Bobby & The Midnites

During the first half of the 1980s, guitarist and singer Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead headed a side project known as Bobby & the Midnites. Joining Weir in the original six-piece lineup were guitarist and vocalist Bobby Cochran, keyboardist and vocalist Brent Mydland from the Dead, bassist Tim Bogert, noted jazz fusion drummer Billy Cobham, and multi-instrumentalist Matt Kelly on harmonica, guitar, and congas, who had previously worked with Weir in his 1970s side band Kingfish. On June 30, 1980, the group made its live debut at the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, California. The band signed with Arista Records, the Dead’s own label, and issued its self-titled first album in November 1981; by then bassist Alphonso Johnson had taken over for Bogert. Although the record appeared on the charts for roughly two months, it achieved only modest sales. After parting ways with Kelly and swapping Mydland for keyboardist Dave Garland, the remaining members toured steadily between 1982 and 1984. Bass duties changed again in March 1983 when Ken Gradney replaced Johnson. Columbia Records put out the group’s second album, Where the Beat Meets the Street, in August 1984; it received little commercial traction despite a short chart run. Bobby & the Midnites closed out their career with a final performance on September 30, 1984, at the Rio in Valley Stream, New York. Weir then resumed his work with the Grateful Dead while also returning to Kingfish and pursuing solo shows; in subsequent years he played with Nightfood and Go Ahead, and beginning in 1988 he began regular duo performances alongside bassist Rob Wasserman. Original bassist Tim Bogert passed away on January 13, 2021, at age 76 following a cancer diagnosis.