SHAKY BONES Keeps Truckin’ BY TAYLOR KENT PHOTO BY ROB KAUFMAN
One thing is clear: Jevon Daly has a lot to say about the Grateful Dead. With his father a diehard “Deadhead”, the lowcountry musician was raised on America’s greatest classic jam band. Now, Daly celebrates his 25th year performing Grateful Dead around Hilton Head. A self-proclaimed fanboy of the Dead, Daly’s name has long since been synonymous with the Grateful Dead for locals. However, he’s not the only one. It was around ten years ago that Daly was called to sub in at a gig with Craig Coyne, a man described as “the unspoken Godfather of Hilton Head’s underground music scene”. In Coyne, Daly found a true Grateful Dead connoisseur. And so Shaky Bones was formed. A tribute to Jerry Garcia and Grateful Dead, Shaky Bones currently consists of Craig Coyne on lead guitar and vocals,
Jevon Daly on the bass, Andy Pitts on rhythm guitar, and Chip Larkby on the drums. With almost 100 years of live performance experience in the band combined, they are some of the island’s most seasoned musicians. The number of hours that each band member has spent performing on stage is greater than the amount of time that most people spend on their entire education. To these men, the venues they play are their classrooms, and when they come together as Shaky Bones, they are all students of the Dead. Just as it was in Grateful Dead, there is no named leader of Shaky Bones. Instead, they see themselves as equals. Nonetheless, as if the band is under some unspoken agreement, it’s typically Coyne who calls the shots during shows. As Daly puts it, “if Craig is driving the car and he goes off a cliff, we all go off a cliff”. Coyne keeps things unpredictably interesting for not only the fans, but also the rest of the band. Even after nearly a decade of Shaky Bones, he still pulls out songs at live shows that the band has never played together. When Coyne takes the stage, the music he recreates is believable, and fans keep coming back to hear. When Shaky Bones originated, the band instantly attracted a large and attentive fan base that remains loyal to this day. Those who are familiar with jam band fans know that they can often be an eclectic, quirky bunch. A different breed of music lovers, these ever-dedicated fans seem to raise the levels of intensity when it comes to their love and knowledge of the jam band genre. Many think of it
as a religion. The Shaky Bones fans are no exception. To them, attending every Shaky Bones show is a necessary ritual. Whenever the band performs, the fans arrive ready for all the trappings of the jam experience, complete with a parking lot hang (shakedown street, anyone?), dancing, and yelling towards the band. Daly sees it as a “Hilton Head live music support group” made of those who crave the familiarity that the Grateful Dead can offer them. He remarks, “It’s the same people who have been coming to see us play Grateful Dead since I first started doing this.” When Shaky Bones plays, the crowd listens to every single note the band produces. As part of the jam culture, the audience stays very observant throughout each song. Through the good and the bad, they don’t miss a beat. True jam band fans to their core, they seem to enjoy the pre-show anticipation of not knowing quite what to expect from the band that night. Same as it always was for the Grateful Dead, sometimes the audience gets a focused, tight performance from Shaky Bones, and other times, their set may come across to the fans as a bit more loose and messy. Jam band fans love to have an opinion on exactly how well they thought the band played on that particular night, perhaps because it makes them feel, in a sense, more involved. However, no matter how they perceived that night to go, whether it be their favorite show or not, they will always be back in their places for the next time Shaky Bones plays. With such a committed fan base, venues have always been eager to book Shaky Bones, as they know that people will crawl out of the cracks from every direction for the experience of a show. There is no need for flashy advertising when it comes to this band. Merely word of mouth is enough to pack a place full. Daly elaborates, “Everywhere in the world, there are people who like Grateful Dead. It’s music for the freaks, for the misfits, for the politicians, for the working men- no matter who you are, we’ll welcome you and give you a chance.” Fans can catch Shaky Bones this summer at the Tiki Hut on select Sunday afternoons. TASTEOFHILTONHEAD.COM
61