Paper Doll (Rounder Records) is out and Samantha Fish is supporting its release with a national tour that will take her to the Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival on August 16. This gal’s the real deal. She Shreds. Bigtime. Her Death Wish Blues with Jesse Dayton was one of the best damn albums of 2023 in any genre. There’s a reason that the Stones, Clapton and Slash have all asked her to open their shows. She rocks. “It’s taken me years to finally find my voice in a studio setting,” she says of Paper Doll, “but with this record I took everything I had and slammed it right on the table.” 

If you’re going to see Train at the Hard Rock in AC, you best get there early enough to catch singer-songwriter Edwin McCain, on the road in support of his eleventh album, Lucky, his first album in 14 years.

After successful appearances in new York City at Birdland, The Blue Note, Lincoln Center,  Smalls, Smoke and Mezzrow, Maryland jazz guitarist-composer-educator Andrew Latona brings his trio to Teaneck on August 15. Gospel and that Washington DC strain of what they call go-go music resonates in his mix. Now based in Brooklyn, he’s the brother of Christopher Latona, the rising jazz drummer-pianist.

Half British-Half Boston Blues Band Bees Deluxe return to the Lizzie Rose Music Room in Tuckerton August 15 by popular demand with Asbury Park singer-songwriter Renee Maskin opening. They’ll be headed to Memphis in January to compete in the International Blues Challenge with their mix of New Orleans funk, psychedelic acid-rock and deep Chicago Blues. They color outside the lines with versions of everything from Billie Holiday to Jimi Hendrix. Lead guitarist Conrad Warre went to school with the late Paul Kossoff of Free. He toured throughout Europe with Joe Jackson.

Here’s another chance to see the legendary Tommy James belt out those songs we all know and love. He hasn’t lost an inch on his voice. Every Tommy James concert is a celebration. Where else to be than in Morristown on this night? 

Ready for a Secret Monkey Weekend with a North Carolina dad and his two step-daughters? If so, Finnegan’s in Hoboken is the place to groove August 14. Their Americana-styled Lemon Drop Hammer is out—produced by legendary producer Don Dixon (R.E.M./Smithereens)—and guitarist Jefferson Hart will be supporting its release with bassist Ella Hart and drummer Lisa Brown-Hart.

High energy fem-centric pop-rock combining aspects of riot grrrl punk, Broadway and indie-rock, Fournier is an iconoclast with a challenging and aggressive vision. The current album, Manic Pixie Dream Girl, boasts its “Montclair” single (with themes of identity, gender and emotional liberation). Also on the bill is Never The Name, Bella & Dave, Ela Martini and Two Moons Away.

“Bird Bash: A Tribute To The Music Of Charlie Parker” will be performed by The Monroe Quinn Trio—with Jose Rodriguez and Michael Advensky—on a Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. for 90 minutes. Admission is free but registration is required.

It’s a night of hits as legendary Tommy James will bring his current cast of Shondells to the Scottish Rite Auditorium in Collingswood on August 9. To think that this Michigan teenager who forms a band in 1964 (after having been in bands since age 12), is still going strong in 2025 has to be considered as one of the seven wonders of the world. And he sounds just great (unlike many of his peers).

Bassist-Vocalist frontwoman Kelly Ogden, guitarist Luis Cabezas and drummer Simon Hancock—Florida’s The Dollyrots—will end their tour August 9 at the Anchor Rock Club in AC. We all know how most tours like to end so this night should be wild.

Danish almost-metal trio Volbeat—guitarist-singer Michael Paulsen, drummer Jon Larsen, bassist Kaspar Boye Larsen—will be supporting its ninth album, God Of Angels Trust (Republic /Universal), by headlining what they’re calling their “Greatest Of All Tours Worldwide” with Three Days Of Grace and Wage War. It’s gonna be LOUD at the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion in Camden on August 9. And the same three bands will do it all over again the very next night in Holmdel at the PNC Bank Arts Center.

Talk about the most classic of classic rock shows! Former Eagle Don Felder will be supporting his The Vault:  50 Years Of Music album by schlepping across the country with Styx and former REO Speedwagon singer Kevin Cronin. Felder’s Vault contains newly recorded versions of his songs from 1974’s “Move On” to 2023’s “I Like The Things You Do.” Felder, while in the Eagles, co-wrote “Hotel California,” “Victim Of Love,” “Those Shoes,” “The Disco Strangler,” “Visions” and “Too Many Hands.” 

“Goodbye Good Riddance” sings Taylor Acorn on her new Fearless Records single. Her “Summer School Tour” started July 11 and she’ll be in Sayreville August 8 at the Starland Ballroom. Influenced by Avril Lavigne and Paramore, she’s giving a sexy spin to emo, winning new fans in the process.

Ahead of the September 19 release of I Think I’ve Been Here Before, Arrows In Action, the pop-rock trio from Tennessee, will play the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville on August 8 as part of their “Summer School Tour” with Taylor Acorn, Charlotte Sands and Rain City Drive. The new single is “Empty Canvas.” They have also signed up for the Vans Warped Tour and recently concluded a major festival tour abroad.

Oregon’s Esperanza Spalding, 41, incorporates instrumental jazz, improvisation, vocalese, poetry, dance and storytelling into her mix. She sings samba, opera, pop, jazz, R’n’B and blues. She’s a bassist, composer, educator, healer, movie-maker and activist. She’d just as soon lecture on regenerative agriculture as she would sing the blues but there will be no lectures in Red Bank on August 8 within the confines of the Count Basie Performing Arts Center’s Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre.

