Music

Burbridge, formerly of Tedeschi Trucks Band and Dead and Co., is in Somerville this week with Vermont jam trio LaMP.

Real ones still call it Great Woods.

Xfinity, Tweeter, fill-in-the-blank. A Mansfield concert will always be Great Woods  to so many of us — including Oteil Burbridge.

“It’s Great Woods!” the two-time Grammy winner says with a laugh. “Always for forever.”

The bassist and hired gun is telling me about his history with Boston-area shows— starting with the Somerville Theater back in 1990 with Col. Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit. You might’ve seen Burbridge at Great Woods with the Allman Brothers Band, or at Fenway Park and Gillette Stadium with Dead & Co.

Burbridge was a founding member of Tedeschi Trucks Band, with Norwell’s Susan Tedeschi. He was in BK3— a trio with Bill Kreutzmann of the Grateful Dead. I could go on.

Catch Burbidge with Vermont jam trio LaMP for a limited run of four shows — including Somerville Oct. 9. The “Wish Benefit Tour” sees proceeds go to Make-A-Wish Massachusetts & Rhode Island, and  Make-A-Wish Vermont & Northeast New York. LaMP is “a band of known assassins,” Burbridge says, and includes Scott Metzger, Russ Lawton and Ray Paczkowski.

When you talk to Burbridge, 62, words like “magic,” “trippy,” and “cosmic” come up often. His own magic — not unlike late great Celtic/Deadhead Bill Walton’s —  may be that he sees this world through a prism of a childlike wonder. Our conversation is peppered with his laughter. 

I called the Washington, D.C. native, known as “Oteil from Egypt” to fans, to talk Vermont Teddy Bears, Grateful Dead, and more.

I haven’t talked to you since Bob Weir passed. What’s been your road since Dead & Co?

I’ve basically been playing with a whole bunch of different bands. I have Oteil & Friends. I was doing some things with Grahame Lesh (son of late Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh). Right after these Make-a-Wish shows, I’m going out for a month-and-a-half with John Schofield.  I haven’t heard anything from [John] Mayer or any of the Dead & Co-management.

I was wondering about that. Anything going on with that?

There’s nothing going on as far as I know.

Does it feel different playing Dead songs now that Bob is gone?

Absolutely. But also Phil, Bill [Kreutzmann] and Mickey [Hart] too. [Grateful Dead drummers] Bill and Mickey are still here, but I don’t get to see them. So yeah, I think about all of them.

You were in the Allman Brothers Band for so long, too. 

When I play with my band we always do Allman Brothers, always doing some Dead. So life is the same. I’m just not playing stadiums anymore. [laughs]

You’re also in the Toy Factory Project, which stems from the Marshall Tucker Band.

Yeah! Really it’s another one of those things that seem to be too good to be true — but that’s how my life has turned out to be.

I feel like you’re the jam scene’s Forrest Gump: Every time there’s a great jam band you’re in it.

It’s crazy. But I’ve realized: The common thread is that they’re bands. It’s not like a pop superstar—nothing against them. But it’s a band.  So even if there’s a dominant figure— someone who’s just a natural leader, they still insisted that it’s a band. That’s the common denominator in my Forrest Gumpness.

That’s an interesting point. You mean it’s people who can check their egos and become one?

Well, I don’t think any egos are checked [laughs]. They’re all unchecked.

[laughs] OK.

But you agree to stick with each other. It’s communist in that way, I guess. But there’s chemistry, too. And that’s where the real magic is.

It’s rare that you get that magic a second time around after someone dies. I was lucky to have it with the Allman Brothers Band — and what a rare thing to have it again with Dead & Co. And now I went and did it again with Toy Company!

So do you like coming to the Boston area?

Oh, yeah.  The Northeast is where the Allman Brothers are the biggest. I think that’s where Dead & Co were biggest.

I interviewed [Dead Archivist] Dave Lemiuex on that. We’re huge Dead fans here.

Something about that Northeast corridor. And I still call it Great Woods. [laughs] I don’t even know what they call it now. I ignore whatever [the name changes to.] It’s Great Woods. 

So you started out on drums at 5. But you also danced and acted as a kid.

Music won out. That was the earliest thing I loved. You’ve got to trust your instincts sometimes. 

Since you stopped dancing at 15, there was nothing else you wanted to do?

Well, capitalism forced me into music. I’m into a lot of different things.

Fair point. Like what?

There’s national parks I want to hike. Places I want to Scuba dive. I have a list of libraries I want to rummage through for a week.

Right, I’ve seen your  photos on socials.  I’ve never been, but it looks  amazing — like a different world. Jerry Garcia loved Scuba.

Yes! Anybody that’s done it knows there’s nothing that can touch it. Once you do it, you’re just like, ‘Wait a minute.’

It’s probably more interesting than being an astronaut. Because unless they’re all just keeping their mouths shut about it being teeming with life in outer-space — it certainly is underwater.

I love that you have a limited-edition Make-A-Wish Vermont Teddy Bear made in your honor for this current run of shows. That’s so cool.

Oh, life is so weird. Only an atheist could think God is not a comedian. I didn’t hardly know anything about the Grateful Dead [before playing it], and now there’s a Grateful Dead bear named after me. Who needs acid? Life is much trippier than acid.

That way of looking at things reminds me a lot of Bill Walton. I interviewed him, and he seemed just in awe of life.

Oh man, he was the best. So there’s a guy here we see biking wearing this Grateful Dead super-brightly colored pro riding gear.  I finally flagged him down.  I said, ‘Hey, man, I always see you, and I just wanted to find out who you are.’ I told that I played in Dead & Company. 

And he tells me he’d known Bill Walton since the ‘70s when Walton was with the Trailblazers.  They hit it off over bike-riding. So he biked a ton with Bill Walton – and he went to Egypt with the Dead. [laughs]

What? No way.

Through Bill Walton! I mean: I flag this guy down in the street, and he’s telling me all these crazy firsthand stories of hanging with the Dead in Egypt.

And you being “Oteil from Egypt.” That is cosmic.

That’s what I’m saying: Life is trippier than acid. 

Interview has been edited and condensed. Lauren Daley is a freelance culture writer. She can be reached at [email protected]. She tweets @laurendaley1, and Instagrams at @laurendaley1.

Lauren Daley

Lauren Daley is a longtime culture journalist who covers music, books, comedy, TV, and New England life.

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