Mike Gordon of Phish briefly auditioned for the bassist role but had to withdraw due to being too busy with other matters. Instead he continued to perform with his band Phil Lesh and Friends. Phil Lesh, the bassist for the Grateful Dead, did not join Dead & Company. Mayer expressed a particularly strong enthusiasm toward playing with the new band. That August, Mayer and original Grateful Dead members Weir, Hart, and Kreutzmann formed the band, along with keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and bassist Oteil Burbridge. A bond developed between the two, and while Weir and the other three surviving core members of the Grateful Dead were preparing for their 50th anniversary shows, dubbed Fare Thee Well, Mayer began practicing the band's large catalog of songs. In February 2015, while Mayer was guest hosting The Late Late Show, he invited Grateful Dead guitar player Bob Weir to join him in a studio performance. Mayer recounts that in 2011 he was listening to Pandora and happened upon the song " Althea" by the Grateful Dead, and that soon Grateful Dead music was all he would listen to.
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