Survive Gratefully dead members Bob Weir, Bill KreutzmanAnd Mickey Hart recently reunited Kennedy Center Honors Ceremony with which to sit for an interview CBS News‘ Anthony Mason in San Francisco, California Great American music hallwhere the band played in 1975, accompanied by live crickets that they accidentally unleashed in the venue.

Phil Lesh The original plan was to join them and play together the next day for the first time in almost a decade, but the bassist’s death just five days before the interview prevented the historic Core Four reunion.

The three musicians discussed Lesh, plans for their upcoming 60th anniversary and more in a portion of the interview that aired before the Kennedy Center Honors. In a newly shared portion of the discussion, Mason asked her what being a Kennedy Center honoree meant to her.

“For me, this honor doesn’t just apply to the band members,” replied Kreutzmann. “It’s also about the audience, our Deadheads. It goes out to all the people who really enjoyed our band -“

“And kept us going,” Bob Weir chimed in, before Kreutzmann concluded: “It’s a creative honor for all of us.”

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All three laughed as Mason quoted Phil Lesh’s autobiography, in which he described the band as “some kind of genre-busting rainbow-polka dot hybrid mutation.”

“That sums it up,” Weir joked. “We developed this language that actually only we spoke. We followed the muse.”

When asked about the band’s history of defying music industry norms and how it “created an expectation in the audience to evolve and change,” Kreutzmann said, “We couldn’t help it!”

“Excellent observation,” Weir added.

“We chose chance,” Hart explained. “You know some people like form and want to know what they’re doing. That was the opposite. The idea was to keep our songs open.”

“Create a new form immediately,” Kreutzmann agreed, and Weir added, “Yes, leave room for serendipity.”

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Weir later recounted a dream in which Jerry Garcia visited him and presented a song in the form of a “large, ethereal English sheepdog”. When asked if the song ever made it into the real world, he replied, “I’m still hunting for that song.”

The interview also touched on the band’s legacy and whether they expected their music to live on long after Jerry Garcia’s death. Kreutzmann replied: “I wouldn’t have thought so, because when Jerry left, that was the end of the Grateful Dead period. There’s just no way to replace a Jerry Garcia.” Luckily, the music didn’t stop there.

Check out surviving Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart CBS Morning below and scroll down to watch the full interview. Revisit coverage of the 2024 Kennedy Center Honors here.

Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart On CBS Morning

In-depth interview with Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart