle John’s Band” and “Supplication.”

Weir surprised the audience for night three by inviting harpist Mikaela Davis on stage for the majority of the night. The “Bird Song” from set one was nothing short of angelic, while “Dark Star” and a cover of The Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows” got extra psychedelic during the second set.

Night four was by far the best setlist of the run. Weir kicked things off with a powerful rendition of “Jack Straw” and closed the second set with the fan-favorite “Terrapin Station.” Weir had more special guests for the final show of the run. Goose guitarist Rick Mitarotonda helped open up the second set with an acoustic duo of “Peggy-O” and returned later with his bandmate pianist Peter Anspach for an energetic “Franklin’s Tower.”

Former Ratdog saxophonist Kenny Brooks, pianist Dred Scott, and singer Sasha Dobson also sat in, bringing the total number of musicians on stage for the encore to a whopping 15 players. It was truly a party.

What stood out more than the music this run was the general sense that every single fan in the building was grateful — cliché, I know — that Weir, as he has recently put it , is continuing to create a space for the characters from the Grateful Dead’s world to visit us.

At 75, the guitarist is certainly showing no signs of slowing down. But there is a sense of urgency at Wolf Bros concerts. A sense of responsibility on Weir’s behalf has to carve out space for not only the Dead tunes, but Jerry Garcia’s songs, Ratdog songs, old covers, and new covers. It is perhaps an acknowledgement that he has to make use of whatever time he has left to knock the remaining to-do’s off his bucket list while finding new ways to delight his audiences.

In October, for example, Weir, Wolf Bros, and the Wolfpack teamed up with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. for a four-night run that had been more than a decade in the making. This week the outfit heads to Atlanta to perform three shows with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

Weir loves to play live and is the type of musician that seems like he’ll die onstage.

But with Dead and Company setting out on their final tour this summer, you can’t help but feel some sort of pressure to catch these Wolf Bros shows while they last.

You also have to admire Weir’s determination to try something new so late in his career. After playing rhythm guitar next to one of the greatest soloists in rock history for 30 years, Weir’s paving his own path for being the front man.

Sure, he occasionally fumbles some lyrics or delivers a somewhat sparse, scratchy guitar solo where a Jerry Garcia solo would have once existed. But the audience is always there to cheer him through it. And when the downbeat hits during one of the Dead’s iconic songs and the audience shouts the chorus together, the magic of the Dead’s music feels stronger than ever.

:: Bob Weir tickets and more here ::

Max kalnitz is an award-winning multimedia journalist and social media strategist based in brooklyn, ny, whose work has appeared in billboard , the nation , and insider , among other outlets. you can read his work at maxkalnitz.com and find him on twitter @max_kalnitz ..

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Discover new music on atwood magazine, :: stream bob weir  ::.

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Phil Lesh and Bob Weir Announce First Ever Duo Tour

After a successful headlining set at Peter Shapiro's Lockn' Festival in Arrington, Virginia, Bob Weir and Phil Lesh are embarking on a three-city, six-show tour produced by Shapiro, the Brooklyn Bowl…

By Dave Brooks

Dave Brooks

What is Phil Lesh planning for his surprise duo tour with Grateful Dead co-founder Bob Weir ?

“We’re going to play everything we can think of,” Lesh tells Billboard . “We’’re going to do his stuff, we’re going to do my stuff, we’re going to play Jerry’s stuff, we’ll do Grateful Dead stuff and we’ll do covers. We’re going to try and play everything we’ve ever played together and maybe some new stuff too.” 

After a successful headlining set at Peter Shapiro’s Lockn’ Festival in Arrington, Virginia, Weir and Lesh are embarking on a three-city, six show tour produced by Shapiro, the Brooklyn Bowl founder and Relix Magazine publisher who promoted the 2015 Fare Thee Well shows for Lesh, Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart, joined by Trey Anastasio, Bruce Hornsby and Jeff Chimenti, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead. 

Dead & Company Reschedule New Orleans & Florida Shows Following John Mayer's Emergency…

“During these turbulent times it’s reassuring to have the music of the Grateful Dead, which has been part of the foundation of American music over the past half-century,” Shapiro tells Billboard . “The Dead’s music and the improvisation they inspire are timeless, but one of the reasons for that is people keep reinventing the songs. To have the guys that originally created the music keep reinventing it themselves uplifts people. I think Bobby and Phil performing together for the first time as a duo will elevate people’s spirits. And we can probably use some of that right now.”

Trending on Billboard

Lesh says performing as a duo and ditching the backing band leaves him and Weir exposed, but says the upside is a singular focus on musically weaving around and through Weir’s improvisational style.

“I can hear him so clearly and is so easy to respond and work through him, it’s really delightful,” Lesh tells Billboard.  “When it’s just the two of us, it takes us to a different level because there’s nobody else that we have to have to compensate for or work with.”

The Bobby and Phil duo tour kicks off March 2 and 3 at Radio City Music Hall in New York, then heads to Boston’s Wang Theater (March 7-8) and then Chicago Theatre (March 10-11). To buy tickets, fans can sign up for the Ticketmaster Verified Fan Presale starting today at 7 a.m. ET at bobbyandphilduotour.tmverifiedfan.com . Tickets will be available to the public on Dec. 15 at 10 a.m. local time at Ticketmaster.

