The Zen Tricksters are an American Grateful Dead cover band. For almost thirty years, the Zen Tricksters have been playing Grateful Dead covers and jam band music, as well as derivative original songs. The band started out as the Volunteers, playing small venues around New York's Long Island. At its core, the band has been composed of Jeff Mattson on lead guitar and vocals, for most of its history, Tom Circosta on rhythm guitar and vocals, and Klyph Black on bass and vocals. Over the years, the Zen Tricksters have gone through several lineup changes. Jennifer Markard was a founding member and original songwriter and vocalist in the band its first ten years of touring. Both Jeff Mattson and one of their former members, keyboard player Rob Barraco, was called to play with Phil and Friends fo