For the last decade, Oteil Burbridge has been an essential element of Dead & Company, the most recent and most popular offshoot of cultishly adored Bay Area psychedelic rock institution the Grateful Dead.
The bassist and vocalist – recipient of a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for his 17-year stint as bassist the Allman Brothers Band – quickly became a crowd favorite for his deft improvisation, effervescent character, and rich, emotionally resonant renditions of beloved Dead ballads like “High Time,” “Comes A Time,” and “China Doll.” In the years since its launch in 2015, Dead & Company amassed the kind of teeming, overflow crowds the Grateful Dead experienced during their commercial heyday of the late 80s and early 90s, packing stadiums across the United States with tens of thousands of fans. With news of front man and Dead founding member Bob Weir’s death at 78 on Saturday, the band’s cosmos is again faced with mourning the loss of one of its key figures. Burbridge, who will perform in Saratoga Springs with the 10 Most Wanted Band for Make-A-Wish Vermont & Northeast New York’s Whiskey, Wine & Wishes gala on Saturday, March 7, at the Canfield Casino, is preparing to attend Saturday’s free public memorial service and procession for Weir in San Francisco. He spoke with WAMC’s Josh Landes about how he’s responding to the loss.
WAMC: Let's start with the most immediate thing in the last week- Obviously, the world is reeling and responding to the loss of one of your closest musical collaborators and a guy you played with for the last decade, Mr. Bobby Weir. The last time we talked, I asked you a little bit about Colonel Bruce Hampton and your relationship with him, before and after his transition to whatever is next- And I'm interested, at this point, with Bobby moving forward, what are your thoughts and feelings and reactions?
BURBRIDGE: Well, it's just so hard, man. It caught me so off guard. I didn't even know that he was ill and having cancer treatments or any of that. I knew something was up, because Bobby doesn't take eight months off. When there were no bookings, even for Wolf Brothers coming up in the future, at some point, even, say, four months from now- I was like, man, something's up. And then Saturday, I got the call. So, I had a feeling. But without knowing anything, it's just hard. And then the whole community is just- God, it's such a gut punch. I told someone, it's like a one-two punch from Mike Tyson, for [Grateful Dead bassist] Phil [Lesh] and Bob to go so quickly in succession like that, it’s just like, golly man. But you know, he left it all in the ring, man, times ten. And he had a very clear and well thought out and felt intuitively philosophy about death. And we talked about it a number of times, and you could really feel when he was singing, even if it was in rehearsal, just kind of, you got the sense that he felt the presence of those that had already departed. And so, it was always close up in his face, which is a good thing in our type of philosophy. If your death is up in your face, and you're going to live right now to the fullest, because your next moments are not guaranteed- And that's how he lived, all the way, man. All in, all in, maybe more than anyone I've ever known personally.
I wonder, at this point- Looking back on your time with Bobby and Dead & Company, you guys were always jumping into the deep end musically with all of these improvisational opportunities and the translating of these deep, heartfelt songs. And we talk a lot about the idea of a lot of the Dead experience being one without a net, to draw on a famous title from their world- When you look back on that experience, what are you going to take forward with you creatively, spiritually, personally?
Well, just that. I mean, that's what got me here, is that philosophy, creatively, spiritually and personally, and that's what the whole Grateful Dead cult- That was the center of gravity, was that philosophy. And so that's what we take forward. It's all about right now. It's all about right now. We celebrate that we even got those guys. Ram Dass said something so beautiful- Don Was quoted it, a friend sent me the video. I can send it to you, but it was a quote about Jerry after he died. It's equally applied to Bob and Pig Pen and everybody. He said he was a catalyst for all the Grateful Dead community, individually to become self-luminous. And so that light is, that's how it works, that's how nature works. Light sparks another light, and it's like lighting all these different lights, and then they light more, and we got to keep lighting it. We try to keep lighting more lights ourselves. That's how it grows. And that's eternal. So that's what we carry forward, that same light that we were able to partake of and give back. It's not a one-way thing at all. That's what's so unique about the Grateful Dead, the communal part of it, It's that way with all music, but as you could tell, there's something extra with the Grateful Dead. [laughs]
I can't imagine how many anecdotes and stories and little memories you're going to hold with you from such a long relationship with Bobby, but do any come to mind like looking back over the last decade of little moments of Bob you're going to hold on to moving forward?
