Grateful Dead On The Road Again

Three years after the death of Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia, some of his former bandmates have gotten back together.
Playing under the name "The Other Ones," Bob Weir, Phil Lesh and Mickey Hart, along with sometime colleague Bruce Hornsby, have banded together again to head the third annual Further Festival.

"It's fresh, it's new, it's got energy, it's got passion. It's familiar, but it's new," drummer Mickey Hart told CBS News Co-Anchor Russ Mitchell on CBS This Morning.

The band is touring America this summer under the name of a suite on the original band's second album, Anthem of the Sun.

"It's just a bunch of guys getting together and playing a bunch of great tunes together," said guitarist Bob Weir.

All the familiar sounds and sights of a Grateful Dead show are present on this tour, but The Other Ones are reinterpreting classic Dead material and taking the music a step further.

Despite the loss of Garcia, the band, which originated in the 1960s, continues to draw devoted audiences.

"It's keeping it fresh for us, and it's keeping it fresh for the audience as well," said keyboardist Hornsby. "Just to rehash and do it the same way would be like Dick Clark Presents."

Something else that's new for the band is rehearsals and set lists.

"For the time being, it makes good sense to work up a set list and then roll over the songs in a little rehearsal before we actually go on and play," said Weir.

Deadheads and critics alike are raving about The Other Ones, but just how far the rejuvenated musicians will go with this band is uncertain.

"We will never tour 80, 90 days a year. It might go out, but not like the Grateful Dead. It won't be a constant touring machine, so get it while it's hot," Hart said.