Event

Jim Kweskin and Geoff Muldaur

Jim Kweskin and Geoff Muldaur are back at it, playing gigs and bringing knowing smiles to the faces of their fans. As founding members in the 1960s of the nationally popular, Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Jim Kweskin & the Jug Band, they helped to create a new style in American musical culture. Jerry Garcia's first band (Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, a forerunner to The Grateful Dead), was formed after Jerry and Bob Weir heard the Kweskin Band's first album. They not only went for its music but also its look . . . no more matching striped T-shirts and rehearsed jokes for these guys. It was finally okay to wear street clothes and be natural on stage. John Sebastian, after playing in the Even Dozen Jug Band in New York, formed the legendary Lovin' Spoonful to carry on the carefree spirit of his Cambridge heroes. It was the Kweskin Band's jug player, Fritz Richmond, who gave the Lovin' Spoonful their name. Fritz also brought his hipster persona to the folk and folk-rock scenes for all to emulate - his granny glasses becoming the look for The Birds, John Lennon and many others.

Although Jim Kweskin & the Jug Band appeared to have a laid back, spontaneous approach, the group was not an easy one to copy. Their music seemed simple, but it was often complex. The other jug bands of the day dropped out one by one. Aside from Fritz Richmond's nonpareil jug and washtub bass playing, two of the most distinctive qualities of the band were Jim Kweskin's clean, rhythmic finger picking and Geoff Muldaur's emotional, quavering voice. To this day, no one plays guitar like Jim Kweskin and no one sings like Geoff Muldaur. They are singular artists.