Rep. Jared Huffman Honors Bob Weir With Barefoot Tribute in Congress

On Feb. 4, 2026, Bob Weir‘s spirit was present on the House of Representatives floor. Congressman Jared Huffman made sure of it. The California Democrat, whose districts include Sonoma, Mendocino, Humboldt, and the Grateful Dead’s home base of Marin County, took off his shoes and socks, then stepped up to the podium to mark the moment. “Mr. Speaker, let the record reflect I delivered these remarks barefoot in honor of Bobby Weir,” said the U.S. representative. “I think he would appreciate that.”

A ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, Huffman has shared stages with members of the band in the past, tackling such issues as climate policy and environmental preservation. A guitar player himself, he’d communicated with Weir by text a few weeks before the rock legend’s Jan. 10 death. “He was just sounding off about the state of the world,” says Huffman of the exchange. “I told him what a weird trip it was to be in the arena in this moment, and Bob quipped back that he was glad that he was too old to be drafted.”

Huffman went on to use the “special order” session to recognize one of his musical heroes. He spoke to Rolling Stone about his love of the Dead, and admiration for Weir.

Tell us about your decision to honor Bob Weir during an official session of Congress.
Well, I really struggled with how to do something unique, because Bob and the Grateful Dead are nothing if not totally unique. And at the same time, you’re constrained by rules of decorum and things like that. So Nancy Pelosi had loved to talk about how Bob would like to go barefoot, just as one of the idiosyncrasies of his free-spirited persona. And it just occurred to me that I should do that in my tribute. I was worried that they were going to stop me in the middle of it and pull me off the floor, and I was going to get hit with a fine or something. But I didn’t.

What is the standard procedure for this type of recognition?
The way we do these short speeches during the special order hours is: We line up in the front row of the House chamber. It’s first come, first served. And as it got closer and closer to my time to step up to the podium, I kind of tried to subtly slip off my shoes and socks without anyone noticing. And no one did. A couple of my colleagues looked over and wondered what the heck I was doing, but not the sergeant at arms. I didn’t really want a lot of people to know in advance. 

Why did you feel it was important to recognize him in that way? 
You do that for really special people that have lived important lives. Those speeches are entered into the congressional record. It’s meant to be an enduring tribute that people years from now can look up. I can’t imagine anyone more worthy of that than Bob.

When did your interest in the Dead start?
It’s different probably than most people in that I got to know members of the Dead before I spent a lot of time listening to their music. I’ve represented Marin County in the state and federal legislature for 20 years. And Marin County is ground zero for the Grateful Dead. So my appreciation for the music came after that. Now I love listening to it and playing it on the guitar. I’ve had the incredible honor of even making a little music with two members of the Dead at political events. So that was a special treat for me. 

How long have you been playing guitar?
Since I was a kid. But I really didn’t ever publicly perform until I became a politician and a couple of folks in bands coaxed me into playing with them at events. There’s a guy [named] Craig Anderson who leads a local band in Sonoma County that plays at a lot of my events. He’s been my musical sherpa in that he got me to, I guess, be confident enough to play with him and the band publicly, which I now do regularly. Craig brought me in contact with Mickey Hart, and of course I knew [Mickey’s wife] Caryl through her environmental work. So I had a chance to play a couple times with Mickey joining us onstage. And then I was able to play with Phil Lesh at an event in Marin County. We did “The Weight.”

It was so cool and fun to do that song. We’d never rehearsed it or anything, and it was just easy. You know, you can’t screw that song up. The event was to promote the Smart Train, Marin County’s passenger rail system, in Larkspur, the southernmost side of the system. It was like a community celebration.

As a guitar player, what did you think of Bobby’s playing? 
Oh, he was in his own class. The chords and the creativity and the iconic style. I can’t imitate it. I can play three chords and the truth, pretty much. Bob is up and down the neck of that guitar, doing amazing things. It was really something to behold. 

Why do you think Marin and the Bay Area bred the Dead? 
I think it was just a beautiful fit. Marin is a free-spirited place, a place of natural beauty, a place to unplug and drop out. And certainly that was the case in the Seventies and Eighties. So the Dead were right at home. … And these Deadheads are something else. I mean, they hear that [a band member] is going to be somewhere, and they show up. 

Did you get to know Bob?
A little bit. He was a sweet guy. I remember he and [his wife] Natascha and their daughter came to Washington on a field trip for their kids’ Marin school. I was able to show them around and talk to the kids. I do that all the time, but I spent a little extra time with this group, with Bob and Natascha there. They were just parents.

Where were you when you heard that Bobby died?
I was back in Marin, and it was just shocking because he had texted me like two weeks before. And it was so fun to get a text from him out of the blue. And he was… He was just sort of sounding off about the state of the world and, congratulating me on leading the House Democrats at the Natural Resources Committee. I’m the ranking member there. I think his text came, you know, maybe early December, mid-December, perhaps. And we had a lovely exchange. I told him how crazy it was, what a weird trip it was to be in the arena in this moment, and he quipped back that he was glad that he was too old to be drafted. 

Were there any surprising reactions to your House tribute?
Just positive ones. It was kind of nice to even see Republicans who love the Dead show respect for what I did, and appreciation for how I did it. People on social media, that I know hate my guts politically,  said, “In this case, hats off. That was a good heartfelt tribute and certainly the way Bobby would have wanted it.”

Are the Dead a truly bipartisan band?
Yeah, they kind of are. That seems… counterintuitive to me now because I’m steeped in this distortion of Republican politics. I mean, they’ve gone so far off the rails under Trump. But I think that the Republicans who came to love the Dead made that connection long before Trump. You know, back when the Republican Party was somewhat sane. 

Well, I have to thank my algorithm for feeding me the video…
You know, I’m not some social media superstar. I’m not AOC or anything like that. I’m a boring old white guy with a very modest social media platform. But that barefoot tribute to Bobby Weir went totally viral — probably as much or more than anything I’ve ever done. That tells you something.