It's hard to pick really, because so many moments are just, they're so fleeting. When you play a bunch of shows with someone, every once in a while, photographers will actually capture the exact moment, or it'll be there on video. Someone was asking me yesterday, like, what were you guys laughing about right now? I was like, I don't know. [laughs] I'd have to watch it. Maybe it'll remind me. But there's a million little things, man. It's more just about his, again, his philosophy, he’s his thing that, we're all in. There was almost no separation. I'll tell you something- So, okay, I'll give you something that I find funny, and I'll think about this, because I was thinking about it earlier. It was making me laugh. Bob, like I said, I think it was past dedication, past obsession, past love affair, past devotion. It's like just complete self-identification, right? Him just having to play live music. So, we're at the Sphere, and we've done it for years now, and we're all so relieved, like, oh, finally, we don't have to be in the bus, going from night to night of a different town every night, we're gonna park it there, just gonna go to bed in the same spot every time- And then Bob brought his bus to Vegas. He had it every single night! [laughs] It’s hilarious! He still wanted to be on the bus, even though there was zero need for it whatsoever. I mean, even if he took the bus from his house to Vegas and then back home- He had a place that he was living, an enormous place, and he would just take the bus into the gig and back. I just thought that was hilarious. But again, it's that same philosophy, that commitment, that he's just all in, he wasn't going to feel completely right unless he had the bus, I guess. [laughs]
That is absolutely incredible. I mean, at this point- Looking back on that sphere run, I was lucky enough to catch one of the dates. Boy, what an unbelievable experience that was. I mean, what was it like standing down there? For me, I think back to, during a ‘Scarlet Begonias’ I saw you guys play, those big, massive red rose petals dropping down and filling up this massive orb. I mean, in the stands, it felt absolutely incredible- I can't imagine what it was like actually performing under that.
Well, believe it or not, we really can't see it that much. It's all, the way the Sphere is built, it's really all oriented towards the audience. So even if I turned around, I’d have to crane my neck so hard to get a good view of what's going on. And we're more like- I don't know, for me, it's like we're a garage band in a garage. When you're at the Sphere, that stage is so teeny- Like, it's not about us, it's about what's going on on the screen. It's about us in the auditory sense, but it's cool, because it takes a lot of pressure off of you. Like, people are not just looking at you, they’re looking at this- We're like the soundtrack for a movie, and we have the worst view of it. [laughs] But I think the cool part for me is, we got to watch it before we played, because we weren't going to be able to see it while we were playing, and so we knew what was coming up. And so, you could watch the reactions of the audience, because even though we might change the way we play it every night, there's certain things that are going to happen video-wise, at certain points, depending on the set list and all that stuff, and so just watching the audience's reaction was such a kick. [laughs] You could tell who's seeing it for the first time every night, and it's just like blowing their minds. So that was fun. It was really fun.
Did it get to a certain point where you guys basically kind of walked into the door and onto stage at Sphere? Because the settings, it's all dialed in specifically to you- Did it get to that point where you just sort of could get on stage and do the thing?
No, no, no, no. Bob always wanted to have a sound check. And he was a tinkerer, so he was always trying to mess with his sound, and then there was always on the fly ideas, like, we could try this, you know? And 90% of the time, we would end up trying it. There’d sometimes we wouldn't do it because, for whatever reason, the way the video was set up, or whatever, it could be any number of factors that are going on that would make it not the best night to do that idea then. But most of the time, yeah, it was never- I would crack up sometimes. We’d go in and do sound check, and then he would jam, he would start a jam on a song that we're not even playing in the set, and we would be like, doing, like, a 20-minute jam. [laughs] And I was like, why are we doing this song when we're not playing it? But he might have been working on his sound, or maybe he was thinking, I can fit this into like a segue or something, or maybe he thought of a new part, or had been thinking about a new part and just actually wanted to try it with the band, regardless of whether it's in that night or not. I mean, it's always so in the moment with Bob. And at the same time that it might even be seem frustrating to me at some points, but then I realized, hey man, this is the mode he operates in. I might not know the why, yet, but we go with it, and we do the 20-minute jam there and it would be like, okay, well, you know, we're going to be out of time here in a minute, we might want to run these vocal parts on these two that we are doing. [laughs] It was always an adventure, man. Always so much fun.
I also imagine looking back now on last summer, those massive shows in San Francisco- What are your thoughts and reflections on that? I mean, certainly it's going to go down as the last weekend of Bobby with Dead & Company. So, from a few months later on, what are your feelings and thoughts thinking about that, those beautiful days on the Polo Fields that seemed to go on for hours and hours and hours on end?
I think the same thing I think when I go back and listen to 70s and 80s Dead a lot now. I just want to hear him young. And when I listen to it, I'm like, my god, we're all so lucky. And that's what I think about those last shows at Grateful Dead 60- Like, my god, man, we're all so lucky to see Bob, especially knowing that he had gone through a cancer treatment. I did not know that at the time, and to think of how heroic that was, and that nothing was going to stop him from missing Grateful Dead 60, and the gods, old and new were on his side about that. And he did it. Just like, wow, we're so lucky. We're so lucky we got to share that and be a part of giving that energy to him, too, that he needed so badly then, but he also knew he could 1,000% count on. It's all a spiritual affair, man, in my mind.
