The rumors began almost as soon as the big rumor of 2015 — that the surviving members of the Grateful Dead would reconvene, at long last, to play a set of “farewell” shows in honor of their 50th anniversary — was confirmed.

Man, was that a year. A year that some pretty out-there rumors turned out to be straight-up-freakin’-true: Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann had a post-post-Dead, post-50th-anniversary concerts ensemble on the way, and that the featured guitarist would be none other than John Mayer.

Weir, Hart and Kreutzmann confirmed Dead & Company‘s lineup one month after sharing the stage with Lesh for a final time at the five Grateful Dead 50th anniversary Fare Thee Well concerts held in the summer of 2015. Mike Gordon came close to joining the company but the busy Phish bassist ultimately opted out of the project.

Musician and producer (and future Weir band mate in Wolf Bros) Don Was catalyzed a fateful meeting among the musicians. Here’s how Was explained it during the above mentioned 2018 interview:

JamBase: When did you and Bob [Weir] first meet? Don Was: We were introduced in 1993. We were discussing making a record together even back then. I’ve run into him periodically since then, and we spoke about something completely different this time that Bobby and Mickey Hart came to see me at the Blue Note offices in L.A. From my time with John [Mayer], I knew what a fanatical Deadhead he was, and I said John, you gotta come upstairs right now. And that was the moment of inception for Dead & Company.

On October 29, 2015 — not four months after Fare Thee Well — the world got its first taste of Dead & Co. Though slow and somewhat unsteady at first, the band — which also features Oteil Burbridge on bass and post-Dead swingman MVP Jeff Chimenti on keys — gelled a bit more with every tour, packing sheds and arenas, getting crowds used to the idea that there could still be that old Dead magic, even at slower tempos and a limited catalog.

But the catalog’s opened up, the band’s become more adventurous, and out there they are, four years now since their debut, a going concern with its own impressive mojo.