A founding member of the Grateful Dead, Weir's musical legacy will be of an utterly strange rhythm guitar player and songwriter who grew up in one of the most lasting outside bands of the 1960s. He played with the Dead until their dissolution following the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995, since when he has made Ratdog his primary musical vehicle.

Born in San Francisco in 1947 and adopted by a rich California engineer, he began playing guitar at the age of 13 after less successful experimentation with the piano and the trumpet. Weir's undiagnosed dyslexia gave him trouble at school; he was labelled a troublemaker and shipped off to boarding school, where he met future songwriting partner John Perry Barlow.

After being kicked out of the school, Bob returned to the Bay Area, where he bummed around the burgeoning folk scene and came into contact with musicians like Jerry Garcia, New Riders of the Purple Sage founder David Nelson, and Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen. A series of jug bands, including Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, eventually morphed into the electrified Warlocks who, in turn, became the Grateful Dead.

Bob developed his odd rhythm style playing between the sweet, articulated lead guitar of Jerry Garcia and the avant-garde bass lines of Phil Lesh. Like a jazz guitarist, Bob was often not evident in the mix, but still a profound shape on the sound. Bob's earliest songwriting efforts mirrored those of Garcia and Lesh, though less successfully.

By the early 1970s, he had crossed paths with Barlow again and the two began their creative relationship in earnest. Soon, Weir was producing songs in his own distinct style - a blend of Americana and the odd voicings he specialised in. As the health of Dead frontman Ron 'Pigpen' McKernan waned, Weir began to develop a stronger vocal capability and stage personality. His first solo album, Ace, released in 1972, was backed by the rest of the Dead.

Through the late 1970s, and especially during the Dead's year off in 1975, Weir toured and recorded with a number of groups, including the Bay Area band Kingfish with friends Matt Kelly and Dave Torbert. He also had a brief stint with the Bob Weir Band with Brent Mydland on keyboards and then later on he formed another side band, Bobby and the Midnites.

As Garcia's dependence on drugs increased during the Dead's later days, Weir found himself increasingly in the position of de facto bandleader. When Garcia died in 1995, Weir had recently formed Ratdog. In addition to consistently touring with Ratdog since then, Weir reunited with several former Dead bandmates for tours in 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2004.