Grateful Dead co-founder Phil Lesh, 84, died on Oct. 25. The tenor singer, lead guitarist, and songwriter (“Box of Rain,” “Truckin’,” “Unbroken Chain”) founded the Grateful Dead in 1965 along with Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, and Bill Kreutzmann. While they never had the hit records that the Beatles and Rolling Stones did, the Dead recorded and toured extensively, to the delight of their “Deadhead” fans. Members came and left, but Lesh continued with the group till his death, despite failing health; he also toured solo and with other musicians. Lesh told Bret Heisler and Jen DeVincenzo in 2000 that “I try to describe it to the musicians as, when you’re taking a lead it’s not really a solo and the rest of us are accompanying you. It’s like you’re the first among equals and we are all making this weave - this tapestry together. We are all equally important and I want you guys to be weaving in and out and trading off and listening very hard to each other. If you can’t hear everybody in the whole band then you’re either playing too loud or you’re too deep into your own thing.”
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