Melvin and JGB with Zach Nugent

[Rude]

So on Thursday night we decided to see Melvin and JGB at Be on Key psychedelic ripple and I was blown away by this 28yr old guitarist.  Hes been playing Jerry since 11yrs old.  Here's someone's vid from Thursday night. He has the Jerry phrasing down. He played with a dead tribute Saturday night at owsleys and people were blown away. Here's a little sample of a 1 guitarist Althea. 

 

[John A]

What's up with the Tiger clone?

[Mango]

Probably made by Phred guitars. They do a wolf clone as well

 

I only saw Zach once but I thought he was pretty good. His playing sounds a little 'safe' to me but perhaps he has since matured in his playing. Tone and phrasing were good

[Tom Banjo]

His playing is still very safe. He does a great 80s Jerry sound. I don't think he can do justice to early pigpen dead but he doesn't have to in JGB. He sounded great with Melvin. 

[PoetryGirl]

7 hours ago, John A said:

What's up with the Tiger clone?

 

I understand Phred makes a solid inexpensive guitar. I think someone on this board recommended it to me when I was shopping for my son, 

[Rude]

It's made by tom lieber who was doug irwins apprentice. 

[gr8fulpair]

That was not too shabby. He attended to some very important details about playing Althea. That bud could turn into a flower. 

[Rude]

Someone put up a crowd sourcing to help him to buy it. If curious he was the kickstarter info. It was def not a cheap knockoff. He raised 6500 for it on kickstarter. 

 

Zach started playing guitar at the age of 12 - now 26, he's spent well over a decade honing in the replication of the stylings of Jerry Garcia. He's become known in the Jam Rock world for his ability to "channel Jerry" as so many fans and fellow musicians have put it.

His music career has granted him the opportunity to share the stage with members of Phish, RatDog, Dark Star Orchestra, Trey Anastasio Band, Lady Gaga, David Bromberg Band, Max Creek, and many more.

One of the key components to replicating the sound night after night is, you guessed it, the guitar itself. Zach has been lucky enough to form a relationship with Tom Lieber who worked as an apprentice with Doug Irwin, builder of Garcia's guitars, in the 1970s and played a large part in the construction, and maintenance of Jerry's guitars. Tom is building a limited number of 50th Anniversary models of these guitars, one of which, Zach was lucky enough to play for a full show at the Oneonta Theatre in Oneonta, NY. The music took on a new life - everyone could feel it. Word got out at the show, and fans were running around collecting single dollars from each other to present to Zach at the end of the night to help fund one of these incredible instruments. Tom stayed for the whole show and was as amazed and inspired by the performance as Zach was.

If you're a lover of good music, a fanatic of a good time, a total Dead Head, or even a fellow guitarist - please consider helping this cause to keep the music alive in a very special way!