Yeah, it seemed like the community came through with that. I mean, God, just tens of thousands of people there in the middle of San Francisco- I mean, that energy must have been just through the roof.
It's, I mean, you can't even- There's no words, man. I could never- When Jerry died, I just wasn't as plugged into the community, and I couldn't imagine. Now, I can, at least imagine. This time, going to San Francisco on Saturday for this big celebration, I'm going to get to see some of what that was like. It’s really unreal, man. Grateful Dead is not like any other happening in America, in American history. It's really singular, man. Remarkable.
Obviously, this is so fresh, and there's so much yet to resolve and understand about what's happened. But at this point, any thoughts on any future collaboration with the guys in Dead & Company? You guys really became such a road hardened, incredible ensemble- God, listening to you and [keyboardist] Jeff [Chimenti] and [singer-guitarist] John [Mayer], that really became so special in and of itself, this new ensemble working on some of these songs. At this point, any speculation or thoughts on what could lie ahead?
Dude, we're so not even close to there yet. Like, last Saturday, I just found out the blue that [Weir] just died. Boom. No ‘he was sick or in treatment’- Just, Bob's gone. Like, wow, geez. And then this next Saturday, day after tomorrow – Is it Thursday – day after tomorrow, I'm going to be in San Francisco with, like, probably the most deadheads that have been there since Grateful Dead 60. We are all so trying to process just daily- Yeah, I have zero, I haven't even gotten there yet, man. [laughs]
No, of course, of course. As far as your thoughts on what it means to mourn with this nation of Deadheads- You've experienced a lot of loss in your life, and it's something we spoke about the last time we talked. This is, unfortunately not new to you, losing someone so important. What does it feel like to be part of this sort of mass grief, this mass acknowledgement of someone's passing?
I think it helps. I feel really bad for Natascha, Monet, and Chloe [Weir], that they just had to share him so much. So, I'm kind of, in that sense, I'm fine that I didn't know anything about it. That time needed to be for them. But this time, it's so cathartic for everyone to be together during it, and it reminds us that it is already continuing. It's not, it doesn't end. You look at all the pictures of all the different musicians that were not in the Grateful Dead that Bob and Phil and [Grateful Dead drummers] Bill [Kreutzmann] and Mickey [Hart] intentionally played with to intentionally pass those torches- Each one of them is lighting another person's candle, going, yes, and you go light another candle. And so, this thing is already- I mean, there's already so many bands playing the music of the Grateful Dead. There will be no stopping. If Dead & Company never plays another note ever, I'll be playing it in my band and playing it with Grahame [Lesh] and playing it with so many different people that I love and that also probably played with Billy and Mickey and Bob and Phil at some point, and Jerry. I mean, we play with Melvin Seals and Steve Kimock. So, it’s always- That's the beauty of the philosophy. They were the catalyst that lit those lights for all of us to become self-luminous beings, as Ram Dass said when Jerry died, so then we carry that forward. And we know, man, because we saw it and heard it. We know what that light felt like and that it's still in our hearts, man. That's why I carry- With my brother [Kofi] that died, and Colonel Bruce and Greg Allman and Butch Trucks and I could just go on and on and on, man. I forget who told me- I said I didn't know if I would ever be able to reach the same peaks musically as I met playing with my brother. We had such a telepathic thing. And then when I started having some transcendent moments with different bands after he passed, I'd said it to a friend of mine, I was like, wow, I didn't know that I would ever feel that again. They said, every time you play, you're playing with Kofi. He's the one that taught you to play. [laughs] I was like, duh, of course, what am I thinking? I can't play anything that's separate from Kofi. He's my older brother, man. He was the one. It's that same- Once these things make their way into our heart, we put it out every time we play. And it goes fractal. It's just our interpretation of that light that shone on us and that we're trying to shine on others.
I think that's really beautiful. Oteil, thank you for articulating that. That's really powerful.
Thank you, man. I believe it. I believe this stuff. I believe music is magic. We're not up here doing math. Nobody's paying for that, for me to stand up there with a chalkboard and a piece of chalk, so, what are we doing? What is music to the materialist? What is it? I'm a magician. [laughs] To a materialist, you know, like, what am I even doing? Why would I, how can I make a living off of this? They're not just vibrations, measured vibrations coming out of a speaker. It's not just that, man. It’s how we feel that it matters- Like, there's a why in there. I love science, I want to know how, I'd love it- But I want to know why. Why does my heart hurt to see injustice? Why would a song make me cry? You know what I mean? [laughs] That's the real thing for me. And so, I believe in that, whatever that is. I don't have that- Well, I think I know what the answer is. I think it's magic, and I think love is the strongest and most powerful and most ancient and potent form of magic. But I can't prove it to a materialist. But I've staked my life on it, man. And so did all the guys in the Dead, and so did all these people that that make art. And we're trying to inspire each other, we're trying to keep each other buoyed when things are pulling us down. And I believe in it, man, I believe this stuff. That's my religion.
