On The Nashville Sessions (New Shot Records, Milan, Italy), Long Branch singer-songwriter James Deely pours his heart out on 10 songs (including a cover of the 1989 Garth Brooks song, “Much Too Young.”) He has some Major League help:  Producer Doc Holiday (Doug Kershaw/Kentucky Headhunters/Herman’s Hermits), E Street Band bassist Garry Tallent, guitarist Roscoe Ambel (Steve Earle/Nils Lofgren/Joan Jett), Asbury Juke keyboardist Jeff Kazee and singer Layonne Holmes (Bon Jovi). Call it Hard Americana. Or Roots-Rock. Yet his balladry shines, like on “Nashville’s Finest.”

The Sensational Soul Cruisers are a vocal quartet who have been stirring it up on stages for 31 years. They first caught our ear upon the release of their debut “Deeper and Deeper” single last August. Now they’ve followed it up with some “Sensual Lovin’.”

The newly christened Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music will hold its fourth annual American Music Honors on April 18 on the campus of Monmouth University in West Long Branch. Honorees are Dionne Warwick, Patti Smith, Dr, Dre, The E Street Band, The Doors and The Band. Veteran television news anchor Brian Williams will host. The Disciples of Soul will be  the house band. Presenters include Bruce, Jimmy Iovine, John Landau and Stevie Van Zandt.

They call electronica producer-composer-keyboardist Michael Keane of Florham Park in Morris County a synth savant. His own Life Science Records has released “Murmur 3 Home” as a single under his Textbook Maneuver alias. Critics have already called it “a spaced-out odyssey,” “an atmospheric journey” and “emotive sound frequencies…to entertain, energize and even hypnotize.” (His Adrenaline Slip was one of the most unique albums of last year.)

Ocean Grove is more than just the small town you walk through on the boardwalk to get from Bradley to Asbury. Nestled within the town’s Great Auditorium on Pilgrim Pathway—built in 1894—is the world’s largest pipe organ containing over 13,000 pipes. Concert organist Gordon Turk came to town about 50 years ago to perform for a summer…and he’s still there.

The Dave Wilson Quartet actually has five guys if you count John Mayer’s percussionist Lenny Castro on half the tracks. When Even Goes East takes its title from the days Wilson was a New York City cab driver and the Manhattan grid had—and still has—the even-numbered streets, indeed, going east, and the odd-numbered streets going west. Saxophonist-Composer-Producer Wilson writes four of 10 but the six covers are the news.

His Trap Poems won’t be out until April 3 but you can “Chill” to its first single below. Rutgers grad/New Brunswick resident David Aaron Greenberg is what’s known as a “multidisciplinary artist” as he’s a vocalist, poet, painter, composer, art critic, curator, guitarist and art gallery owner who knew and worked with the legendary Newark poet-revolutionary Allen Ginsberg [1926-1997].

Thirty-Seven years after the self-titled debut of Ocean County metal band Skid Row in 1989, bassist Rachel Bolan will be declaring himself Gargoyle Of The Garden State when his solo debut is released June 12 by earMUSIC.  Nick Raskullnecz, who produced the last Skid Row album—2022’s The Gang’s All Here—will once again be at the helm.

Hoboken’s Tammy Faye Starlite and Richard Barone of The Bongos co-hosted “Jilith Fair:  Loving Jill Sobule” last month at City Winery in New York City on what would have been the late singer’s 67^th birthday.

“This is not a contest or a gimmick,” says the press release for Skid Row’s international vocalist hunt. “It’s a genuine search for the right voice, presence and authenticity to carry Skid Row forward.”

When Stefani M.C. Janelli writes about any band, we listen. She’s got good ears. Thus, we were hipped to P-Funk North, a band out of North Plainfield in Somerset County that fuses reggae, funk and rock’n’roll in a fun-filled, freewheeling festival of freaky alternative pop-musik. They’ve been around for 13 years as started by bassist-vocalist Dave Sloyan.

Singer-Songwriter-Drummer Noah Rauchwerk is swimming in Shark River as Wormy. Shark River singles “Cocaine Bear,” “27 Days” and “Give Up” precede “I Hate You,” a song he wrote “about conflicting feelings of jealousy and love for your successful friends,” he admits. “I wrote it in a patch when Nick [Carpenter of Medium Build] and I had grown apart and I missed him a lot but also wanted to be in his shoes. Nick and I made this music video as a nod to one of my favorite books and movies, Stephen King’s Misery.  Everything you’re watching is completely true and actually happened.” 

Giz Mutlu is a fifth-grader in the Bloomfield Public Schools. She’s also an accomplished bebop pianist. At 10, she became the youngest musician to ever perform at Dizzy’s Club within Lincoln Center in New York City. She’s an honor student, who, at six, joined Jazz House Kids, one of the nation’s leading jazz education organizations. Now 11, she performs in the group Chica Power and has collaborated with such renowned stars as Angelique Kidjo and Michelle Rosewoman.

The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company –with the cooperation of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) and the Newark Museum—will mount a free Dragon Procession downtown Newark from NJPAC on Center Street, through Military Park, to the Newark Museum on Washington Street via Halsey and Broad Streets on February 14 from noon to 1:00 p.m. in celebration of The Year Of The Horse.

The New Jersey Hall of Fame at American Dream on Route 3 in East Rutherford will host an event celebrating 40 years of 2013 NJHOF inductee Whitney Houston on February 7.

No need for any of my words here.

Southside Johnny’s retirement hasn’t slowed down the Asbury Juke Lead Guitarist Glenn Alexander. In fact, he’s been busier than ever. He stings those strings to shred with his Shadowland band that’s punched up bigtime with The Asbury Juke Horn Section. He also performs as a duo with singer-songwriter Oria. His penchant for peppering his presentation with jazz-rock fusion, Southern Rock, Hard Americana, Asbury Park-styled rock’n’soul and what we like to call Instant Classic Rock is mesmerizing, satisfying and fully entertaining. In other words, you can feel it in your gut.

Perhaps because he’s new to podcasting, composer-performer-producer Ben Vaughn, born in Camden County 71 years ago, should bring a new perspective to his “Straight From The Hat” podcast. He’s been a radio host but now, every other Thursday night, he’ll delve into his own personal history by having his co-host, Laura Pochodylo, reach into a big hat and pull out names. No pre-planning, no rehearsing, each name will be someone or some band that Vaughn has either met, collaborated, partnered and/or jammed with.

Vocalist-Guitarist Edgar Echeverria, drummer Jasmine De Leon, guitarist Eliel Esquivel and bassist Jeremy Mendoza—known collectively as Poloroids—are serious about representing their Hudson County heritage.  As Edgar recently told The Jersey Sound, “all of us grew up in Hudson County and come from a Latino background. For us, that’s always been important to represent.  Hudson County, its culture, and its people, are a huge influence.”

 The last time we wrote about Asbury Park’s dt’s was in 2024 when they busted out their “Cherry.” It was a sublime piece of pulsating power pop that had David Cacciatore and Tom Losito hardening the pop into a punch.