Bob Weir and RatDog | RatDog.Org

Photo: Terry Rogers

Saxophones, Touchpad, VocalsInstruments:

5/5/2000First Show:

kennybrooks.comWeb Site:

Kenny was inspired to play reed instruments from the age of nine. After graduating from high school in El Cerrito (north of Oakland) in 1984 at age 17, he went straight to the New England Conservatory in Boston. There he studied with master saxophonist George Garzone and other notable faculty including George Russell, Bob Moses, and Ken Radnofsky. Kenny received his B.M. in 1988 and returned to the Bay Area the following year.

In the early 90s, he worked with artists including the Peck Allmond Group and the afro-pop group Kotoja, and he began his long-term association with legendary drummer Eddie Marshall.

1991 was the birth year of Kenny's groundbreaking hip hop/jazz band Alphabet Soup. Co-founded with pianist Dred Scott, Alphabet Soup remains one of San Francisco's most popular bands and was the first hip hop/jazz group at both the Monterey and San Francisco Jazz Festivals.

In 1992, Kenny recorded with his hero and teacher Joe Henderson on Kitty Margolis' CD Evolution. In 1994, Kenny and Charlie Hunter began a run of almost three years playing duo and trio every Friday night at the South of Market nightspot Up and Down Club. In 1996, Kenny joined the Charlie Hunter Quartet. They recorded the CD Natty Dread for Blue Note and toured extensively throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. By 1995, Kenny was leading a trio under his own name with Eddie Marshall and standout Bay Area bassist Jeff Chambers.

Kenny has played and recorded with musicians including Mike Clark, Ohio Players, Steve Smith, Les Claypool, Medeski Martin and Wood, String Cheese Incident, and Josh Roseman, and countless others. In 2006, he played on Chuck MacKinnon's new CD as well as DJ Teeko's My Soundstation and appeared with Teeko's 41Funk jam band in addition to touring extensively with RatDog.

Photo: Butch Worrell

Keyboards, VocalsInstruments:

5/28/1997First Show:

Jeff (last name pronounced "key-men-tee") studied classical piano from the time he seven years old until his interest in jazz and improvisational playing grew during his high school years.

After years of playing with various jazz acts like the Dave Ellis Quartet and touring with En Vogue, Jeff joined RatDog in 1997.

Since then he's kept busy with Alphabet Soup, The Other Ones, The Dead, and Furthur.

Photo: Terry Rogers

Guitars, VocalsInstruments:

10/29/1998First Show:

markkaran.comWeb Site:

When Mark (last name pronounced "care-en") takes a break from life on the road with RatDog, what does he do for fun? He hits the highway with his own band!

Since 1998, Mark has been touring with offshoots of the Grateful Dead, including The Other Ones and Planet Drum. Before crossing over into the land of the Dead, Mark worked his guitar voodoo for the likes of Dave Mason, Paul Carrack, Delaney Bramlett, the Rembrandts, Huey Lewis, Jesse Colin Young, Alex Call, and Sophie B. Hawkins.

Jemimah Puddleduck, his band's eponymous CD, gives a generous taste of what JP does, including original songs like Time Will Tell and Rock Your Papa and covers ranging from the stanky funk of Johnny Guitar Watson's You Can Stay (But the Noise Must Go) to the aching country-soul of Gram Parsons' She to the reggae tinged jamminess of Mark's take on Peter Tosh's Don't Look Back to a raucous version of Lowell George's Teenage Nervous Breakdown with vocals by Mark's ever-funky bassman, Bob Gross.

Along with RatDog recordings, you can find MK on The Other Ones' Only The Strange Remain, Sounds From Home by Delaney Bramlett, and Spin This by The Rembrandts. Whether with Jemimah Puddleduck, which also features premier drummer John Molo, or one of the many combinations of well known musical talent and wonderful "lesser known" players we've taken to calling "Mark Karan's Buds," Mark brings his soulful blues-based vocal stylings and passionate, inspired guitar work to some of the tastiest tunes around—a passionately delivered mix of rock meets R&B, with flashes of folk, blues, reggae, jazz and whatever other muse might pay a visit in the moment.

