For Rhode Island and nearby CT and MA, take a look at this thread:thread.cfm?threadid=121519&messages=8 .
I left out two other great venues: Common Fence http://www.commonfencemusic.org/index.html   in Portsmouth, RI, and Peeptoad Coffee House http://www.fosteringarts.org/peeptoadcoffeehouse.html in Foster, RI. Rhode Island is also home to Brown University, Johnson and Wales University, Roger Williams University, Bryant University, Salve Regina University, URI, and RIC among others.