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Fare Thee Well: Remembering Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead

Bryce Russell ,

Photo Courtesy of Grateful Dead Official Instagram

Bryce Russell | Arts & Entertainment Editor

On Friday, October 25, bass player Phil Lesh, founding member of the genre-defying American band the Grateful Dead, passed away at the age of 84.

During his 30-year run with the Grateful Dead from 1965 to 1995, Lesh helped to create some of the most influential music in history, impacting countless future bands and artists. Though guitarists Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir tended to sing a majority of the band’s catalog, Phil sang on a couple of standout fan favorites like “Box of Rain” and “Unbroken Chain.” 

Beginning his musical journey as a classically trained musician playing the violin and trumpet. After meeting Jerry Garcia and being invited to play with his band the Warlocks, he picked up the bass for the first time. Having never played the instrument before, Lesh had to learn on the job how to play his instrument, and in turn created a style of bass playing that was more inspired by classical music and avant-garde compositions than the modern rock and soul of the 1960s.

As the Grateful Dead picked up dedicated fans known as Deadheads that would travel from city to city across the country to see the band, different groups within the fan base began to develop their own subcultures. With different groups like the tapers who would set up their taping equipment to document the show, the spinners who would literally spin in circles the entire performance in the aisles or in the halls, and the Wharf Rats who were sober fans that would have meetings during set break, the band created its own environment in what was often called the “last great American adventure.” One of these subsections of Deadheads were the Phil fans that would flock to his side of the stage where his bass was the strongest, and would wear shirts and hold signs with the phrase “Let Phil Sing” printed across them. Phil wasn’t the most famous member of the band like lead singer and guitar player Jerry Garcia, but his influence was just as important. The jazz and classical influences brought by Phil made the band into more than just a psychedelic rock and blues band.

After Jerry Garcia passed away in 1995, Phil continued to spread the music and culture of the Dead in other bands with his fellow Dead members like the Other Ones, “The Dead,” and Furthur. In more recent years, Phil had a group of rotating musicians that went by the name “Phil Lesh and Friends,” which included members Phish, the Black Crowes, and the Allman Brothers Band. With Phil & Friends, Lesh was able to explore the music of the Grateful Dead in new ways.

Apart from his musical impact, Lesh was also a proponent for organ donation, after a liver transplant in 1998 saved his life. At every show after that operation, Lesh would honor the man who donated his organs and who Phil credited with saving his life. In 2018, Lesh played a benefit concert at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre for the American Transplant Foundation, played on the 20th anniversary of his liver transplant. 

With his passing on Friday, Phil joins past Grateful Dead members Jerry Garcia, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, Keith Godchaux, Brent Mydland, and Vince Welnick. I have no doubt they are all jamming together now.

The importance of the Grateful Dead and Phil Lesh can’t be overstated. As the band transformed from a simple psychedelic rock group into a counter-cultural movement that continues to last until this day, Phil Lesh and the rest of the Dead have left an indelible impact on not just music, but the world. The music of the Grateful Dead has left a huge impact on my life, and I know it will continue to do so. Thank you, Phil.

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