AUDIO – BOBBY BOWS OUT –
Jan. 10, 2026 – “It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of Bobby Weir,” the family statement began. “He transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously beating cancer as only Bobby could. Unfortunately, he succumbed to underlying lung issues. The statement continued, “Bobby’s final months reflected the same spirit that defined his life. Diagnosed in July, he began treatment only weeks before returning to his hometown stage for a three-night celebration of 60 years of music at Golden Gate Park. Those performances, emotional, soulful, and full of light, were not farewells, but gifts. Another act of resilience. An artist choosing, even then, to keep going by his own design. As we remember Bobby, it’s hard not to feel the echo of the way he lived. A man driftin’ and dreamin’, never worrying if the road would lead him home. A child of countless trees. A child of boundless seas.””Weir was just 16 years old when he befriended Jerry Garcia, then a music teacher at a Palo Alto, CA, instrument store, on New Year’s Eve of 1963. The two guitarists formed an old-time music unit, Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions, and went electric with the rock band the Warlocks, before finally taking the name the Grateful Dead in 1965.
