As a musician, he’s certainly comfortable onstage — having just completed a tour with his world-music group, Planet Drum — and in the recording studio.

He’s at ease in publishing houses, having written four books, including “Drumming at the Edge of Magic” and “Songcatchers: In Search of the World’s Music.”

And he moves with confidence in corporate circles, where he’s a member of the board of trustees for the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

But Hart always knows he is exactly where he belongs when he shares a stage with fellow drummer Bill Kreutzmann.

“He’s to the right, I’m to the left,” Hart said. “It feels like home.”

Hart, 63, and Kreutzmann, 60, powered the Grateful Dead for most of the band’s life, which began in 1965 and ended in 1995, when guitarist Jerry Garcia died. Hart left the band for a few years in the early 1970s but otherwise he and Kreutzmann were the Dead’s rhythmic lifeblood for its long, strange trip.

“We drove the greatest dance band, I think, of all time — a trance dance band,” Hart said during a telephone interview. “It works for both of us. After we finish playing, we feel clean. We feel good. It feels like you’ve done something and you’ve made it right.

“We’re brothers of the groove, and the groove is a great gift. You get it or you give it, whatever the case may be. We feel it’s a life well spent.”

Though Hart and Kreutzmann no longer have the Grateful Dead as a touring vehicle, they will be back on the road next week when they take a new band called the Rhythm Devils out for a test drive.

The Rhythm Devils, which takes its moniker from the longtime nickname of the Dead’s two drummers, traces its genesis to a pair of informal shows in New York City earlier this year that also featured Mike Gordon, formerly of Phish, on bass and Steve Kimock on guitar.

For the upcoming tour, which kicks off Tuesday night at the Forum in Harrisburg, Hart, Kreutzmann, Gordon and Kimock have added Sikiru Adepoju, a Nigerian drummer who also plays in Planet Drum, singer Jen Durkin and Jonah Sharp, a drum programmer and DJ mixer.

Hart said the band will perform songs from the repertoires of both Phish and the Grateful Dead. During the band member’s rehearsals in nearby Bethlehem, Hart said they have been fooling around with Dead staples like “Sugaree,” “Scarlet Begonias,” “Fire on the Mountain,” “Loser” and “Wharf Rat.”

“This is not meant as a Grateful Dead or Phish cover band,” Hart said. “The fans want them and there are some beautiful songs in both repertoires. We’ll pull from both, but this band is bigger than that in its own way. It has its own identity.”

Hart said the Rhythm Devil’s show will largely revolve around nine brand-new songs written by Robert Hunter, the Dead’s longtime lyricist.

“We all wanted to jam,” Hart said, “and Hunter wanted to write some songs. You get Bob Hunter and a bunch of guys who are hungry to play, that’s about all you need.”

Though Hart has kept busy since the Grateful Dead called it quits, the drummer said he’s still getting over Garcia’s death. He still yearns for the days when the five core members of the band — himself, Kreutzmann, Garcia, rhythm guitarist Bob Weir and bassist Phil Lesh — performed their peculiar form of musical magic onstage.

“I miss it,” he said. “I’m trying to let time heal the wounds that cropped up after Jerry died. A big chunk of the band was ripped away from us — not the whole band but a big piece of it.

“Grateful Dead was always delicate in a way. It was a big roaring lion of a band but the interpersonal relationships were very delicate and it depended upon the five of us to make it really work. When you pull one-fifth out, it upsets the balance.”

Members of the Grateful Dead have performed together as the Other Ones and all four survivors toured together as the Dead in 2003 and 2004.

“It went well,” Hart said of the those tours. “There were some personal tensions within the band and it was a struggle in some ways. You can’t make Grateful Dead music if you have animosities of any kind or problems with each other personally or musically.

“That’s what time is probably going to heal. That’s what I hope will happen.”

In the meantime, Hart said he can’t wait to get back on the road with his old drumming buddy.

“Kreutzmann is a marvelous groove drummer,” Hart said. He loves to play the groove and really lock into the pocket. I love to ornament. I’m more rococo in a way.

“Kreutzmann, he’s always the center of the storm. Everything really revolves around Bill, just like in the Grateful Dead. Bill was the dead center, though I hate to use that pun.”


The Rhythm Devils, featuring Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead, Tue. 7:30 p.m., Whitaker Center, 222 Market St., Harrisburg, $35, $45, 214-ARTS.