Photo: Butch Worrell

Drums, Percussion, VocalsInstruments:

Original MemberFirst Show:

jaylane.netWeb Site:

[Jay Lane Interview]

Jay's roles on drums have earned him a place in San Francisco's music history. He started performing in the Bay Area in the early 1980s in a band called Ice Age that featured childhood friend and current Spearhead guitarist Dave Shul. Another childhood friend, saxophonist Dave Ellis, got Jay his next gig with a local ska band, The Uptones, which he played with for two years before joining another popular Bay Area group, The Freaky Executives, in 1985.

After four years of steady gigging and a huge record deal with Warner Brothers that eventually was shelved, Jay met Les Claypool in the halls of the rehearsal space the bands shared. Claypool invited Jay to join his group, Primus, and they played together for about eight months—including a recording session for the Primus cassette "Sausage"—until Claypool was ready to hit the road and Jay needed to bow out due to prior commitments to The Freaky Executives.

Shortly thereafter, Jay co-founded the pioneering hip hop/jazz group Alphabet Soup with saxophonist Kenny Brooks, New York keyboardist Dred Scott, and rappers Chris Burger (The Mo'fessionals) and Zachariah Mose. Alphabet Soup recorded two albums—1994's Layin' Low in the Cut and 1996's Strivin'—and shot a video that featured regularly on BET.

Also during those years Jay reunited with old friends—seven-string guitarist Charlie Hunter and sax man Dave Ellis—to form the original Charlie Hunter Trio. The trio recorded two albums, the first on Claypool's Prawn Song label and the second—Bing Bing Bing!—on Blue Note records.

During Jay's tenure with the Charlie Hunter Trio, Jay started playing with Bob Weir and Rob Wasserman in a side project that would eventually become RatDog. Also during this time, Les Claypool reunited with Jay and Primus' original guitarist, Todd Huth, to put together a band called Sausage. They recorded an album, Riddles, on Interscope records in 1994, shot a video of the title track that was played on "Beavis and Butthead" several times, and did a tour with the Rollins Band and Helmet that summer.

In 2002, Jay earned accolades from his peers and fans, winning "Drummer of the Year" at the California Music Awards. His beats are urban, funky, and fluid, and demonstrate the physical power and stamina he's built over a lifetime on the drums.

In 2005, Jay toured with Les Claypool's Fancy Band (Skerik, Mike Dillon, Gabby La La) along with RatDog; layed down beats in his home studio; and played Bay Area shows with Alphabet Soup between tours.

In 2006, founding Soup rappers Zach Mose and Chris Burger formed a new group with Soup rapper Mike Blake and Mo'fessionals rapper Kingpin Rowski called The Band Of Brotherz, which continues the pioneering of hip hop with more of a reggae/world influence. They recorded a single, Down in Babylon, for a Katrina benefit CD that spawned a slew of great songs produced by Zach from his Golden Baboon Studios. Jay hopped on board right away, and they took it to the club. With a few recruits—Kenny Brooks, Dave Shul, DJ Teeko, Andre Marshall, Jeff Chimenti, and legendary six-string bassist Troy Lampkins (all Soup mainstays)—they performed a few exciting inaugural shows. Since then, the band has morphed to include the incredible Gabby La La on sitar and one-of-a-kind bassist Rob Wasserman. The forthcoming CD, Deadbeatz and Murderous Melodies, features Gabby, Rob, and Sikiru Adepoju (Mickey Hart's Planet Drum) on talking drum! Keep your ears out for 'em...

Photo: Terry Rogers

Bass Guitars, VocalsInstruments:

3/4/2003First Show:

A child of ''swingin' London,'' Robin plays several instruments including the guitar and has done extensive arranging. He began his music career as a sound engineer. Working as an assistant at Abbey Road Studios when the Beatles recorded their so-named album, he was inspired by Paul McCartney to take up the bass guitar.

After touring with acts such as Dana Gillespie, he moved to the United States and spent time as a session musician in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and then Sebastopol. He worked alongside saxophonist Steve Douglas backing groups like the Beach Boys, Phil Spector, and Ry Cooder. Before joining RatDog, Robin also toured and recorded as part of Vince Welnick's Missing Man Formation and played live shows for acts including Billy Preston, Christine McVie, Steve Seskin, and Del Shannon.

