One of Bob Weir's best-loved songs is "The Music Never Stopped." It holds true, even in the 21st century. As a matter of fact, as the century goes along it's even truer.

Even when his first band, the Grateful Dead, was playing close to 100 shows yearly, Weir needed other outlets, and developed a solo career that began with albums like "Ace" and "Heaven Help the Fool" and continued through his sidebands "Kingfish" and "Bobby and the Midnites." It then settled into a special duo partnership with the distinguished bassist Rob Wasserman.

As their music evolved, they reached out into musical realms that required more players. RatDog was born, and began to grow. First came the drummer, Jay Lane, one of the Bay Area's best, a member of the Freaky Executives and the Uptones. He introduced to RatDog the incredibly gifted jazz/blues/rock pianist, Jeff Chimenti. Guitarist Mark Karan came to Weir's notice in the summer of 1998 when they played together in The Other Ones, and he proved far too good to let go. The Lane/Chimenti jazz pipeline produced another addition to RatDog, the fine Bay Area saxophonist Kenny Brooks, a New England Conservatory of Music graduate and a long-time member of the Charlie Hunter Quartet.

More Information