This new project came about as Weir and Lesh celebrated the 40-year anniversary of the Grateful Dead’s 1977 studio album Terrapin Station . Earlier this year, the two performed at Lesh’s own Terrapin Crossroads music venue and restaurant in San Rafael, California, as well as Lockn’ Festival and Sound Summit on Mount Tamalpais, each time with a backing band filling in the set.

“I think it will be more stimulating than the recent performances we’ve done together.” Less says. “It’s just easier to hear and easier to respond to Bob when it’s just us two. It heightens the focus on the totality of the music. It becomes an unconscious mental state — just Bobby and I up there reacting to each other and exploring our musical boundaries.”

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Phil Lesh and Bob Weir

Photo: Patrick McMullen/Getty Images

Phil Lesh, Bob Weir Of Grateful Dead Announce First-Ever Duo Tour

The pair has scheduled a six-show tour in March 2018

Following the success of the Fare Thee Well 50th-anniversary shows in 2016, and subsequent extended tours across 2016–2017 as Dead & Company with guest guitarist John Mayer , Bob Weir and Phil Lesh — — two of the "core four" co-founders of the inexhaustible jam band the Grateful Dead — have announced their first-ever duo tour.

<iframe width="620" height="349" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8VSZV8u6R3o?rel=0" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The three-city, six-show Bobby & Phil tour will be produced by Peter Shapiro, the concert and festival promoter best known for his Arrington, Va., Lockn' Festival and who helped put together the Dead's 2015 farewell shows.

"We're going to play everything we can think of," Lesh said in a statement to Billboard . "We're going to do [Bob Weir's] stuff, we're going to do my stuff, we're going to play [Jerry Garcia's] stuff, we'll do Grateful Dead stuff and we'll do covers. We're going to try and play everything we've ever played together and maybe some new stuff too."

The tour kicks off on March 2 at New York City's historic Radio City Music Hall, and wraps up in Chicago at the Chicago Theater on March 11.

"Verified Fan" presale opened today via Ticketmaster , and tickets for the general public will go on sale on Dec. 15 at 10 a.m. local time. More information is available at BobbyAndPhil.com .

New Photo Book Chronicles Grateful Dead's 30-Year Tour Run

Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

GRAMMY Rewind: Kendrick Lamar Honors Hip-Hop's Greats While Accepting Best Rap Album GRAMMY For 'To Pimp a Butterfly' In 2016

Upon winning the GRAMMY for Best Rap Album for 'To Pimp a Butterfly,' Kendrick Lamar thanked those that helped him get to the stage, and the artists that blazed the trail for him.

Updated Friday Oct. 13, 2023 to include info about Kendrick Lamar's most recent GRAMMY wins, as of the 2023 GRAMMYs.

A GRAMMY veteran these days, Kendrick Lamar has won 17 GRAMMYs and has received 47 GRAMMY nominations overall. A sizable chunk of his trophies came from the 58th annual GRAMMY Awards in 2016, when he walked away with five — including his first-ever win in the Best Rap Album category.

This installment of GRAMMY Rewind turns back the clock to 2016, revisiting Lamar's acceptance speech upon winning Best Rap Album for To Pimp A Butterfly . Though Lamar was alone on stage, he made it clear that he wouldn't be at the top of his game without the help of a broad support system. 

"First off, all glory to God, that's for sure," he said, kicking off a speech that went on to thank his parents, who he described as his "those who gave me the responsibility of knowing, of accepting the good with the bad."

Looking for more GRAMMYs news? The 2024 GRAMMY nominations are here!

He also extended his love and gratitude to his fiancée, Whitney Alford, and shouted out his Top Dawg Entertainment labelmates. Lamar specifically praised Top Dawg's CEO, Anthony Tiffith, for finding and developing raw talent that might not otherwise get the chance to pursue their musical dreams.

"We'd never forget that: Taking these kids out of the projects, out of Compton, and putting them right here on this stage, to be the best that they can be," Lamar — a Compton native himself — continued, leading into an impassioned conclusion spotlighting some of the cornerstone rap albums that came before To Pimp a Butterfly .

"Hip-hop. Ice Cube . This is for hip-hop," he said. "This is for Snoop Dogg , Doggystyle . This is for Illmatic , this is for Nas . We will live forever. Believe that."

To Pimp a Butterfly singles "Alright" and "These Walls" earned Lamar three more GRAMMYs that night, the former winning Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song and the latter taking Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (the song features Bilal , Anna Wise and Thundercat ). He also won Best Music Video for the remix of Taylor Swift 's "Bad Blood." 

Lamar has since won Best Rap Album two more times, taking home the golden gramophone in 2018 for his blockbuster LP DAMN ., and in 2023 for his bold fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers .

Watch Lamar's full acceptance speech above, and check back at GRAMMY.com every Friday for more GRAMMY Rewind episodes. 

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A Beginner’s Guide To The Grateful Dead: 5 Ways To Get Into The Legendary Jam Band

Not a Deadhead? Dread not; GRAMMY.com offers a few suggested routes to begin your long strange trip with the Grateful Dead.

Just because you never traded bootleg tapes with strangers or dropped acid to experience that Timothy Leary whacked-out feeling, you can still appreciate the Grateful Dead. 