Yeah, some of these questions that you're asking about the intersection of science and magic and music- I had the pleasure of chatting with Mickey a couple years ago, and this is stuff that I know he's also very invested in, also, on that deep, atomic level of how this music can transform our lives. Have you had a chance to chat with Mickey or any of the other guys from the band in the last week? I mean, I imagine emotions are running high throughout the whole group.
No, I have texted with each person, but as you can imagine- Dude, take my phone and how it just blew up. And so many of my friends did not text me. They waited. They were like, hey, man, I just, I wanted to wait because I knew your phone was going to blow up. Take that and then multiply it by 55 more years. That's what Mickey and Kreutzmann had to deal with, and everybody that's – Natascha – everybody that's been around that long. Like, man. Wow. So, I'm going to see them on Saturday. Probably will be, I'm sure we'll get some time to talk and make some time to talk. But, there's so many things that need to be done because it's such a huge community, and everybody's being pulled on in so many way. I'm doing so many interviews, man, it's not even- It's just like, wow, I can't imagine what they're going through. So, we'll get that chance. We'll get that chance.
Looking ahead, the reason we're speaking today is about this really cool thing you're doing in March up in Saratoga Springs, this Make-A-Wish Gala, you're going to be performing at with the 10 Most Wanted band at this fundraiser. Can you tell us a little bit about why was it important to you or why were you interested in participating with Make-A-Wish up here in the Northeast?
It's all this dude, [President and CEO of Make-A-Wish Vermont & Northeast New York] Jamie Hathaway, [laughs] man, I met because of a guy that makes UFO documentaries! He's my favorite UFO filmmaker, he makes movies, and I somehow- I couldn't believe this, dude. I just rolled the dice and said, I'm going to just contact him and go, hey, I played with Allman Brothers for a long time, and now I'm with Dead & Company, and would you do my podcast? And so, he contacted me back. I just flipped out, man. So, in one of our times that we were texting with each other, he's like, yeah, I'm walking with my buddy Jamie Hathaway, and he asked me, who you texting? He said, I'm texting this dude Oteil. And Jamie's like, Oteil, like, from the band Dead & Company Oteil? He was like, yeah. He's like, holy shit, what? You have Oteil’s phone number? So, he was like, a huge fan. [laughs] He's flipping out. So, James was like, hey, will you say hi to him? I think he's flipping out right now. So, we started talking, and then we have a little group text going, and he's a super sweet guy. We both ride motorcycles and we have the Dead in common, we got UFOs in common, we got all kinds of things in common. So, we're just friends now. And then he called me and said, hey, would you be up for doing this Make-A-Wish thing? He's like, the band wants to get you to play a couple Allman Brothers tunes. I was like, sure, dude. I've done Make-A-Wish stuff. Back with when I was with the Allman Brothers, that was something that we participated in, and I obviously spiritually adore the whole thing from top to bottom. So, yeah, that's basically how it happened. Shout out to Jamie.
That's amazing. I mean, it must be very special, the kind of work that they do- Very cool and emotional. And Jamie Hathaway, he talked about, I'm quoting here, your “artistry and passion for bringing people together through music reflects what we hope to achieve, creating moments that transform lives.” Any thoughts on Jamie and how he's thinking about this choice for you to perform at the gala?
I mean, I'm just glad to be tapped for it, any way that I could help. The most important thing you can do is make a hard connection with someone and make a dream come true. Sometimes your dreams do come true, and it's happened to me so much in my life. And to do that for a kid- Like, when I see my kids, something happens, and it's just like that look in my child's face that they’re- It's just the best moment. That's heaven. That's actual heaven, right there. And so, if you can be any part of doing that, man, you are, in my estimation, doing what matters the most here. We can all be a miracle for somebody at some time, and so when you're called to do it, when it's placed in your path, just do it.
I think that's beautiful. Oteil I can't thank you enough for the chat today. Thanks again for your, as usual, complete commitment to answering questions so thoughtfully and so thoroughly. It's such a pleasure. I really can't thank you enough.
Oh, thank you, man, I'm sure I've talked so much you probably have to cut it way down. But, you know, that's my philosophy. I don't know- If I get hit by a car later on today, at least I said it. [laughs] And you can put out the long version afterwards.
Okay, well, just do me a favor and look both ways for the rest of the day, okay, buddy?
Oh, you know it, baby. I got young kids. I want to be here for another 60. [laughs]
Absolutely. Alright, man. Love you so much. Talk to you soon. Bye bye.
You too. Bless you, brother. Bye.
