Robert Hunter (1941–2019): Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Lyricist for the Grateful Dead

Robert Hunter and Grateful Dead album cover

Plot 11A Grave 245

Robert Hunter (1941–2019) never took the stage with the band that made him famous, yet few figures loom larger in American popular music. As the principal lyricist for the Grateful Dead, Hunter gave voice to a singular mythic America—restless, haunted, tender, and perpetually on the road.

Born Robert C. Burns in 1941, Hunter found an early kindred spirit in Jerry Garcia. When Garcia and friends formed the Grateful Dead in 1965, Hunter was already writing poems and songs steeped in folk balladry, Beat surrealism, and biblical cadence. What followed was one of the most enduring collaborations in modern songwriting: Garcia supplied the melodies; Hunter supplied the worlds.

Robert Hunger and Jerry Garcia (photo: Jay Blakesberg)

Beginning with Aoxomoxoa (1969), Hunter’s lyrics became inseparable from the Dead’s identity. He wrote the words to songs that would become touchstones for generations—Dark Star, Ripple, Truckin', China Cat Sunflower, Uncle John's Band, and Terrapin Station. These were not merely lyrics but living texts—sung, argued over, annotated, and carried like talismans.

Hunter’s words were literary without being precious. They drew freely from Americana, the King James Bible, frontier lore, tarot, and the blues, yet always sounded spoken rather than written. His songs held space for ambiguity, inviting listeners to find themselves inside the lines. As Rolling Stone later observed, he was “one of rock’s most ambitious and dazzling lyricists.”

Though forever linked to the Dead, Hunter’s reach extended far beyond them. He collaborated repeatedly with Bob Dylan, co-writing songs for Dylan’s albums Down in the Groove, Together Through Life, and Tempest. He also wrote with artists as varied as Jim Lauderdale, Little Feat, Los Lobos, and Mickey Hart, always bringing his unmistakable voice to new musical landscapes.

Recognition came—eventually. In 1994, Hunter was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Grateful Dead, the only non-performer ever inducted as a full member of a band. In 2013, he received the Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award, performing “Ripple” himself. Two years later, Hunter and Garcia were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, with Garcia’s daughter Trixie accepting on her father’s behalf as Hunter once again sang the song that had become his benediction.

Late in life, Hunter toured solo not for acclaim but necessity, facing mounting medical bills after a spinal cord abscess and subsequent surgeries. It was a quietly poignant coda for a man whose words had enriched millions.

Robert Hunter died in 2019 at his home in San Rafael, California, at age 78. He left behind no single creed—only verses, fragments, riddles, and invitations. Like the best folk poets, he trusted the listener to finish the song.

Sources: Find a Grave memorial for Robert Hunter; Rolling Stone obituary; Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award citation; Songwriters Hall of Fame records; Alan Paul, “Eyes of the World: An Interview with Robert Hunter,” Substack.