Meet…
New Jersey is Bursting With Talent!
Meet… Erika Sherger
A high-school physics teacher by day, and an independent troubadour at night with two albums out, Erika Lee Sherger resides in that confessional singer-songwriter zone where she lays naked her emotions to write about her own shortcomings, riding her blind horse, withstanding a friend’s suicide and losing her mom. Genre-wise, this Morris County (Boonton Township) resident is solid Americana. Call it alt-country or indie-folk if you want. ‘Bad Wolf’ is the follow-up to her 2021 ‘Like Birds’ debut.
Meet… Juniper
She’s still in Montclair High School but Juniper is already on her second album, She Steals Candy. And she has a lot of friends helping her out: Ira Kaplan (Yo La Tengo), Page Burkum (Cactus Blossoms), Greg Townson (Los Straitjackets), Chris Geddes (Belle and Sebastian), Steve Goulding (Mekons), John Perrin (NRBQ), Alex Hall (JD McPherson’s band) and Dennis Diken (Smithereens).
Meet… Eli Bramnick
Eli Bramnick is from Princeton Junction in Mercer County. A graduate of School Of Rock Princeton, an after-school music program, he’s a perfect example of what hard work and dedication to music can lead to.
Meet… Charlie & Margot
Charlie & Margot is, in actuality, one person: Matteo DeBenedetti. He left Mount Arlington, a small town in Morris County, for the wilds of Asbury Park years ago. He records as Charlie & Margot (those are the names of his dogs). Although the album, Joyride, isn’t due until April 7, one track, “Lonely,” shows a wealth of talent.
Meet… Phoneboy
The sleepy hamlet of Toms River hasn’t given the world that many pop stars but if Phoneboy has their way, stardom is only days down the road. They’re ready.
Meet… Brynn Stanley
This Jersey Girl singer/songwriter/actress graduated Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison before honing her vocal chops on both coasts to crowds who quickly fell under her sway.
Meet… Groovy
The electric genre mash of hip-hop and Jersey Club music has resulted in a love letter to The Garden State by young star-of-the-future Groovy from Union. The new single is called “jersey luv” and it is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, a deliciously schizophrenic pastiche of R’n’B, Neo-Pop and house.
Meet… Tammy Faye Starlite
She comes out of Hoboken a singer, a comic, an actor, a performance artist and a provocateur, with songs like “God Has Lodged a Tenant in My Uterus” and “Did I Shave My Vagina For This?” Her many characters—including 1960s icons Marianne Faithful and Nico of The Velvet Underground—run the gamut from a far-right QAnon supporter to a deranged Israeli cabaret singer. She is all of them and she is none of them. She is a mystery.
Meet… Nikki & The Skyrockets
Singer/Songwriter Nicole Bozzuto, of Nikki & The Skyrockets, writes of weariness with the road yet, at the same time, loving the feeling of movement, which we’ve learned from Willie Nelson is the closest feeling to being truly free. The eight songs on their brand new Late Last Night house this wanderlust, couched in dramatically personal terms.
Meet… The Happy Fits
In 2012, Calvin Langman (cello) and Ross Monteith (guitar) bonded over their love of certain songs so much they started performing as a duo. Was it their unusual cello-guitar attack that had crowds hypnotized? They picked a handful of covers to explore and found their voices naturally blended. Then Langman started to write, and they added drummer Luke Davis for the 2016 Awfully Apeelin’ EP.