Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter to embark on rare solo tour

Robert Hunter, the man who penned some of the Grateful Dead’s most iconic songs, has spoken in a Rolling Stone interview about collaborations with Bob Dylan, his struggles with illness, and an upcoming solo tour.

Hunter, the lyrical brain behind ‘Ripple’, ‘Dark Star’ and “Touch of Grey’, amongst others, told the magazine that a near fatal hospitalisation for a spinal abscess gave him the motivation to begin writing and touring once more.

“My memory’s not all that it was before this hospital thing,” he is quoted as saying. “I’ve really been in the salt mines, relearning my arrangements and trying to remember my lyrics. And I think I’ve got it now. It’s given me a direction in life that I lost in my last decade: I’ve realized that I do have an audience and I should be playing for them.”

On writing with Dylan, on ‘Silvio’ from 1988 album Down In The Groove, he said: “He’s the only guy I work with who I give the liberty to change things. After all, he is who he is.”

“I sent him something a couple of weeks ago, and he said he rather liked it. But I shouldn’t talk about it – that’s his business.”

Hunter will play a rare eight date solo tour of the East Coast, finishing in New York’s Town Hall on 10 October.

“I’m just me taking my guitar out and doing my old format,” said Hunter.” If these eight gigs go well, I’ll immediately book a large spring tour.”

Photo by David Saddler, used through a Creative Commons license