Local Live: Violin River at Maguire's Tavern 6/17/11

I used to say that the best bar bands were in Boston. I can't come up with any objective reasons now to prove that assertion besides the fact that Boston has a lot of bars, but I've listened to a lot of musicians struggling unsuccessfully to be heard above the crowd. Violin River, whose music is inspired and influenced by the Grateful Dead, won't ever have that problem. The crowd at Maguire's Tavern in Smithfield,RI on Friday night June 17 couldn't get enough of the long guitar solos, the flawless vocal harmonies, and the familiar singalong Deadhead anthems like "Uncle John's Band" and "Turn On Your Lovelight".

Violin River describes themselves on their myspace page as a "RI based Grateful Dead/Classic Rock Cover Band which performs acoustic and electric selections." The term "cover band" typically conjures up the "lounge lizard" image of tired musicians frantically trying to sound "just like the record" - straight imitation, pure and simple. "Tribute" is a better term. It implies respect for the original musicians, which is very evident in Violin River's music. Lead/Slide guitarist Rich duplicated Jerry Garcia's style but made it his own in long , melodic, endless riffs as well as some spine -straightening slide.

The rest of the band are: Joe, vocals and guitar; Paul, vocals and keyboards; Carleen, vocals and percussion - who did a crowd-pleasing rendition of " Me and Bobby McGhee"; Kenny, bottom; Gary,drums; and Rich,lead/slide,vocals. The musicians' credentials are pretty impressive, as band members have performed with Bo Diddley and Lowell George, as well as opening shows for artists including Bonnie Raitt, Robert Palmer, Little Feat, Jorma Koukonen (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna), and Eminem - which is, as Violin River puts in, "to name just a few."

Their musicianship is exceptional, an eclectic mix of rock, blues, r & b, and folk music, as Violin River does both acoustic and electric sets. Don't take my word for it - check them out and support your local live musicians.