When the Dead began their psychedelic trip back in the late 1960s, the media categorized their followers as lazy, counter-culture drop-outs. The reality: these devotees, known today as Deadheads, were just music-lovers that shared values and believed in the power of community, peace and love. Today, Deadhead culture and the band’s popularity is as relevant as ever. Even as the original fans age, new Gen Z disciples arrive each year to carry on the jams.  

Flash back to San Francisco, 1965. The original lineup, calling themselves the Warlocks, formed from the remnants of Palo Alto band Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions and Bay Area folk group the Wildwood Boys. After learning of another group called the Warlocks, the band became the Grateful Dead overnight. The story goes that guitarist/vocalist Jerry Garcia picked the band’s name randomly from the dictionary. 

The earliest gigs under this new moniker occurred at Ken Kesey’s infamous Acid Test parties. Founding members were: Garcia; Bob Weir (rhythm guitar/vocals); Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (harmonica, keyboards/vocals); Phil Lesh (bass) and Bill Kreutzmann on drums. Robert Hunter and Mickey Hart joined the group in 1967. 

The Grateful Dead were a free-flowing fusion of folk, rock, soul, blues and jazz, and their improvisational approach to the music created a new classification in the lexicon: a "jam band." A Dead concert was all about the songs, the feelings, and the interplay between musicians. The jams mattered, not perfection. 

Playing live was where the Grateful Dead made their money (they were one of the top grossing touring acts for decades), playing some 2,200 plus concerts globally in its 30-year career. Deadheads recorded these shows, traded tapes, and followed the white line in VW vans from town to town to take communion with the group night after night. No two shows were the same. Songs meandered longer or shorter depending on where the music — and the Deadheads — led them on any given evening. 

When Jerry Garcia died on Aug. 9, 1995, the remaining members said without their charismatic leader, the Grateful Dead (at least in name) was dead. However, the spirit of the band has carried on with the various solo projects, the Dead & Company (featuring some of the original band members) and countless jam bands. 

The Dead defined an era. The band represented a subculture that influenced the mainstream for decades from lifestyle to fashion; from music to marketing. More than 50 years since the Grateful Dead started jamming, Deadheads are still grateful for the music. 

How do you get into — but also get —  the Grateful Dead? There is no one way. Like all music, to quote the prophet Robert "Nesta" Marley: "when it hits you feel no pain." The important thing with the Dead’s music is that you feel something.  

With the release next month of a deluxe expanded and remastered version of Wake of the Flood (the band’s 1973 debut on Grateful Dead Records), here’s a primer on how to get into these merrymakers, who received a GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. Start that long strange trip with these five ways to appreciate — and get to know — the Grateful Dead. 

Start With The Classics

Released just five months apart in 1970 Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty are the touchstones. This pair of albums represented a shift for the band from its psychedelic roots to an Americana road of devotion; the influence of the Bakersfield sound is all over these songs. Do a deep listen of these records and hear some of the Dead’s best-loved classics and Dead show setlist staples for decades. Discover the beauty of the music, the complexity of the arrangements and the heartfelt harmony. 

Workingman’s Dead , released in June 1970, opens with "Uncle John’s Band" — one of the band’s most well-known songs and most oft-covered — it was also the band’s first chart hit. Among the rest of the eight songs here, "Casey Jones," about a train engineer speeding down the tracks "high on cocaine," is another classic.   

American Beauty, the band’s fifth studio record, showcased the Dead at their creative heights and has gone on to double-platinum certification Arriving Nov. 1, 1970, the album is an Americana masterpiece that features acoustically-inclined country-rock numbers mixed with toe-tapping, groovy psychedelic jams. 

Put on your headphones to truly savor the 10 songs that include live regulars: "Friend of the Devil," "Truckin,’" "Box of Rain," "Sugar Magnolia" and "Ripple."

Jam On: Appreciate & Listen To The Followers

The Allman Brothers Band are a close cousin of the Grateful Dead; they also loved to jam and fuse genres. In the 1980s and 1990s many other bands became Dead disciples, among them Phish, Widespread Panic, Blues Traveler , the Dave Matthews Band , Government Mule and the String Cheese Incident. 

These groups continue the jam band tradition for new generations. This in-the-moment, letting the music go where it was meant to go, is their guidepost. The jam band spirit is evident in this 11-minute live version of the Allman Brothers' "Whipping Post" recorded at the Fillmore East in 1973. 

And, let’s not forget those Vermont boys Phish , who showcased their ability to jam with the best of the best during a string of 13 concerts, from July 21 to August 6, 2017 at Madison Square Garden (MSG), dubbed The Baker’s Dozen. Each night of the residency — which has continued, with slightly fewer dates, for years — featured a different set list with no songs repeated throughout this residency at MSG. Night four included a 29-minute jam of their song "Lawn Boy."

Keep On Truckin’: Follow The Long & Winding Road To Uncover More Dead Songs 

The Grateful Dead released 13 studio albums and 77 live records. Their archives are vast and deep, and new live recordings are being released every year. The joy of getting into the Grateful Dead is that there is no rulebook. Just as their shows had no set structure, becoming a Dead fan has no defined musts. That said, here are another trio of songs you must listen to to better understand and appreciate this band.

"Friend of the Devil"

The second song from American Beauty , this acoustic number is a quintessential Dead track. 

