Grateful Dead Tribute Joins Roosevelt 'The Dr.' Collier with Unlimited Devotion

Known for his funk-defying skills on the pedal steel guitar Roosevelt Collier has earned the name, 'The Dr.', along with the respect of many renowned musicians which he has shared the staged with.  This Sunday The Dr. will be in town for a tribute to The Grateful Dead with Unlimited Devotion and Jim Wuest, of the Heavy Pets, at Crowbar. 

The event, hosted by MoonGoddess Entertainment kicks-off at 7:30 on Sunday, Mar. 5, tickets are $10 advance or $15 at the door. 

Collier explains that this show and others like it are in homage of the path that the Dead have blazed: "I just want to give respect, respect to the great ones, the people that have paved the way."

JAMMING WITH BOB WEIR

Roosevelt goes on to talk about how he has performed with members of The Dead like drummer Bill Kreutzman and guitarist Bob Weir. 

"You know the first big guy I ever jammed with was Bob Weir," Collier laughed. "I was fresh on the scene. I forget which festival it was, I know we were playing around 3-4 o'clock. This is back in 2007 while playing with The Lee Boys. The crowd was going crazy, all of a sudden you see a swarm of people coming running across the hill like ants." 

Still trying to figure out what was happening Collier looks back and sees someone plugging in. 

"We had no clue who this guy was. He plugs up and starts jamming with us. Of course, we tell him to bring it on. We get to jamming, and I am talking it went from 600 folks out there to over 1,000. And we are like come on let's keep jamming," Collier continued. "We had no idea it was Bob Weir."

Later, The Lee Boys manager, at the time, explained that they had just jammed with Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead.

UNLIMITED DEVOTION

With a devoted following throughout South Florida UD is comprised of guitarists John Zias and Al Zilinsky, Joe Falconeri on bass; and Dan DeGregory on drums.

"We are pretty confident that We are just going to do what we do, and play off of [Roosevelt's] talents within that," explained Zias. "It blows my mind that the music that I played as a teen I am still playing to teens today. I think it will be a lot of fun.'  

"It will be pretty powerful, UD doesn't hold back any punches. It is a more of the intense psychedelic side of The Dead."

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED

"I have no idea of what to expect," Collier said. "All I do know is, it is going to be amazing -- no if, and, or, buts about it. That is the only way I roll!