Biography
The ensemble originated in California during 2018, initially operating as a three-piece outfit called Wolf Bros. Its primary function centers on live presentations by Bob Weir, the Grateful Dead co-founder who supplies rhythm guitar and lead vocals, supported by Don Was on double bass and Jay Lane on drums. Sets blend emotionally direct blues and country treatments of Grateful Dead numbers with roots rock selections and material drawn from Weir’s various solo endeavors.
After the Grateful Dead concluded their thirty-year run in 1995 following Jerry Garcia’s death, the remaining members periodically reassembled through the late 2000s under the names the Other Ones and later the Dead. Weir participated in both while simultaneously launching RatDog, whose shifting personnel served as his main outlet for nearly two decades. That project concentrated on concert performances of highlights from across Weir’s recording history alongside thematically related covers, functioning in certain respects as a less intricate, full-band antecedent to Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros.
In 2009 Weir joined Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh to establish the jam band Furthur. By 2014 RatDog had entered extended hiatus and Furthur had dissolved entirely, clearing the way for Weir to form Dead & Company in 2015 alongside John Mayer and former Grateful Dead members Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart; the group sustained substantial live success into the 2020s.
Although Dead & Company more closely recalled the Grateful Dead’s classic sound, the 2018 launch of Wolf Bros afforded Weir additional latitude in both approach and song choices. Lane had already played with Weir in RatDog and Furthur, yet the new group marked Weir’s first collaboration with Don Was, who had by then served six years as president of Blue Note Records. Prior to their initial U.S. tour in 2019 the act appeared under the billing Bob Weir & Wolf Bros, its early shows marked by a somber, stripped-back atmosphere heightened by Weir’s increasingly gravelly vocals. A New Year’s Eve 2020 livestream from his TRI Studios introduced an expanded configuration featuring pedal-steel guitarist Greg Leisz and longtime keyboard collaborator Jeff Chimenti. Early the next year, in the same space, Weir presented the Wolfpack, a string-and-brass unit comprising Sheldon Brown, Adam Theis, Alex Kelly, Brian Switzer, and Mads Tolling.
June 2021 brought the first in-person performances after the COVID-19 pandemic began. Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros: Live in Colorado appeared on Jack White’s Third Man Records in February 2022, followed by Live in Colorado, Vol. 2 that October. Although Leisz’s pedal-steel contributions appear on the recordings, Barry Sless had already taken over the chair by the first volume’s release.
After the Grateful Dead concluded their thirty-year run in 1995 following Jerry Garcia’s death, the remaining members periodically reassembled through the late 2000s under the names the Other Ones and later the Dead. Weir participated in both while simultaneously launching RatDog, whose shifting personnel served as his main outlet for nearly two decades. That project concentrated on concert performances of highlights from across Weir’s recording history alongside thematically related covers, functioning in certain respects as a less intricate, full-band antecedent to Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros.
In 2009 Weir joined Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh to establish the jam band Furthur. By 2014 RatDog had entered extended hiatus and Furthur had dissolved entirely, clearing the way for Weir to form Dead & Company in 2015 alongside John Mayer and former Grateful Dead members Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart; the group sustained substantial live success into the 2020s.
Although Dead & Company more closely recalled the Grateful Dead’s classic sound, the 2018 launch of Wolf Bros afforded Weir additional latitude in both approach and song choices. Lane had already played with Weir in RatDog and Furthur, yet the new group marked Weir’s first collaboration with Don Was, who had by then served six years as president of Blue Note Records. Prior to their initial U.S. tour in 2019 the act appeared under the billing Bob Weir & Wolf Bros, its early shows marked by a somber, stripped-back atmosphere heightened by Weir’s increasingly gravelly vocals. A New Year’s Eve 2020 livestream from his TRI Studios introduced an expanded configuration featuring pedal-steel guitarist Greg Leisz and longtime keyboard collaborator Jeff Chimenti. Early the next year, in the same space, Weir presented the Wolfpack, a string-and-brass unit comprising Sheldon Brown, Adam Theis, Alex Kelly, Brian Switzer, and Mads Tolling.
June 2021 brought the first in-person performances after the COVID-19 pandemic began. Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros: Live in Colorado appeared on Jack White’s Third Man Records in February 2022, followed by Live in Colorado, Vol. 2 that October. Although Leisz’s pedal-steel contributions appear on the recordings, Barry Sless had already taken over the chair by the first volume’s release.
Live
