Fourth River

What is the Fourth River?



In Pittsburgh mythology, many people will swear there is an underground river below the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio Rivers. This underground river is said to be the source of water for the fountain at Point State Park. Of course, it's really a sand and gravel aquifer, deposited as outwash at the end of the last ice age.



Fourth River is also the name for one of Pittsburgh’s finest up and coming grassroots bands. Appropriately named after the subterranean aquifer, Fourth River’s music streams from the Pittsburgh underground quenching the euphonious tastes of new fans with every performance.



Formed in the in the winter of 2005, Fourth River came to be when Bill Smith and Aaron Bennett (formerly of Patchwork Blu) contacted drummer Keith Ruffing (formerly of Pied Piper) to start a new project. Along with guitarist Shawn "Spar" Speer (Gruvbak) and Pat Stehley (Pavlov's Roomate) the band discovered their common musical interests quickly. After the release of Fourth Rivers self titled demo was released in the fall of 2007 Spar left the band and guitarist Pete Belski stepped in the role and the band has been jamming forward. Influenced by grassroots jam giants like the Grateful Dead, Phish, and others, and coupled with pure admiration of traditional jazz and seventies R&B, Fourth River creates an eclectic, unique and original style of music. Fourth River has made a very quick and favorable impression on the local Pittsburgh scene.



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