As 2008’s Mountain Jam Festival unfolded at Hunter Mountain, Radio Woodstock’s Greg Gattine remembers waiting outside Bob Weir’s hotel room as the Grateful Dead co-founder, rhythm guitarist, and songwriter returned from a workout.

“There’s sweat pouring off his head, a towel around his neck,” said Gattine, 63, the radio station’s program director and morning host. “He just came from the gym. He says, ‘Hey guys. How ya’ll doing?”

Weir invited Gattine and colleagues Justin Foy and Brett Pasternak inside and asked if their interview could wait until he showered, trusting them with an assortment of personal items that he’d left out in the open. 

“We’re in his hotel suite with his wallet, weed, phone and guitar, all just lying around while he takes a shower,” Gattine said. “He comes out—and he’s ready to go.”

Not long afterwards, Weir took to the Mountain Jam stage and performed for thousands. 

It was just one small moment that showed the deep connection between Weir, who died on Saturday at the age of 78, and the Woodstock area. Local Deadheads and those who worked with him have been reflecting on the ties that he and the band forged with upstate New York over decades of performances.

Weir’s links to the region date back at least to the Grateful Dead’s performance at the 1969 festival in Bethel, a gig that he didn’t relish. 

It was, “raining toads,” and the band’s soundman took two hours to rewire the stage, Weir said, according to “The Road to Woodstock,” a memoir by Michael Lang, the late Woodstock festival promoter and town resident.

“Some people made their careers at Woodstock,” Weir said. “But we spent about 20 years making up for it. It was probably the worst set we ever performed.”  

In addition to playing Mountain Jam multiple times, Weir performed at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, and held recording sessions for his 2016 album, “Blue Mountain,” at Applehead Recording in Woodstock and Dreamland Recording Studios in Hurley. 

“One of my favorite things about him making that record, that I personally experienced with him, was chopping wood outside the studio on the farm here for exercise,” said Applehead Studio owner Mike Birnbaum. “I thought that was pretty unique and fantastic.”

One longtime collaborator, Woodstock artist Mike DuBois, also had fond memories of the Grateful Dead co-founder, guitarist, songwriter, and singer.

“You couldn’t ask for a more humble human being,” said DuBois, 62, who created artwork for numerous projects commissioned by the Grateful Dead, offshoot bands, and Weir’s various musical incarnations. “His equanimity was unparalleled. He would give you the time of day, chat and be cheerful about it.”

DuBois, who has worked on Grateful Dead projects since 1986, played drums at a tribute to Weir on Wednesday at the Bearsville Theater, where a capacity crowd sang along in celebration, grief and mourning. The event inspired hope and healing in the wake of loss. 

“He always had a willingness to experiment in both artwork and graphics and, of course, in his music,” said DuBois. “I was honored to work with him. It was a good fit. He gave us artists the freedom to create.”

Weir performed numerous times over the decades at Bearsville and developed a strong personal and professional relationship with Peter Shapiro, the national concert promoter who runs the Bearsville Theater.

That relationship centered in part on HeadCount, which aims to harness “the power of music and popular culture to register voters and promote participation in democracy.” Weir served on the organization’s board, along with his wife, Natascha, and Shapiro.

Shapiro welcomed Weir to venues he operates, including the Capitol Theatre in Westchester. the Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg and the former Wetlands Preserve in Manhattan. Shapiro also staged the 2015 Fare Thee Well concerts, which reunited Weir with surviving Grateful Dead bandmates to mark the group’s 50th anniversary.

“Bobby was a friend,” Shapiro said in an interview at Wednesday’s performance. “When I thought of him, I would think of him just as, in relation to how I knew him—as a person.” 

Shapiro said Weir was “always open to doing fun, new, creative things, musically and other things in this world.”

As far as the Dead itself, Weir was “the glue,” Shapiro said.

“Bobby held a lot of it together,” he said. “He was so unique, idiosyncratic—he didn’t play straight. And he wasn’t Elmer’s Glue. He was Krazy Glue.”

John W. Barry is a reporter for The Overlook. Reach him at john@theoverlooknews.com.