Unusual Suspects – Local band with dynamic playlist
- James Townsend
- 59 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Not long ago, we shared an announcement that the band “Unusual Suspects” will be playing a tribute to The Grateful Dead at the Portland Band Shell on August 27th. Admission is free and the show starts at 6:30 PM.
We reached out to bandmember Ryan Fedewa to try and learn more about the band.
In addition to Fedewa, the band includes Kevin Webert, Marty Schrauben, Greg Almy, Bill Cherrette, and Jonathon Bair. Fedewa told us, “Everybody except one of us graduated from Portland and my brother in-law has lived here now for about 12 years.”
Fedewa told the Beacon, “Kevin and I have been playing together in some form or another for about 25 years. Together we assembled this group of musicians over the last 12 years adding my brother in-law Jon "Bair" on keyboard. He added a lot to our sound and help make us a more legitimate ensemble. Marty joined the band a couple years later and fills the background of the music with percussion and vocals. Bill "William the Shreader" came to us by chance 4 years ago. He was a friend of the family since he was in elementary. I was having a beer at the point and Bill happened to be there and I asked him to come play with us. A little reluctant at first being quite a bit younger than the other band mates, and knowing very little of the songs in our repertoire. Just like most it only took one session playing with US and then never looked back. Greg was a team mate of mine on the PHS wrestling team in the early 90's. He stopped by our music barn "The Rats Nest" to listen about 4 years ago one evening and started shaking the tambourine. He had never played an instrument but quickly got the itch and bought himself a bass guitar. It was our final missing piece to the current 6 man band "UNUSAL SUSPECTS".”
When I asked Fedewa what someone could expect when coming to one of their shows, he said, “The one thing I would tell people when coming to see "US" is never expect the same show twice. We have a catalog of over 130 songs so we make it a point to create a set list that is unique to each performance. Many times sets are driven by a theme or the event we are performing for.”
He went on to say, “Our song book ranges from very early 1900's Appalachian music to most recent song covers by Chris Stapleton and local Grammy winner Billy Strings from Muir, MI. We cover songs from the early 60's like Stand by Me & Last Kiss as well as Classic Rock hits from Tom Petty, Eagles, John Cougar and many others. Our 90's influence includes covers form groups like Sublime & Weezer. With many different musical backgrounds in our band we really don't limit our genre to any specific music.”
With the upcoming August 27th show being billed as “Celebrating the Music of the Grateful Dead,” Fedewa said, “Kevin and I are the Deadheads in the band and our origins for our band's playing style is really derived from our experiences and influence of the Grateful Dead music and spirit of creating music. The other band members have embraced that spirit and I think they will agree that even though they were not familiar with the Grateful Dead music when they joined "US", the music has become a big influence on how they play and their approach to making music as a true all inclusive band.”
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Courtesy Photos
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