Long Branch Alt-Folk icon Melanie may be most known for her galvanizing 1969 Woodstock Festival appearance but four months before that she played The Troubadour in Los Angeles. Those tapes—made by her husband-producer Peter Schekeryk—are her earliest known live recordings. Take Me Home: Live At The Troubadour 1969 is the latest from the marathon Melanie reissue campaign of Cleopatra Records.

Who plays an instrument? Who sings? Who thinks they can hold their own in a small jazz room with professionals? If so, you might want to mosey on down to downtown Newark because The Rutgers University Institute for Jazz Studies, in cooperation with the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), will continue its series of monthly jazz jams in the new year on the Rutgers campus at the cozy Clement’s Place within Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hall on Washington Street, Newark.

The release of Tracks, by Bruce Springsteen, in 1998, was a treasure chest of great material with 66 songs originally deemed not worthy enough to be added to his official releases. In actuality, though, the songs hit like a bolt from the blue, equally stirring and some cases even better what was released officially. In a press release from the Bruce camp, the last sentence reads “upcoming releases in 2025 will include a look back at Springsteen’s storied recording career, featuring never-before-heard material.”

Jimmy Vivino, 69, of the Paterson Vivino family that also includes the beloved Uncle Floyd (recovering from a stroke) and sax man Jerry Vivino, has been signed to Gulf Coast Records, the label led by St. Louis Guitar Hero Mike Zito.

He may be from Hillsborough Township in Somerset County but Joey CXP is part of a bustling New Brunswick music scene that seems to be gaining momentum. He’s the flagship artist of Candy Shop Records and his new Candy Crush EP pulls no punches. It’s a gut-punch of delicious proportions.

Singers Mark Mulch and Kirstie Kraus have recorded a special trop-rock version of "Winter Wonderland" for Christmas Day and we're proud to unveil it.

Three exotic, esoteric, highly visual and musically stunning shows will grace the stage of NJ PAC in Newark to start the new year off in dramatic fashion.

“State Trooper,” from Bruce’s 1982 Nebraska, gets an overdue overhaul courtesy of Carre Kwong Callaway of Los Angeles who records as Queen Kwong. It’s off her Strangers EP where she also interprets the Stones (“Sympathy For The Devil”), Chris Isaak (“Baby Did A Bad Thing”) and Velvet Underground (“I Found A Reason”).

Southside Johnny Lyon has cancelled his annual New Year’s Eve show with the Asbury Jukes this year due to health reasons. When contacted, management declined comment. Lyon, 76, had left the stage midway through a December 14 show in Virginia, the Jukes finishing without him.

Longtime Englewood resident George Benson will host “Breezin’ With The Stars” January 3-6 at the Wigwam Resort in Phoenix Arizona with classes, workshops, concerts, discussions and jam sessions with Steve Lukather, Patti Austin, Tommy Emmanuel, Stanley Jordan, Al Di Meola, Greg Phillinganes, Lee Ritenour, John Scofield, Esperanza Spalding, Andy Timmons, Rick Beato, Norman Brown, Isiah Sharkey, Joscho Stephan, Quinn Sullivan, Randy Waldman, Chris Walker and Cory Wong.

April May Webb of Connecticut is the winner of the 13^th Annual Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition held at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark on November 24. Known as The Sassy Awards for Vaughan’s longtime nickname, Webb bested the 220 entrants from 21 countries, whittled down to five for the sing-off hosted by WBGO’s Sheila Anderson.

There’s a poet in Madison, deep within Morris County, but you might find him stretched out on the grass at Princeton Battlefield State Park in Mercer County where American and British troops fought each other in 1777. Alt-folk-country Americana singer-songwriter Dave Murphy thinks about those times a lot.

Newark’s own Whitney Houston [1963-2012] will be honored yet again and rightly so at Town Hall in New York City in February. “The Voice Of Whitney: A Symphonic Celebration” is being billed as hearing Whitney’s voice “as never heard before [in] an Immersive Visual Experience.”

“Christian McBride’s World At Sea” will set sail in January of 2026 from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for a week, with stops in Jamaica and the Grand Cayman Islands.

The Ronnie James Dio Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund got a sweet 70G payday when SiriusXM 103 Faction Talk DJ Eddie Trunk hosted the annual “Bowl For Ronnie” celebrity bowl-a-thon November 14 at the PINZ Bowling Center in Studio City California.

There are those who swear the spirit of the 1960s finally ended at the end of a rope in Far Rockaway, New York, when Phil Ochs hung himself at his sister’s house. He was 35. Unlike Dylan, who has admitted he used folk-music to become a rock star, Ochs truly believed in his role as generational spokesman. He preferred “topical singer” to “protest singer” but he protested long and loud at racism, war and apathy.

The members of Hickory are spread out over such Jersey towns as Denville, Lincoln Park, Pompton Plans and Ramsey. Yet when they jam, they are as close in spirit and chemistry as a single entity can be. That closeness is fully evident on their debut recording, Postcard Picture Show, due December 20.

The story goes that Bruce didn’t even want to include “No Surrender” on 1984’s Born In The USA but did so at the insistence of Stevie Van Zandt. It’s since become a concert staple, one of the most beloved songs in the Bruce catalog. It’s been covered 19 times by artists from all around the world but not like the one-named singer-songwriter Rowe from Hopewell in Mercer County.

Jenny Owen Youngs, 43, was raised in the woods of Sussex County. It was a decade between her third album (An Unwavering Band Of Light) and last year’s 10-track fourth (Avalanche). Why did it take so long? She was busy touring the world, writing hits for others, starting a popular podcast, writing a book, and having her songs placed in movies and TV shows.

For the fourth straight month, there’s Melanie news. The Long Branch High School graduate, who died earlier this year, but not before winning the hearts of multiple generations from the 1960s on, is the subject of Reimaginings (Cleopatra Records), a 42-track, two-disc gem wherein the artist who absolutely refused to settle, and continued to tinker with new and old songs alike, gets her catalog overhauled. And she did it herself!