"Franklin’s Tower"

First released in 1975 on Blues for Allah , this rollicking number with its repetitive chorus telling you to "roll away the dew," is one of the Dead’s most catchy numbers. Just listen to the live version on Dead Set and try to disagree. 

"Touch of Grey"

The Grateful Dead got another mainstream bump in the late '80s thanks to MTV. The video (the first ever official one made by the Dead) for this single from the 1987 album In the Dark , featured the band turned into life-size marionette skeletons playing this song live. The memorable refrain: "I will get by/ I will survive," and heavy rotation on TV, helped this song become a Top 10 Billboard hit (the group’s only Top 40 charting song of its 30-year-career), bringing the Dead’s music to a new generation. 

Get Turned On & Tune Out 

After listening to some of the Dead’s best live records like Europe ‘72 and Dead Set (1981), subscribe to the Grateful Dead’s YouTube channel . Make sure you’ve got time on your side; for if you go down this rabbit hole, there is no telling when you might resurface. 

That's not a bad thing. Get a taste of what it was like to attend a Dead show. Watch a Dead concert from different decades like this show at the famed San Francisco Winterland on New Year’s Eve in 1978, this one from California’s Shoreline Amphitheatre in 1987, or this one from 1990 at Three RIvers Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

Read On! The Dead Are Far From Dead 

Thousands of scholarly theses have been written — and continue to be published — on the band; college courses have been created and even a journal is devoted to discussing the cultural significance of the Grateful Dead. Marketing gurus have shared business lessons learned from the band such as the innovative ways they sold and promoted their music. Head to your local library or independent bookstore and ask what books they have on the Grateful Dead. 

A quick Google search reveals dozens upon dozens devoted to this American band: from memoirs written by Dead members Mickey Hart and Phil Lesh, to academic explorations and longform odes by Deadheads. Ready to dive deeper? This film offers an in-depth look at Deadheads’ devotion and gives a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the connection between a fanbase and a band. And learn more here than you ever thought you wanted — or needed — to know about the Grateful Dead. What a long, strange trip it’s been. 

No Accreditation? No Problem! 10 Potential Routes To Get Into Jazz As A Beginner

Photo: Meron Menghistab

Cautious Clay's 'Karpeh' Is & Isn't Jazz: "Let Me Completely Deconstruct My Conception Of The Music"

On his Blue Note Records debut 'Karpeh,' Cautious Clay treats jazz not as a genre, but as a philosophy — and uses it as a launchpad for a captivating family story.

Nobody can deny Herbie Hancock is a jazz artist, but jazz cannot box him in. Ditto Quincy Jones ; those bona fides are bone deep, but he's changed a dozen other genres.

Cautious Clay doesn't compare himself to those legends. But he readily cites them as lodestars — along with other genre-straddlers of Black American music, like Lionel Richie and Babyface .

Because this is a crucial lens through which to view him: he's jazz at his essence and not jazz at all, depending on how he wishes to express himself.

"I'm not really a jazz artist, but I feel like I have such a deep understanding of it as a songwriter and musician," the artist born Joshua Karpeh tells GRAMMY.com. "It's sort of inseparable from my approach to this album, and to this work with Blue Note."

Karpeh is talking about, well, KARPEH — his debut album for the illustrious label, which dropped in August. In three acts — "The Past Explained," "The Honeymoon of Exploration," and "A Bitter & Sweet Solitude," he casts his personal journey against the backdrop of his family saga.

As Cautious Clay explains, the title is a family name; his grandfather was of the Kru peoples in Liberia. "It's a family of immigrants. It's a family of, obviously, Black Americans," he notes. "I just wanted to give an experience that felt concrete and specific enough — to be able to live inside of something that was a part of my journey."

On KARPEH , Cautious Clay is joined by esteemed Blue Note colleagues: trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire , saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins , vibraphonist Joel Ross , guitarist Julian Lage , and others.

Vocalist Arooj Aftab and bassist Kai Eckhardt — Karpeh's uncle — also enhance the proceedings. The result is another inspired entry from Blue Note's recent resurgence — one lyrically personal and aurally inviting.

Read on for an interview with Cautious Clay about his signing to Blue Note, leveling up his recording approach, and his conception of what jazz is — and isn't.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Tell me about signing to Blue Note Records, and the overall road to KARPEH .

I kind of got connected to Don [Was , the president of Blue Note] through a relationship I had with John Mayer , who had, I guess, connected Don to my music.

Don reached out via email probably a year ago, and so we connected over email. And I had sort of been in a situation where I was like, OK, I want to do something different for this next project . We kind of met in the middle and it just made a lot of sense based on just what I wanted to do, and then what they could potentially kind of work with on my end. 

So, [I was] just recording the album in six days, and doing a lot of prep work beforehand and getting all these musicians that I really liked to be able to work on it. It was just a really cool process to be able to unpack that with Blue Note.

That's great that you and Mayer go back.

Yeah, man, we have a song. We worked on each other's music a little bit together. The song "Carry Me Away" on his [2021] album [ Sob Rock ] I actually worked on, and then we did a song together called "Swim Home" that I released back in 2019.

You said you wanted to "do something different." What was the germ of that something ?

