Oteil Burbridge is Keeping the Catalog Moving With a Fall Theater Tour and a Rotating All-Star Band
Melvin Seals. Steve Kimock. Jason Crosby. Johnny Kimock. Lamar Williams Jr. Deep funk, soul, jazz fusion, and the Grateful Dead catalog, improvised every night across theater stages from Los Angeles to Philadelphia.
A Heavily Improvisational Headline Theater Run Reinterpreting the Grateful Dead Catalog Across Funk, Soul, Blues, and Jazz Fusion
Oteil Burbridge, the bassist who spent years at the center of Dead and Company and who brought the Allman Brothers Band legacy into deep conversation with the Grateful Dead universe, is on the road this fall with Oteil Burbridge and Friends. The configuration is built around heavily improvisational sets that reinterpret the Grateful Dead catalog alongside classic blues, funk, soul, and jazz fusion — not a Dead tribute band in any conventional sense, but a genuine ensemble using the catalog as a launchpad for open-ended exploration every single night.
The tour follows the release of Burbridge’s studio album The Offering, a collaborative project recorded in Iceland alongside vocalist Lamar Williams Jr. that functions as a musical tribute to Jerry Garcia and lyricist Robert Hunter. The Offering gives the live tour a conceptual anchor — the songs on stage are not just repertoire, they are material with a specific emotional and artistic context behind them, performed by musicians who understand that context from the inside.
Beyond the foundational Grateful Dead catalog, the performances pull from the Allman Brothers Band, Jerry Garcia’s solo works, Bob Marley, and the Band — leaning heavily on open-ended jams and genre mashups that let the music find its own shape each night.
The Grateful Dead LiveMelvin Seals, Steve Kimock, Jason Crosby, Johnny Kimock, Tom Guarna, and Lamar Williams Jr.
The band rotates around a core set of collaborators whose individual connections to the Grateful Dead and surrounding musical traditions run deep.
The band’s anchor and creative force. His years with Dead and Company and the Allman Brothers Band placed him at the intersection of exactly the two catalogs this project is built around.
A veteran of the Jerry Garcia Band with decades of history inside the Garcia catalog. Seals brings firsthand knowledge of how Garcia approached his solo material that no outside musician can replicate.
One of the most respected guitarists in the Dead-adjacent world, with deep roots in the Other Ones and his own long history of collaborating with former Dead members. His melodic approach and improvisational instincts are central to what this band can do.
A versatile multi-instrumentalist whose range across keyboards and violin adds harmonic and textural dimensions to the ensemble that a standard rock lineup cannot offer.
Drummer and son of Steve Kimock, Johnny brings both his own established credentials as a live drummer and a specific musical conversation with his father that gives the rhythm section its own internal dynamic.
Williams co-wrote and recorded The Offering with Burbridge in Iceland. His vocal presence on stage is the through-line connecting the studio album’s tribute to Garcia and Hunter with the live performance.
A guitarist whose background spans jazz, rock, and improvisational contexts — well suited to an ensemble that moves across the Grateful Dead catalog, the Allman Brothers, and jazz fusion territory within a single set.
The Grateful Dead Catalog as a Launchpad — With the Allman Brothers, Garcia Solo Works, Bob Marley, and the Band Alongside It
The sets Oteil Burbridge and Friends play are not setlist-driven in the way a tribute act typically operates. The Grateful Dead catalog provides the foundation, but the performances pull in the Allman Brothers Band, Garcia’s solo works with the JGB, Bob Marley, and the Band, weaving them together through open-ended jams and genre shifts that let the music find its own shape each night. The improvisational approach means that no two shows are the same, and the rotating cast of musicians means that the harmonic and rhythmic conversations inside the band shift as the lineup changes.
The studio album The Offering, recorded with Lamar Williams Jr. in Iceland as a tribute to Garcia and Robert Hunter, gives the project a specific emotional grounding that extends beyond repertoire. Playing these songs while carrying the context of what the album is about changes how the performances land — for the musicians on stage and for the audiences in the room.
The Offering · Studio Album · Recorded in Iceland
A collaborative album recorded in Iceland alongside Lamar Williams Jr. A tribute to Jerry Garcia and lyricist Robert Hunter, giving the fall tour its conceptual anchor. The songs on stage carry the weight of that context behind them every night.
The Influences in the Room Every Night
Grateful Dead catalog. Allman Brothers Band. Jerry Garcia Band solo works. Bob Marley. The Band. Deep funk. Soul. Jazz fusion. Not a fixed setlist but an open conversation between musicians who know all of it from the inside.
West Coast, Midwest, and Northeast — Including the Regent, SFJAZZ Center, and Ardmore Music Hall
The theater circuit spans the West Coast, Midwest, and Northeast throughout late October and November 2026, stopping at landmark venues across the country. Tickets through Ticketmaster and the individual venue box offices.
Full routing at oteilburbridge.com and Ticketmaster. Additional dates may be announced through the fall.
The Fare Thee Well Radio Show Covers the Full Post-Garcia Arc That Oteil Burbridge Has Been Central To
A tribute to the bands formed by members of the Grateful Dead following Jerry Garcia’s passing — showcasing the diverse musical endeavors the surviving members undertook to honor Garcia’s legacy and keep the spirit of the music alive. Oteil Burbridge’s entire post-Garcia body of work, from Dead and Company through the Oteil and Friends touring configuration, is part of what the Fare Thee Well show covers every Thursday night on the channel.
