The music world is mourning the passing of founding Grateful Dead singer/guitarist Bob Weir, who died on Saturday, January 10. According to an official announcement, Weir passed away from “underlying lung issues” after “courageously beating cancer.”
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In the aftermath of the sad news, many artists have shared emotional tributes to the beloved and innovative musician. Among them are longtime Grateful Dead drummer/percussionist Mickey Hart and keyboardist Bruce Hornsby, who was a touring member of the band from 1990 to 1992. Bob Dylan and ex-Grateful Dead keyboardist Ton Constanten also paid homage to Weir.
Hart was a member of The Grateful Dead from 1967 to 1971, and from 1974 until the group disbanded following frontman Jerry Garcia’s death in 1995. Mickey also played with Weir in a number of Dead spinoff groups, including The Other Ones and Dead & Company.
Hart wrote on his social media pages, “Bob Weir was a little brother to me for almost sixty years. He was my first friend in The Grateful Dead. We lived together, played together, and made music together that ended up changing the world.”
Mickey continued, “Bob had the ability to play unique chords that few others could. Long fingers, that’s the difference. Jerry once told me that the harmonics Bob created became an inspiration for his own solos.”
He added, “When all of us were entrained, rhythm section, guitars, and voices… it was transcendent. What was a lifetime of adventure boils down to something simple- we were family and true to the music through it all. … Still cannot believe he’s gone. I miss you so much already, dear friend.”
Hart also shared a few photos of himself and Bob together over the years.
Bruce Hornsby’s Tribute
Hornsby, meanwhile, penned a lengthy homage in which he discussed his friendship with Weir, talked about his experience performing live with The Grateful Dead, and praised Bob’s unique approach to playing guitar. Bruce also revealed that he recently recorded a new song with Weir.
“Bob Weir was one of my favorite musician friends, and for that matter, one of my favorite people anywhere,” Hornsby began. “Always a warm, jovial presence, but with a mischievous look in his eye, he was ready with banter, a quip, a wise-guy crack or bon mot most all the time.
He continued, “Weir had a completely original take on playing rhythm guitar in a rock band, inspired by disparate sources … He found the ideal and unique voicings and rhythmic style to underpin Garcia’s flights of fancy, and kept developing it through the years. Often when I played with them I wouldn’t play, just lay out, because I thought that the symbiosis between the two longtime partners was so evident and anything else added was unnecessary and possibly intrusive.”
Bruce also praised Weir’s versatile songwriting talents and mentioned some of the many classic tunes Bob wrote or co-wrote. They included “Estimated Prophet,” The Other One,” “Jack Straw,” “One More Saturday Night,” “Playing in the Band,” “Truckin’,” and “Sugar Magnolia.”
Hornsby then reported, “We just worked together in 2025 on some new music and had a joyful time with it. This piece, a song I wrote with [late Grateful Dead lyricist] Robert Hunter, will stand as our mutual final collaboration, and I will always cherish it, along with all the times we played together through the years.”
He concluded, “I love you, Bob, and will always fondly remember our many moments, so often transcendent, throwing chords and notes around in space, through the air, together.”
Tributes from Bob Dylan & Tom Constanten
A couple of other musicians who played and/or toured with The Grateful Dead also paid tribute to Weir.
Bob Dylan, who teamed up with the Dead for a 1987 tour, simply posted a photo on his X page of him performing with Weir and Garcia during the trek.
Tom Constanten played keyboards with The Grateful Dead from late 1968 to early 1970. He wrote on his Facebook page, “An enormous sigh for Bob Weir. We shared a house in [the San Francisco suburb of] Ross [California] in 1969. However great you may think he was, he was yet greater.”
(Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/WireImage)
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