I felt like it could be interesting to do a more instrumental album, or something that felt a little bit more like a concept album, or more experimental. I wanted to be more experimental in my approach to the music that I love.

I wanted to call it a jazz album, but at the same time I didn't, because I felt like it wasn't; it was more of an experimental album.

But I felt like calling it jazz in my mind kind felt like a free way to express, because I think of jazz much more as a philosophy than necessarily a genre.

So, it was helpful for me in my mind to be able to like, OK, let me completely deconstruct my conception of the music I make and how I can translate that music.

And then it eventually evolved into a story about my family and about American history to a certain extent in the context of my family's journey, and then also just their interpersonal relationships. That sort of made itself clear as I continued to write and I continued to delve deeper into the process.

Not that KARPEH ended up being instrumental. But instrumental records are lodestars for you? I'm sure that blurs with the Blue Note canon.

There's a lot of different stuff. There was that red album that Herbie Hancock released [in 1978, titled Sunlight ] that I really liked. "I Thought It Was You" was super inspirational — sonically how they arranged a lot of that record.

Seventies jazz fusion was an overall influence. I felt inspired by the perfect meld of analog synthesizers, and then also obviously organic instruments like horns and guitars of that nature. So I wanted to create something that felt like a contemporary version of what could be a fusion record to a certain extent.

Any specific examples?

Songs like "Glass Face," for example, are pretty fusion-y, but also very just experimental in a way that doesn't feel like jazz, even.

My uncle [Kai Eckhardt] is a pretty big-time bass player, and he played on "Glass Face." I just was like, OK, dude, do your thing, and he just did this sort of chordal bass solo. Then, I did all these harmonies over top of the song.

And then, Arooj Aftab is a really good friend and musical artist; she was able to work off of that as well. So, it was an interesting journey to make a lot of these songs and sort of figure out how they all fit together.

How did you strike that balance between analog and synthesized sounds?

I recorded most of this album at a studio, which is very different for me.

I don't normally do that. I use a lot of found sounds like drums and stuff that I've either made or sampled, but I did all of the drums and bass and upright and electric guitars we'd recorded at a studio called Figure 8 in Brooklyn. That was the backbone for a lot of the music that I created for the album. 

Then, I took it back home to my home studio. After we had recorded all of the songs, I essentially had some different analog synths and things that I wanted to add into it either at the studio that I worked at or my own personal studio, which happens to also be eight blocks [away] on the same street away.

I struck a balance just mostly with it in the context of working at a very formal studio and then having an engineer and just getting sounds that I wanted that could be organic and more specific in that way. And also using some of the synths they had.

In terms of the approach, I kind of wanted it to be different. And so part of that was just being at more of a formal studio and having an engineer and overseeing the overall process outside of just being inside of my Ableton session.

Tell me more about the guests on KARPEH .

I knew Immanuel through a couple of mutual friends, and he has a certain sort of bite to his sax playing that I felt was so juxtaposed to my sax playing.

And same with Ambrose. I feel like his trumpet style couldn't be more esoteric and out, in the context of how he approaches melodies. It's almost in some ways like, Whoa, I would never play that way .

They're also soloists, and conceptually for me, the idea of being in isolation or being in bittersweet solitude was conceptually a part of the last part of the album. They as soloists have so much to offer that I feel like I can't do and I don't possess.

So, I wanted to have them a part of this album, to demonstrate that individuality within the context of what it takes to make a song.

Julian is just a beautiful and spirited man, a beautiful guitar player. I've liked his sound for a while. I think it was back in 2015 when I first heard him; he had a couple of videos on YouTube that I thought were just super gorgeous.

I feel like he just has this way of playing that's folky. Also, it's jazz in the context of his virtuosic playing style, but it's also not overbearing. I felt like as a writer and as a musician, it would be a really great connecting point for a few of the more personal songs on the record.

And then my uncle Kai as well, — he's not on Blue Note, but he used to play with John McLaughlin and run bass clinics with Victor Wooten and Marcus Miller back in the early 2000s. Dude is a real heavy hitter, and he happens to be my uncle, so it's just cool to be able to have him on the record.

* Cautious Clay. Photo: Meron Menghistab *

With KARPEH out, where do you want to go from here — perhaps through a Blue Note lens?

I really love a lot of the people there, and I feel like this could be the first of many. It's also a stepping stone for me as an artist.

I feel really connected to the relationship I have, and our ability to put this out. It's hard to say what exactly the future holds, but I am genuinely excited for this album. I feel excited to be able to put out something so personal and so connected to everything that sort of made me, in a very concrete way.

From what I understand, this is a one-time thing, but it could potentially be two. It depends, obviously. I'm very open-minded about it. I'd love to keep the good relationship open and see where things go.

I really have enjoyed the process and I feel like this next year is going to be something interesting. So, we'll see.

On Her New Album, Meshell Ndegeocello Reminds Us "Every Day Is Another Chance"

Photo: Paras Griffin/Getty Images

Joy Oladokun's 'Proof Of Life' Honors Her Own Experience — And Encourages Others To Do The Same

On her new album 'Proof of Life,' the Nigerian American singer/songwriter shares how she’s learned to embrace herself, remain hopeful, and be present when collaborating with her heroes.

