Bob Weir

As a founding member of the Grateful Dead, Bob Weir occupies a unique place in American music. Very few bands can boast such a lasting influence and unique cultural identity as the Dead, and for the three decades of their existence, Weir was in many ways their backbone. One of rock's most unusual rhythm guitarists, he played a subtle but distinctive counterpoint to Jerry Garcia's fluid leads, wrote and sang several of their best-known songs, and helped inspire an entire subculture of music that continues to thrive well into the 21st century. After Garcia's death in 1995, Weir focused on his latter-day group, RatDog, while taking part in various post-Dead re-formation projects like the Other Ones. The 2014 documentary film The Other One: The Long Strange Trip of Bob Weir along with the Grateful Dead's high-profile 50th anniversary reunion shows helped spur a resurgence in Weir's career, and with guitarist John Mayer he launched Dead & Company to tour the band's catalog. He also released the 2016 solo album Blue Mountain and formed a new group, Wolf Bros., with Don Was and Jay Lane.