Photo: RatDog.Org

BassInstruments:

Original Member (through 10/19/2002; sat in for 2010 Jamaica shows and rejoined)First Show:

robwasserman.comWeb Site:

Precious few musicians demonstrate the scope to be dubbed renaissance men, but Rob Wasserman has more than earned the title. His daunting versatility has made him one of the last two decade's most in-demand bassists -- as demonstrated by recording and touring stints with Lou Reed, Van Morrison, and Elvis Costello. His longtime creative partnership with Grateful Dead members Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir have yielded a trove of fertile sounds. And, last but far from least, the albums issued under his own name have won awards from sources in the jazz, pop and rock fields.

That acclaim has much to do with Wasserman's unflagging devotion to artistic purity and the value of real musicianship. Trained at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, he developed a style of upright bass playing that he likens to cello, more than standard bass methodology. He's put that ability to the test in a variety of contexts over the years, most notably on a series of three albums -- SOLO, DUETS, and TRIOS -- that demonstrate his unparalleled knack for making his voice heard without shouting, for allowing the collaborative process to flower to its fullest.

Photo: RatDog.Org

Guitars, VocalsInstruments:

Original MemberFirst Show:

bobweir.netWeb Site:

[Bob Weir Interview]

A founding member of the Grateful Dead, Bob's musical legacy (separate from its cultural implications) will be of an utterly strange rhythm guitar player and songwriter who grew up in one of the most lasting outside bands of the 1960s. Playing with the Dead until their dissolution following the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995, Bob has since made his primary musical home in RatDog.

Born in 1947 and adopted by a rich California engineer, Bob's dyslexia gave him trouble at school. He was labeled a troublemaker and shipped off to boarding school, where he met future songwriting partner John Perry Barlow. After being kicked out of the school, Bob returned to the Bay Area, where he bummed around the burgeoning folk scene and came into contact with musicians like Jerry Garcia, New Riders on the Purple Sage founder David Nelson, and Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen. A series of jug bands eventually morphed into the electrified Warlocks who, in turn, became the Grateful Dead.

Bob developed his odd rhythm style playing between the sweet, articulated lead guitar of Jerry Garcia and the avant-garde bass lines of Phil Lesh. Like a jazz guitarist, Bob was often not evident in the mix, but still a profound shape on the sound.

Bob's earliest songwriting efforts mirrored those of Garcia and Lesh, though less successfully. By the early '70s, he had crossed paths with Barlow again and the two began their creative relationship in earnest. Soon, Bob was producing songs in his own distinct style—a blend of Americana and the odd voicings he specialized in. As the health of Dead frontman Ron "Pigpen" McKernan waned, Bob found his rich baritone increasingly at the center of attention and developed a stage personality to match it. His first solo album, Ace, released in 1972, featured Bob backed by the rest of the Dead.

Through the late '70s, and especially during the Dead's year off in 1975, Bob toured and recorded with a number of groups, including Kingfish and Bobby and the Midnites. As Jerry's dependence on drugs increased during the Dead's later days, Bob found himself increasingly in the position of de facto bandleader.

When Jerry died in 1995, Bob had recently formed RatDog. In addition to consistently touring with RatDog since then, Bob reunited with several former Dead bandmates for tours in 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2004, and 2009. He continues to play with countless artists of varying styles and talents.

Photo: RatDog.Org

Guitars, VocalsInstruments:

8/16/2012First Show:

songsofjonathanwilson.comWeb Site:

''Gentle Spirit'' is not simply the name of the debut solo album by songwriter/musician/producer, Jonathan Wilson, it represents the ethos of the artist himself. Warm, supple melodies etched in layers of stringed instruments and willowy organ motifs accompany his earnest, North Carolinian drawl as he tells tales of humane values lost and found.

Wilson's music is steeped equally in the woodsy contours of his Blue Ridge experiences and the atmospheric guitar reveries of Neil Young and Quicksilver Messenger Service. In fact, ''Gentle Spirit,'' an expansive double vinyl set, is remarkably evocative of that golden late '60s, early '70s period when rural and urban sensibilities colluded in producing some of rock's most imperishable recordings.

Wilson, a native of Forest City, North Carolina, has been quietly earning a reputation as a musical jack-of-all-trades. He is adept behind the recording console, possesses a luthier's knowledge of all things strummed, and maintains the innate ability to conceptualize an instrument essential to providing the right color to a track in need of a defining detail. Whether working with promising new recording artists like the band Dawes, contemporary artists, such as Erykah Badu and Elvis Costello, or Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, Jackson Browne, and Robbie Robertson, Wilson, a tall, slim, long-haired presence, provides direction and support as tasty and soulful as anyone in the business today.