In the first single off her forthcoming album, Proof of Life , Joy Oladokun sings, "I hate change, but I’ve come of age/Think I’m finally finding my way." Part of her coping strategy of late — in dealing with a world on fire, waters rising, anxiety rocketing — has been to sink deeper into her feelings, to reach a point of "pure acceptance." 

"Living in America, I think we can very clearly see the damage that being resistant to the way the world changes can do to us," she tells GRAMMY.com. Two days before we spoke, six people — three of them children — were killed by a 28-year-old who fired 152 rounds of ammunition at a school in Nashville, where Oladokun has lived for the past six years. "Children are getting killed because we are intentionally misreading a document from 200 years ago."

Yet Oladokun was raised in the small farming town of Casa Grande, Arizona  — a place where "people shot guns for fun, and we went mudding in our trucks."  She continues, "I don't think people understand that I understand the culture because of what I look like."

An unabashedly queer Black singer/songwriter, the 31-year-old uses music to plant her flag in the ground of a world that has traditionally been presumptive and unwelcoming to someone like her. Someone who grew up listening to Bob Marley and Linkin Park , and was ostracized from the church-going community she was part of when she came out; someone who "hits all the high notes but still don’t got a seat in the choir." 

Over the course of three albums, Oladokun has created a safe space, for herself and others, to deal with the highs and lows that being true to yourself can bring. "Most of my songs should feel like having a conversation with me on my porch; I tell you something deep about myself and ask if you’ve ever felt that way," she says. 

Like many of the artists she grew up admiring, Oladokun’s music is rooted in folk with dashes of R&B, pop and an occasional sprinkling of Afrobeats mixed in — as evident in the Proof of Life track "Revolution," which features Nigerian American rapper Maxo Kream. Whether her voice hovers along a pristine guitar or piano track, as it does on "Somehow," or reaches for the edgier side of her personality, like on the sassy "We’re All Gonna Die" (featuring Noah Kahan), she never falters to be forthright and faithful to her values.     

Oladokun played music throughout high school and worked as a church music minister with the intention of becoming a pastor before she lost that job when she came out. After landing in L.A., the singer thought she’d write for others as a living. Instead, she took a chance and started writing for herself. Now, after more than six years in Nashville, Oladokun’s songs have featured in shows like "Grey’s Anatomy" and "This Is Us", and she’s collaborated with Brandi Carlile and Jason Isbell . 

She spoke with GRAMMY.com about accepting herself, keeping hope alive through her guitar, and getting advice from John Mayer .

Interview has been edited for length and clarity.  

You're on tour with John Mayer. What has that been like so far?

It has been absolutely amazing and challenging and scary. I really, genuinely, am a fan of John Mayer's music, and I felt this way on the My Morning Jacket tour; I felt this way touring with Maren [Morris]. When I get called to play with people that I really respect, some nerves come through. But I do feel like I've been rising to the occasion and I spent a lot of time working on my craft and guitar playing. And not every show has been perfect but I feel like they've been good, and I've been able to be myself in some of the biggest stages and rooms I've ever played. 

And just the fact that it's a solo acoustic show, and that John's been so kind and accommodating. Like yesterday, he gave me advice on how to deal with when people talk s—about you on the internet. 

Yeah, you’d mentioned on Twitter about having a little difficult time. Did his advice help?

It totally helped because it also is like, Oh, he feels that way, too , you know? My favorite people to work with are the people who admit that they're still human and still processing how weird this job is on us as humans. 

People were making comments about my laugh, which is like, I can't change that. I'm gonna be super candid: I'm a Black queer person doing something that I think at least 10 percent of the people in that room don't think I should be doing, just by virtue of me being me. 

You have such a great laugh, though!

If you're not used to it, it can be sort of jarring. [ Chuckles ]

How have you learned to become more vulnerable in your songs?

I think it's mostly about dealing with the feelings. I have this deep, honestly kind of dark, obsession with artists that have died young, and I think about it a lot because I just am someone who struggles with my mental health. 

I think I am trying to carve a path for all the people like me, or the people who have gone who were like me, to be able to do this, and to stay healthy, and to stay hopeful. And to say no, if they need to or to be human, and cry in front of people. I don't think people get that I am an actual human being with feelings and thoughts, who is processing the fact that I got asked to go on tour with a hero, and that is just as confusing to me as it is to you. 

I sit in my hotel room, I practice guitar and I write songs. And I do everything I can to put my heart and my soul and myself out there in hopes that people of all different walks of life can relate. And that it will cause some people to think twice when they meet people like me in their day-to-day life. That’s what's driving me, and I think that's what brought me here. 

On the days that it's scary and sad and I feel isolated, or I feel like everybody hates me, or I feel like I'm embarrassing John in arenas, it is good to remember that sometimes it might just help one person to see that I am me, and that I am doing this. And it doesn't matter how well I do it. It just matters that I'm here.

Are you reaching a point where you really recognize the part that you play in the world around you and articulating that?

I think I've always been a very purpose-centric person and artist, specifically. I have this painting in my studio that says "Remember why you started." I look at it every day, and I just remember when I started, when I inched into the music industry, I was like, "I’m gonna write songs for other people." And I just wanted to write songs that help. 

I was doing a job where I was listening to the radio a lot, and I didn't relate to anything. So I just wanted to write songs that people could relate to. I still have that at the core of everything I do and say; it's just desperation to hold onto my humanity, and how that translates into art. 

