Joseph Hudak
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Bob Weir onstage in 2025. The Grateful Dead co-founder was working on a "rock opera" about his life with songwriter Aaron Raitiere before his death this year. Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images When Bob Weir died in January at 78, he was in the midst of a number of projects, including writing his memoir and plotting a symphony tour with his band Wolf Bros. According to Nashville songwriter Aaron Raitiere, he was also working on a concept album about his life. Weir recruited Raitiere, J.D. Souther, Rival Sons singer Jay Buchanan, and producer Dave Cobb to help write his musical life story.
The Grammy-winning Raitiere, who’s written hit country songs for artists like Ella Langley and Lainey Wilson, says he hopes the finished tracks, inspired by both Weir and mythologist Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey, see the light of day.
“Bob was working on a psychedelic rock opera that was going to be performed at the Met in New York. That was the plan. And we were going to go for Broadway,” Raitiere tells Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now podcast. “We knocked all these songs out, as they told the story of his life. We’ve got hours and hours of recordings just sitting around.”
Raitiere says the bulk of the recording happened at RCA Studio A in Nashville whenever Weir came through town. He recalls late-night phone calls from the Grateful Dead co-founder, pitching him song ideas. All told, Raitiere says the group finished five or six complete tracks with various musicians, each with Weir singing lead, but have upwards of 17 in progress. “That guy was always making stuff,” he says, “and recording over it and trying to make it better too.”
During his appearance on Nashville Now, Raitiere also talks about the friendship he and Weir forged and recalls a trip they took to Antioch, a suburb of Nashville, to meet Souther (who died in 2024) for a writing session. Even in gridlocked traffic, Weir was unflappable, Raitiere says: “I gave him some rides in my old Camry. We were in a traffic jam on I-65 and he’s just sitting there puffing on his CDB pen.”
