Cherri and the Violators are one of the few blues bands in the region that takes pains to bend the limits of what tends to be a rather formulaic musical genre. The blues is built around a “one, four, five” position on the guitar, and while there is infinite room for variation, if you can play an E, A and B7 chord, then you’ve got half the music licked.

But, as noted in a review of their last CD, “Empty Pockets,” C&V make an effort to push the blues to new places with an emphasis on melody and lyrics that punch through to rock’s more thoughtful side.

The Brethren-based band includes Cheryl Bendig on vocals with a fine pop lilt, Paul Bendig on bass and vocals, Tone Burke on a nimble, sinuous lead guitar and Hank Cupp on percussion. Cheryl has a great ear for songwriting; her “Traveling Shoes” song has a Hendrix-style guitar backing, but it could perhaps be even better as an acoustic number -- an indicator that her writing has the flexible strength of a good tune. Also impressive is the band’s cover of John Gorka’s “Where the Bottles Break” -- you don’t expect to hear such thought-provoking material from a band who’s turf is local blues bars.
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Cherri & the Violators have a winner in their self-produced “Processed American Blues Product", a disc that will appeal to fans of rock and blues alike.  As Cherri says, there are a few blues tunes, a few rock tunes, and a few cheesy pop tunes.  This is decidedly a step up from the last disc.  Cherri’s vocals are more confident and Tone Burke’s guitar work is a secret weapon that most bands would love to have in the arsenal. Rounded out by bassist Paul Bendig and drummer Hank Cupp, the band comes to win fans with this disc.  “Traveling Shoes” showcases Burke’s guitar work to superb effect, and the band’s version of John Gorka’s “Bottles Break” has a folk blues feel on which Cherri and the fellas all show their gentler side.  This qualifies as one of the pop tunes, but it’s a well structured and executed tune that does what a good pop tune does best, it has a killer hook that grabs the listener and doesn’t let go.  “Too Much” (“too much sorrow make your heart break/ too much work make your body ache”) has a CCR intro that evolves into something more pop oriented.  “The Same Twelve Bars”, all about “playing the same twelve bars in the same twelve bars”, is a tune that most blues players can get next to.  The band does a fine bluesy version of Pat Benatar’s “True Love” before closing it out with a superp “I’d Rather Have the Blues”.
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