I'm not special. Like, I get that I sing songs for a living, and that not everybody has to like those songs. But I do know that in my heart of hearts, my purpose, and my role, and my goal is to just write songs that help me deal with life, and hopefully help one or two other people. That is something that I feel like I've been accomplishing so far. And until I feel like that isn't happening anymore, I think I wouldn’t continue on this path.

Can you pinpoint when you realized the power of being able to express yourself in a song?

My dad is a huge music fan. I’ve been thinking a lot about Bob Marley's impact on what I do. I think it was growing up listening to a lot of artists who were purpose-centric, like, just so rooted in, "I have something to say," or something to share with, and explain to, the world.

Lauryn Hill opened up the possibilities of hip-hop and how it could combine with folk and soul. Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel and Paul Simon were combining folk, rock and West African music and sounds and influences. I think it was growing up listening to people that were really intentional about every aspect of what they make. I feel like I went to school [by] listening to records.

Your Twitter bio used to say you were the "trap Tracy Chapman"…

It did. I am, right? [ Chuckles ]

It fits, yes!

Tracy Chapman being herself on stage allowed me as a kid to find an art form that helped me express myself and positively deal with a lot of heavy emotions. I think I'm, like, fine at what I do. I sometimes am a little confused as to why I get the opportunities that I get, but I do know that just by being as much of myself as I can, in whatever venue that I can be, I am doing that same thing for other people. And maybe that's just the value. Maybe I don't have to be the best. 

Maybe in two years people won’t remember my name. But there will be a few hundred people who were scared or shy or felt like they were too Black or too queer or too different, whatever, to do anything, and then they show up to a John Mayer show too early, and here's my goofy ass thriving. Maybe that’s just it. Maybe I don't have to win awards. Maybe it really is just honestly, lighting the torch for someone who might be better than me to be able to do the same thing for other people. 

"Sweet Symphony" is a lovely duet with Chris Stapleton about your parents. Have you tried to write about them before?

I have a few songs in the past that I've written about my parents. There's one called "Let It Be Me" that I wrote about my dad doing a really beautiful 180 when it comes to my sexuality. I have like this Crosby, Stills and Nash rip off thing apologizing to them for being chaotic when I was a kid. 

One of my favorite things about my parents is that they're just in love. I would say my parents are two of the most in love people I've ever seen in my life. Growing up when my dad would come home from work, he would bring flowers from the store and then he would sing my mom like some goofy Motown song or whatever for the first five minutes when he got in. I just wanted to write a song that my dad could sing to my mom. I was in my apartment when I started it. I loaded up a piano on Logic, and I just started playing cheesy Motown chords. My dad still has the demo as his ringtone for when my mom calls. 

We talk about all the things that have been hard between us but I think I explored that a lot in my last album. I am the fruit of my parents' love, and to be able to celebrate it with a really cool, amazing duet with Chris Stapleton feels like a blessing. 

You performed at the White House during the signing ceremony for the Respect for Marriage Act in December last year, and yet you’re still  self-effacing and unassuming. Are you able to realize the significance that your work, your music, has?

I am working through imposter syndrome. I think that's the current change that I'm dealing with. That's why the internet stuff it's hard, too, because not only do I not always feel worthy, I also feel, you shouldn't be here, too. 

But I am trying to remember that it's not an accident that I am who I am on this planet at this time. And that's why being so vulnerable has become so important to me. I just try to bring that into every room. I've stopped joking about being mediocre. But I've honestly stopped grading my work. I don't know if it’s good or bad. I just work and create, and perform, and hopefully the heart of it, which is the most important thing to me, is what comes across. 

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2024 Kentucky Derby expert picks, post positions, odds, time: Insider dodging Fierceness at Churchill Downs

Beyer speed figure maker bob weir reveals his picks for saturday's kentucky derby 2024 at churchill downs.

With heavy traffic to navigate in a 20-horse Kentucky Derby field on Saturday, we've seen winners from across the Kentucky Derby betting odds win in recent years. Rich Strike won in 2022 as an 80-1 longshot, while Mage paid out at 15-1 in 2023. Justify was the last favorite to win in 2018 when he went off at 3-1. Only five 2024 Kentucky Derby horses are priced at 10-1 or lower, which means there will be plenty of opportunities to spice up your 2024 Kentucky Derby bets with value plays. Just Steel is a son of Triple Crown winner Justify and is 20-1 in the 2024 Kentucky Derby odds, while Fierceness is the 5-2 Kentucky Derby favorite. Sierra Leone (3-1) and Catching Freedom (8-1) follow in the 2024 Kentucky Derby lineup.

Post time for the first leg of the Triple Crown is set for 6:57 p.m. ET. With the Kentucky Derby offering arguably the best betting opportunity of any single sporting event of the year, you'll want to  see what Saratoga Springs-based racing insider and Beyer Speed Figure maker Bob Weir has to say before making any 2024 Kentucky Derby picks .

A member of the Beyer Speed Figure-making team since 2017, Weir is a two-time qualifier for the prestigious National Horseplayers Championship in Las Vegas. He has produced multiple five-figure days at the track over the years, including a $60,000 Pick 6 at Del Mar in 2014 and an $18,000 Pick 5 at Tampa Bay Downs in early April.

