Remembering The Late, Great Bob Weir With The Night He Joined Tyler Childers For “Greatest Story Ever Told”

The music world just lost a legend.

Bob Weir, the founding member of the Grateful Dead, has passed away at the age of 78. The singer-songwriter’s official social media page confirmed the heartbreaking news:

“It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of Bobby Weir. He transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously beating cancer as only Bobby could. Unfortunately, he succumbed to underlying lung issues…
 
His loving family, Natascha, Monet, and Chloe, request privacy during this difficult time and offer their gratitude for the outpouring of love, support, and remembrance. May we honor him not only in sorrow, but in how bravely we continue with open hearts, steady steps, and the music leading us home. Hang it up and see what tomorrow brings.”

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An unfathomable loss for all of the Dead Heads out there.

The post went on to say that Bob Weir was diagnosed with cancer back in July of 2o25, and started treatment just before he and Dead and Company took the stage at Golden Gate Park for a celebration of 60 years of the Grateful Dead’s music. Weir’s family called those three nights of shows “not farewells, but gifts. Another act of resilience. An artist choosing, even then, to keep going by his own design.”

The Grateful Dead has toured pretty much every year since 1965, with the iteration of the band being the only thing that’s changed across the decades. The most popular version of the band, at least in the past decade, has been Dead and Company. It usually consisted of Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Mickey Hart (drums) and Bill Kreutzmann (drums), with John Mayer stepping in to play guitar and lead vocals, and bass player Oteil Burbridge and keys player Jeff Chimenti round out the group.

Though the band members and the name of the band changed often over the years, Bob Weir was always the through-line. He stood on stage and shared the music of the Grateful Dead for 60 years.

Another version of the Grateful Dead that existed, typically in smaller venues, was Bob Weir and the Wolf Bros. It was through that group (and occasional crossovers with Dead and Company) that Weir shared the stage with country music artists. Sturgill Simpson was known to drop in with Dead and Company from time to time, and one artist in the country sphere that Weir really appreciated was Tyler Childers.

Back in 2022, when Bob Weir and the Wolf Bros were playing at the Radio City Music Hall, the longtime jam band leader brought out Tyler Childers to help him and his band sing the “Greatest Story Ever Told,” which was included in Bob Weir’s 1972 solo album. Obviously, the song has existed for a very long time as a part of Weir’s catalogue, but the legendary artist was more than happy to hand the vocals over to Tyler Childers when he joined Bob and the Wolf Bros up on stage.

Needless to say, Childers and Weir crushed the performance:

It’s just hard to believe that a legend of Weir’s stature – who so graciously invited younger artists into the music he and the Grateful Dead brought to life – is gone.

The post that his family shared announcing his death did a wonderful job of capturing Bob Weir’s contributions to the music world:

“For over sixty years, Bobby took to the road. A guitarist, vocalist, storyteller, and founding member of the Grateful Dead. Bobby will forever be a guiding force whose unique artistry reshaped American music. His work did more than fill rooms with music; it was warm sunlight that filled the soul, building a community, a language, and a feeling of family that generations of fans carry with them.

Every chord he played, every word he sang was an integral part of the stories he wove. There was an invitation: to feel, to question, to wander, and to belong…
 
There is no final curtain here, not really. Only the sense of someone setting off again. He often spoke of a three-hundred-year legacy, determined to ensure the songbook would endure long after him. May that dream live on through future generations of Dead Heads. And so we send him off the way he sent so many of us on our way: with a farewell that isn’t an ending, but a blessing. A reward for a life worth livin’.”

There’s no doubt that the Dead Heads will keep the music – and the spirit of the band’s founding member – alive. After all, one of the Grateful Dead’s biggest hits is a song titled “The Music Never Stopped.”

RIP Bob Weir… even with the full life that he led, he’s gone far too soon.