Grateful Dead fans loved Oteil Burbridge long before Burbridge loved the Grateful Dead.

An ace jazz, rock, and funk bassist in his 20s, Burbridge landed a spot in Col. Bruce Hampton’s Atlanta-based jam band Aquarium Rescue Unit in the late ’80s. It was the dawn of a jam band renaissance that included acts such as Phish, Blues Traveler, and Widespread Panic.

“The only people that came to our shows were Deadheads, other musicians, and freaks,” Burbridge told the Herald with a laugh. “So the Deadheads adopted me before I understood their thing.”

Burbridge now understands their thing as well as anyone.

After logging 17 years with the Allman Brothers, Burbridge was a smart pick for the bassist spot during Dead & Company’s decade-long run. Because Dead & Co. guitarist John Mayer had injured his vocal cords and lost some range, Burbridge became the Dead’s go-to guy for ballads. The more ballads he did, the further he fell into the magical, mystical world of the Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter catalog.

“I don’t think I really understand music until I learn it and play it,” Burbridge said ahead of his Oteil & Friends show at the House of Blues on Oct. 16. “If I just hear something, I may not even like it because I’m listening with prejudiced ears, listening for what I want to hear and deciding prematurely that I don’t like it. But when you learn something, you get deep inside it and go, ‘Whoa, this is what everybody loves about this music.’ ”

Right as Burbridge found a love for the Dead, he experienced a series of devastating losses. His brother, Kofi, died, his dad died, a series of mentors passed away — Col. Bruce Hampton, Gregg Allman, Butch Trucks, and theologian Jim Barnette. Suddenly, the music of Garcia and Hunter meant more than ever.

“It was ‘China Doll’ and ‘High Time’ and ‘To Lay Me Down’ and ‘Stella Blue,’ these ballads where the pain in them is quite evident, and they help, they help with life,” he said. “When my brother died, I would be playing Grateful Dead around the house, not studying it, just in the background, then Jerry’s voice or his guitar would just reach out and help me through really, really tough moments.”

Last year, Burbridge made the bold decision to make a solo album of Dead ballads. No epic jams, no rockers, “Lovely View of Heaven” is a hushed and intimate record recorded in Iceland, in December, with the Northern Lights shining on the studio (“We made the elves very happy,” he said). “Lovely View of Heaven” features many of the songs he sang with Dead & Co and plenty he didn’t including “Stella Blue,” “Mission in the Rain,” and two versions of “High Time,” one with Kofi’s flute overdubbed on it.

“It wasn’t a thought out decision,” he said with a chuckle. “When I came time to do it, I said to myself, ‘Man, you’ve never sung lead on an entire record ever and you decided to do all ballads, are you out of your mind?’ I started to get really scared right before, but, you know, I feel it so much, I have such a strong connection with these songs, I had to put that fear aside.”

As Burbridge prepares for a Boston show that will likely be filled with Deadheads, other musicians, and freaks, he now knows its fan base is happy to take a break from the jam and fall into a healing ballad.

For details and tickets, visit oteilburbridge.com