In April of last year, he hit a Pick 4 at Gulfstream Park for $641, the exacta in the Florida Derby, a Pick 5 at Keeneland and the exacta in the Lexington Stakes. He smashed the trifecta in the Belmont Stakes for $532.96, and later in June he crushed a Pick 4 at Belmont for $555. Those were just some of his scores from 2023.

For Saturday, he has handicapped the 2024 Kentucky Derby lineup, made his picks and constructed his bets. You can head to SportsLine now to see them .

Top 2024 Kentucky Derby predictions

One surprise: Weir is fading Fierceness, even though he is the top favorite. Betting favorites against a 20-horse field is already perilous, but running style and Kentucky Derby post draw could clash for this Todd Pletcher-trained colt. Fierceness went straight to the front in his 13.5-length win at the Florida Derby, but he'll need to break quickly coming from the No. 16 post to get onto the pace on Saturday at Churchill Downs.

Fierceness will face more closing speed than he's ever seen before with Sierra Leone proving repeatedly that he can eat up ground rapidly in the stretch and pressers like Just a Touch and Forever Young could also complicate matters for the favorite.

Another curveball: Weir is high on the chances of Japanese invader Forever Young, even though he's a 10-1 longshot. The Japanese-bred horse enters the Kentucky Derby 2024 on a five race winning streak, and is one of two horses to enter with a perfect record. Forever Young is trained by Yoshito Yahagi, a legend on the Japanese horse racing scene. He's trained some of Japan's best horses, including 2020 Japanese Triple Crown winner Contrail.

"Forever Young is versatile and might be able to lay closer than some expect in this spot. The estimated figures for his 3-year-old races are right in line with the top 3-year-old figures among the American horses, except for Fierceness. There is no reason to believe a horse coming from Dubai can't win this race, and he may be the best UAE Derby shipper to attempt this. He looks live and will be interesting at double-digit odds," Weir told SportsLine.  You can see all of Weir's 2024 Kentucky Derby bets here .

How to make 2024 Kentucky Derby picks

Moreover, Weir is high on a big double-digit longshot who "could be ready for his best." Weir is including this surprising horse in his 2024 Kentucky Derby bets, and so should you.  He's sharing which horses to back only at SportsLine .

So who wins the Kentucky Derby 2024, and what double-digit longshot is a must-back? Check out the latest 2024 Kentucky Derby odds below, then visit SportsLine to see Weir's picks for the Kentucky Derby, all from the horse racing insider who has had multiple five-figure days at the track and just hit an $18,000 payday , and find out. 

2024 Kentucky Derby odds, post positions

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Although Canada's lone PGA Tour Champions event will have a different name, the goal will still be the same for Mike Weir.

Like he did during his three previous appearances at the Shaw Charity Classic, Weir will do his best to finish at the top of the leaderboard this August at the tournament - now called the Rogers Charity Classic - at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club in Calgary.

Weir had a ninth-place finish in 2021 before finishing well back of the leaders the past two years.

"For me, I think I probably played a little bit too aggressively," Weir said. "I think it's got me into a little bit of trouble.

"This year I've got to find a few more fairways and get the flatstick heated up a little more and hopefully make a few more putts."

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Weir finished sixth at last week's Insperity Invitational near Houston, a tournament he won in 2021 for his lone senior circuit victory so far.

The Canadian Golf Hall of Famer would like nothing more than to become the first Canadian to win a PGA Tour Champions tournament on home soil this summer.

"Hopefully I'll make a good run at it this year," said Weir, who noted he'll face stiff competition from fellow Canadian Stephen Ames, who has won twice this season. "He's been playing some phenomenal golf, probably some of the best golf of his career.

"It's great to see."

Weir added that he was also happy to see Rogers Communications as the new title sponsor. The company made a $1-million donation to kick-start fundraising for this year's tournament.

"Shaw obviously did such a great job for all those years," said the 2003 Masters champion, who recently signed on as a Team Rogers athlete. "Now you have Rogers taking over and seeing it through and continuing on the great tradition that Shaw started."

American Ken Duke won the tournament last year.

"It's been one of the premier events on [the] PGA Tour Champions [tour]," Weir said in a phone interview. "Players love coming up to play and it's a great golf course. We really get some great fan support. The crowds really come out."

Weir will serve as captain of the International squad at the 2024 Presidents Cup at the Royal Montreal Golf Club in late September.

WATCH | Paris Pulse, our weekly Canadian Olympic and Paralympic news update:

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Playa Luna Presents: Dead Ahead

We are going Dead Ahead 🌅💀 Join us in Mexico January 12-15, 2024, for four nights of music including two nights of collaborations themed “Dead Ahead” with Bobby Weir, Mickey Hart, Jeff Chimenti, Oteil Burbridge, Don Was & Jay Lane featuring Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Rick Mitarotonda, Margo Price, and very special guest Sturgill Simpson. Plus additional performances throughout the weekend.

There will be additional performances by Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros featuring The Wolfpack, Mickey Hart’s Noche De Ondas, Rick Mitarotonda, LP Giobbi, Sierra Hull, Brittney Spencer, Jaime Wyatt, and a celebration of Jerry Garcia Band with sets by Oteil & Friends and Lettuce.

All-inclusive packages for Dead Ahead Festival 2024 are on sale now.