Though Jerry Garcia has been gone for nearly 30 years, music inspired by the legendary guitarist is alive and well in Plymouth. The members of local band Raspberry Jam weren’t even born when the Grateful Dead leader was mesmerizing legions of Deadheads at marathon concerts. It plays a style of improvisational jam music popularized by the influential psychedelic rock band that started in the 1960s (and still carries on today as Dead & Company).
Since 2024, Raspberry Jam has gained a growing following around the region, playing at such venues as The Middle East in Cambridge and C Note on Nantasket Beach.
On Friday, July 11, the group will perform from 5 to 8 p.m. in a free concert on the front lawn of Plymouth’s Jabez Howland House as part of the town’s monthly First Friday celebration.
Raspberry Jam’s members – all college students – range in age from 20 to 22. Three are from Plymouth: Drummer Erin Belle Isle, guitarist Liam O’Keefe and bassist Michael Williams. Vocalist Bethany Davies and second guitarist Sam Husted live in Sandwich.
“The band spawned from existing friendships,” O’Keefe said. “Four of us went to the same high school while three of us were in the same music class. We were together a lot of the time and started jamming together.”
The foundational faction was O’Keefe and Belle Isle, who have known each other since childhood. Their shared interest in music and love of the Dead was the genesis for the five friends evolving into a jam band.
“Liam and I attended the Middle Street School of Music together in our teens,” Belle Isle said. “It’s a quality school run by Berklee (College of Music in Boston) grads. They are so good.”
Four of the bandmates grew close while attending Sturgis Charter Public School in Hyannis. Williams took a different route to Raspberry Jam, graduating from Plymouth North High School. He had little interest in playing music until he started hanging out with his friends while they were playing music.
“It looked like great fun, and I wanted to be part of that scene,” he said. “So I learned how to play the bass guitar. I played a little violin in middle school but nothing serious.”
From the beginning, the band’s members were drawn to the free-wheeling, experimental sound of jam bands, whose performance of a song might start at the same place every time but morph into an extended experimental take as the players feed off each other’s explorations. Casual listeners might find the music boring or meandering, but for aficionados, the experience can be transcendent – with or without the aid of certain substances.
“To me, jam band music is the most free music I’ve ever listened to or been a part of,” Belle Isle said. “The Grateful Dead are the epitome of that free style of music that I love. I also really agree with the message of peace and anti-war [that] they stood for. It makes their music appeal to beyond just the songs they play.”
Naturally, Raspberry plays several Dead songs, including “Fire on the Mountain” and “Help>Slip>Frank,” an extended sequence of songs that includes “Help on the Way,” “Slipknot!” “Franklin’s Tower.” They also play a version of the the Dead’s cover of “Dancin’ in the Street,” a 1964 Motown hit by Martha and the Vandellas.
In addition, the band performs music by Goose, Phish and even the Allman Brothers, whose classic 1971 live album “At Fillmore East,” overflows with brilliant improvisational music. They even mix in their own compositions, including “Empty Home,” “Antler,” and “Low Down.”
For Davies, learning to sing with a jam band has been a challenge. Until Raspberry Jam, her development as a vocalist followed a more traditional path
“I came from a completely different background – choir, pop, jazz,” she said. “I even sing with an acapella group in college. Jam music is different, but it has been fun for me to explore.”
“I’m experimenting and allowing my voice to be unique,” she added.
The bandmates are enjoying playing together this summer at venues across the South Shore. But can they take it to the next level? The music business is notoriously tough on artists, especially in the streaming era. The only way most bands can make money is through relentless touring. Generating significant revenue from recordings is next to impossible.
“We have a long way to before we are successful,” O’Keefe said. “We may never be headliners, but as long as we can make enough money to survive, that’s fine.”
Dave Kindy, a self-described history geek, is a longtime Plymouth resident who writes for the Washington Post, Boston Globe, National Geographic, Smithsonian and other publications. He can be reached at davidkindy1832@gmail.com.