When one thinks of the instrumentation of the average rock band, the usual suspects come to mind: guitar, bass, drums, vocals, perhaps a keyboardist or a few horns thrown in. How about some violin?

The violin has showed up on a few classic rock tracks through the years, and it always seems to hit just right.

Nina DiGregorio always wanted to play rock and roll — but doing that on the violin wasn’t much of an option when she was growing up in upstate New York, she said. Today, however, she’s known as the ...