Jerry Miller, founding guitarist of the pioneering San Francisco psychedelic rock band Moby Grape, has died. Deadline reports that Miller passed away on Saturday in Tacoma, Washington. No cause of death has been reported. Miller was 81.

Jerry Miller grew up in Tacoma, and he began playing guitar in area rock bands when he was a teenager. He toured with Texan rocker Bobby Fuller and played on an early version of Fuller’s 1966 hit “I Fought The Law.” Miller was also close friends with fellow Seattle-area guitarist Jimi Hendrix, and he was a member of the Frantics, a Seattle band who had some success with wild, party-ready rock ‘n’ roll.

Before breaking up, the Frantics relocated to San Francisco, and three former members of the band joined the newly formed Moby Grape upon that band’s formation in 1966. Manager Matthew Katz encouraged original Jefferson Airplane drummer Skip Spence to form a band of his own, and that band became Moby Grape. The band had three guitarists; Jerry Miller played lead and sang backup. The band developed a wooly, countrified, psychedelic take on rock ‘n’ roll, and they released their self-titled debut album on Columbia Records in 1967.

Jerry Miller co-wrote many of Moby Grape’s best-known songs, including “8:05,” “Hey Grandma,” and “Murder In My Heart For The Judge.” The band got a lot of attention from the early rock press, and they played the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. They never became a tremendous commercial force, but they released four albums in a three-year run. Skip Spence became a famous acid casualty, and he was forced out of the band and into psychiatric treatment in 1968. Another member, Bob Mosely, quit the band mid-tour in 1969, joining the Marines.

Moby Grape broke up in 1969, reunited to record 1971’s 20 Granite Creek, and then broke up again. Different versions of the band reunited over the years, as critical acclaim grew and other bands claimed them as an influence. Eric Clapton famously listed Jerry Miller as his favorite guitarist, and Led Zeppelin covered Moby Grape’s songs at practice. Later on, people like Three Dog Night, the Move, Robert Plant, and the Black Crowes covered the songs that Jerry Miller co-wrote.

Jerry Miller and fellow Moby Grape veteran formed a new band called the Rhythm Dukes after the first Moby Grape breakup, but they didn’t last long. Miller also released the 1993 solo album Now I See. In the ’90s, he returned to his Tacoma hometown and formed his own Jerry Miller Band. Below, watch some videos of Miller with Moby Grape.