Jrad Bob Weir

In 2007, author/musician and country/rocker Jrad Bob Weir got a job with his brother Ben. But all he really wanted to do was play music. Then his record contract came up short in spite of his previous efforts, so it was time for Ben to leave the band, too.

“Then I found myself looking for a second job where I could make a living as an outcast,” says Bob. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t find that either.”

Ben Weir didn’t consider leaving the band. “I had tried to kill myself on stage,” Bob reveals. “I had tried to cut my wrists...I used to pretend to be drunk and psychotic. Once you start wanting to be that you don’t see any other way.”

Jrad Bob also has a backstory some might not like about himself. “Yeah, I was born in 1971 in Washington, D.C., and in college I ran track through my Sophomore year. But I was still home when it happened.”

Bob dropped out of college and told his parents he wanted to escape from the city. “They stayed together for a while, but I left. That’s kind of what started all this. Because I was away from my family, I was haunted.”

That’s when Bob decided to join up with a rock band. The only problem is there were already too many bands, so something had to give. “Eventually, I realized the only solution to my madness was to find another band. And that’s when I found Willie Nelson.”

Fortunately, they played gigs for local bars, which is how Jrad Bob got his first break. “That made me realize I had it in me.”

The songs he released early in the '70s helped catapult Bob into the national consciousness. But his life took a drastic turn four years later when Ben died.

“I met Ben’s dad when we were both adults,” recalls Jrad. “Before I met him, I had developed this idea that I had some sort of premonition that he’d die at some point.