She Can’t Hide.  Or so she sings on her new EP. They call her Chess. Her mix of pop, rock’n’roll, soul and hip-hop is exquisitely delicious. If you miss her in Milltown on August 3, this talented Jersey Girl will also be at Whitechapel Projects in Long Branch on August 14, then at the Café Improv in Princeton on August 23 and Spire Coffee in Toms River on August 29. You can also catch her at The Sanctuary in Butler on September 19. Don’t forget:  she Can’t Hide.

With the pride of Bayonne Zakk Wylde on lead guitar, Pantera will storm into the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel July 31. They’re calling it “The Heaviest Tour of the Summer” as super-duper-Swedish heavy-as-all-hell metal band Amon Amarth will be opening. As the old saying goes, fuck art, let’s dance!

They’re already multi-platinum. Indie trio Wild Rivers is supporting its Better Now album with a national tour that will see Khalid Yassein (guitar, vocals, keyboards), Devan Glover (lead vocals) and Andrew Oliver (lead guitar, synthesizers) hit The Stone Pony in Asbury Park on July 29. Their thought-provoking lyrics—combined with their genre-fluid melodies—give off an air of seasoned wisdom for three such youngsters. (They debuted in 2022 with Sidelines and won fans opening for The Chicks.)

The air-conditioned Expo Center in Edison is the site of the “Summer Sizzla” edition of the New Jersey Punk Rock Flea Market. Get a tattoo! Groove to the live DJs. Check out the stuffed animals under glass in the taxidermy terrarium. Thrill to the sideshow performances. It all goes down from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Punk Rockers under 13 are free.

Theatrical indie-folk trio Bandits On The Run are on a short tour supporting The Shakespeare Tapes that has songs inspired by British poet William Shakespeare [1564-1616]. A uniquely positioned act with emphasis on interplay between cello, guitar and accordion, complete with light percussion from all three amid exquisite three-part vocal harmonies, Shepherd, Enscoe and Strayhorn used to busk in the New York City subways before they went pro.

Jersey Shore girl Francesca Fuentes will be playing songs from her Can’t Hide EP at Pino’s in Highland Park July 23. Chess, as she’s called, has been described as “organic pop-rock.” She’s been writing songs since she was 12, and continued her musical education at Monmouth University in Long Branch. Her “Rock With Me” video won a prize at the 2019 Jersey City Lovesick Film Festival. After having her heart broken in 2020, she’s poured out her soul in songs like “I Just Want To Be Your Lover Again” and “Pink Drink.” 

Staten Island’s Sparni Plath plays vibes with pianist Javier Jbara, bassist Emek Demir and drummer Matt Vera-Corcoran. He learned a lot from legendary Cuban trumpeter/pianist Arturo Sandoval. His multi-genre jams—including hi-hop, jazz-rock fusion, funk and post-bop—have attracted sophisticated ears across the tri-state region.  His quartet will be at Brvsh Cul7ur3 in Teaneck on Cedar Lane Just 23.  No telling where he might go musically.

The 2025 version of the annual “Summer Of Loud” tour stops in Camden on the waterfront July 23 with Beartooth, I Prevail, Killswitch Engage, Parkway Drive, The Devil Wears Prada, Amityville Affliction, Alpha Wolf and Dark Divine. The tour is donating $1 from every ticket sold to the Living The Dream Foundation (https://ltdfoundation.org/). The show will repeat itself the very next night in Holmdel at the PNC Bank Arts Center.

Brooklyn band Laveda will hit Flemington DIY with co-headliners Nightosphere. Sonically speaking, their neo-grunge noise-rock “has grown slightly angular and much more experimental,” according to singer Ali Genevish. “I think everyone individually has grown a lot as artists. For me, moving to New York naturally opened my mind to cultivate something new.” Laveda records for the Hoboken-based Bar/None Records and Ali says, “we’re excited to be working with a label that has a really incredible history of releases. It’s an honor to be part of it.” The new album, Love, Darla, will be out September 12.

Styx will be supporting the July 18 release of its 18^th studio album, Circling From Above, with the “Brotherhood Of Rock” tour. Complete with the solo bands of REO Speedwagon’s Kevin Cronin Eagle Don Felder, it stops in Holmdel at the GSA Center July 20. Styx now boasts guitarists James Young/Will Evankovish/Tommy Shaw, bassists Chuck Panozzo/Terry Gowan, drummer Todd Sucherman and keyboardist Lawrence Gowan.   

Iron Maiden, in 1990, had a song called “Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter.” You’ll be able to do exactly that as Hatebreed headlines “Summer Slaughter 2025” with Fugitive, Malevolence, Gridiron, Escuela Grind and Incite. Of course, by the time Hatebreed crawls onstage, your ears may be permanently damaged.

A former mainstay in the band of Kenny Garrett, including recording Garrett’s Pushing The World Away with the sax hero, he also played in the band of trumpeter Sean Jones. Since then, he’s been one of the elite go-to drummers for a host of major names in the jazz world. He will be leading his own trio with pianist Victor Gould and bassist Tamir Shmerling on July 12 in Teaneck at Brvsh Cul7ur3.

What’s the top horn section in the world going to do now that Southside Johnny is laying low? Here’s the answer:  They’re going to raise the roof off Wonder Bar this Saturday on Fifth & Ocean in Asbury with Glenn Alexander & Shadowland.

Saxophonist-Educator Julius Tolentino has been blowing on NYC bandstands for two decades. He was with the Louis Hayes Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band as well as in the bands of Natalie Cole, Connie Francis, Gloria Gaynor, Christian McBride, and the ghost bands of Count Basie and Duke Ellington.

The Concert Hall at Drew University in Madison, Morris County, will present “60 Years of The Beatles in America” on June 29. With privately-owned concert footage, author Charles F. Rosenay and archivist Erik Taros will share their stories, insights and answer questions.