News

Savage user Bob Weir takes his WST rig back out with RatDog this summer and fall:

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member and Grateful Dead co-founder Bob Weir and his band RatDog have confirmed their 2009 summer tour dates, beginning July 5, with shows booked into September. Weir formed the band in 1995 and has toured every year since, releasing two albums, Evening Moods, in 2000 and Live At Roseland, in 2001. The band will make all shows available on high fidelity three-CD sets immediately following each performance, so fans can “Weir Hear” the shows they attend.

Weir and the Dead performed 22 shows on a hugely successful headlining tour this spring, and will perform at the Rothbury Music Festival in Michigan July 4, with the RatDog tour kicking off the next day. “My heart is on the road,” says Weir, who toured with the Dead relentlessly since they formed in 1965 through guitarist Jerry Garcia’s passing in 1995. “When I was a kid, like 8 or 9 years old, my brother taught me how to tune a radio and that was it for me. I knew I wasn’t going to be a fireman or an Indian chief…I was going to be a musician.”

RatDog–Weir on guitar and vocals, saxophonist Kenny Brooks, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, guitarist Mark Karan, drummer Jay Lane and bassist Robin Sylvester–pulls from a diverse repertoire of music, including Grateful Dead songs and Weir originals from solo albums including Ace (1972), Kingfish (1976), Heaven Help the Fool (1978) and Bobby & The Midnites(1981). The group also performs select cover songs from artists like Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and The Band as well as songs by great blues and jazz artists.

For more, visit http://www.rat-dog.com.

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