Singer-Songwriter Mark Mulch, who left Toms River years ago for Nashville, is Radio Trop Rock’s “Artist Of The Month.” With a new single, “Sunrise Vibes,” Mulch, amid the myriad of like-minded artists who continue to flourish since the demise of Jimmy Buffett, is keeping the Trop Rock spirit alive.

The Bear playing The Boss? It certainly looks that way. Deliver Me From Nowhere will be a cinematic adaptation of last year’s Warren Zanes book of the same name, sub-titled The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska.

On Daylight Savings Time, Steve Forbert’s 21^st album, the longtime Asbury Park resident has written more songs that get under your skin to make you ask questions, to make you smile, and, every great once in a while, make you squirm.

To support the release of their third album, Let The Light Back In (DA Records), Luther Black and the Cold Hard Facts (well, one Cold Hard Fact) will play the Rockwood Music Hall in Manhattan on September 8. The music of this no-frills Americana band, based in Maplewood, has drawn comparisons to Texas troubadours like Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark and Ray Wylie Hubbard.

When Jersey Jazz Giant Russell Malone was 12, he saw George Benson perform in Benny Goodman’s band on TV. It changed his life. He died August 23 at 60 from a heart attack while on tour in Japan as part of Ron Carter’s band. In his tragically short life, he played in the bands of vocalists Harry Connick, Jr., Diana Krall, Jimmy Smith, BB King, Branford Marsalis, Macy Gray, Christian McBride, David Sanborn and Sonny Rollins.

September 7 is the date of the Punk Unplugged Festival at The Union Market & Gallery down the shore in Tuckerton, Ocean County. Between the live music—supplied by Dark & Stormy, Funeral Doors, The Record Keeper, Ray Wildey, Catch Me If You Can, Mxtchxll and Peach Creek—and art exhibitions, vendors will also display their wares.

The Americana sounds of Yarn will ring out proud and true on September 1 when Frenchtown in Hunterdon County will host the 20^th Annual Riverfest, a free celebration of life along the mighty Delaware River “with an ecologically and sustainability-focused lens,” according to the town’s website. Between Yarn, 67 local vendors, 20 local musicians, Viking Paper Boat Races, Doug Miller The Magician, strolling musician Nick The Bag-Piper and the Native-American drumming, prayer and dance of the Lenape tribe, there certainly will be plenty to do in the two locations of Sunbeam Lenape Park and Downtown Frenchtown.

Bernardsville drummer Dave Colella provides the stirring beat behind the self-released Revelation by Piper & The Hard Times, a bluesy, ball-buster of an album fronted by the soulful bluster of Piper. When Piper sings, you can hear his phlegm wiggle. He’s an old-fashioned blues shouter and it works well atop this studio octet.

The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) has impacted thousands of young musicians for the past 27 years. Registration is now open (closing September 23) for its “Jazz For Teens” 2024-2025 Education Program. The fall semester is October 5 to December 4. The spring semester is January 25 to May 17. Student musicians from ages 13 to 18 can apply.

Leave it to Little Steven to put on one of the most anticipated after-parties of the decade. After the two-day Sea. Hear. Now. music festival starring Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, “Asbury Park A Go-Go” at Asbury Lanes as presented by “Little Steven’s Underground Garage: Maximum Rock and Soul!” will rage on for four hours starting at 10:00 p.m.

Guitarist Scotti Hill, 60, from those favorite sons of Toms River, Skid Row, has lent his considerable talents to This Wild Darkness on its debut EP, 'The Notorious Memphis Rains,' due October 25.

With three shows on the current tour already under their belts, Stone Temple Pilots continue their tour with +Live+ tomorrow in Houston, Friday in Dallas, and Saturday in Arkansas. Montclair-born STP guitarist Dean DeLeo plays on the first new +Live+ tune in six years, “Lady Bhang (She Got Me Rollin’). +Live+ founding member Ed Kowalcyzk described DeLeo’s contribution to the song as “mystical slide guitar styling.”

An all-new, all-female version of The Bonnie Parker Band (with guitarist/keyboardist Denny Colt and drummer Hillary Blaze) will play its first gig at My Father’s Place on Long Island in Roslyn, New York, October 5.

He’s worked with members of The Cucumbers (Hoboken), The Catholic Girls (Union), The Bongos (Hoboken) and The Accelerators (Union) but mostly Tom Lucas is Sad About Girls (South Orange). Singer-Songwriter Palmyra Delran (Princeton) has been playing the new Sad About Girls song, “She’s Not Here,” on her show at SiriusXM’s “Little Steven’s Underground Garage.”

It’s already sold-out. The sixth annual Sea. Hear. Now. festival lineup for all three stages has been announced for September 14 and 15 on the beach in Asbury Park and in that town’s Bradley Park venue.

December 14 is the date for the Lenny Kaye/Tammy Faye Starlite concert to benefit www.njarts.net, a non-profit one-stop for everything cultural in our great state. Our friend Jay Lustig has helmed this site for 10 years, offering free content, based on his previous decades as a trusted Jersey journalist. The show will take place in Montclair at Outpost in the Burbs.

October 14 is the date that Blue Grape Music will release ‘Rush Of Energy’ by Bike Routes. Call it indie-alternative. Bike Routes is David Lawrence Osterhout from a sleepy Burlington County hamlet called Evesham Township. The single/video is “You Want It You Got It.”

The Passaic County rapper known as 973tony, currently stationed in Arizona working on F-16 fighter jets, will return home at the end of the year to resume his music career. He self-releases, self-produces and engineers his own music. He even painted the album’s cover.

Rock’n’Roll celebrities will “Bowl For Ronnie” November 14 to benefit the Ronnie James Dio “Stand Up And Shout” cancer fund at the PINZ Bowling Center in Studio City California. Eddie Trunk—from Madison in Morris County—will host.

Asbury Park power-pop band the dt’s drop their “Cherry” today right here and it’s a punchy rocker that we can’t seem to stop playing over and over again. David Cacciatore and Tom Losito have fashioned an exquisite sound that channels the raw urgency of punk with the tuneful joys of pop music. Their current EP, ‘Live at Lakehouse Studios,’ released in April, is also a solid listen.