A number of musicians marked the tenth anniversary of Jerry Garcia’s passing last night by covering the late-guitarist’s material. Since Saturday Trey Anastasio has been connecting his two-sets with a string of solo acoustic Phish songs. Last night at Indianapolis’s The Lawn At White River State Park, Anastasio also amended his set to include Garcia’s ‘Ripple,’ with Jennifer Hartswick and Christina Durfee supplying backup vocals. The Black Crowes, whose August 9, 1995 performance with the Allman Brothers is referenced in Warren Haynes’ ‘Patchwork Quilt,’ tipped its hat to Garcia by opening its performance at San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium with ‘He’s Gone.’
On board New York’s Rocks Off Boat Cruise, the Hot Buttered Rum String Band performed ‘New Speedway Boogie’ and a Garcia-inspired version of ‘The Thrill is Gone’ with Uncle Earl’s Sharon Gilchrist guesting on fiddle. Known for its Dead covers, the Zen Tricksters worked a number of Garica tunes into its set at Bethlehem, PA’s Musikfest 2005, also opening with an aptly titled original, ‘The Last Ten Years.’ The current incarnation of Jefferson Starship, which features Airplane founders Marty Balin and Paul Kantner, squeezed a version of ‘That’s it for the Other One’ between the ‘Terminator Theme’ and ‘Because We Ended As Lovers’ at Ridgefield, CT’s Playhouse. Tom Constanten opened the show will a Dead-heavy set which saw the entire Jefferson Starship, sans Kantner, joining the pianist on numbers like ‘Deal’ and ‘Cold Rain and Snow.’ Bob Weir also nodded to his former bandmate at Ocean City, MD ‘s Powell Convention Center by encoring with the last song Garcia’s sang lead vocals on, ‘Black Muddy River.’ _ Reporting by Adam Alperowicz_