Rutgers grad/Paramus native Jake Thistle recently announced the following…

“As most of you know, I’ve been having a blast recording the new record, and with that release on the horizon, my management and I were looking for some fun ways to introduce the music to a bigger audience. So, I’m excited to announce that I’ll be part of the upcoming season of American Idol on ABC-TV! Was an honor to head down to Nashville and play for the great team they have along with a lot of other singer/songwriters. The season premieres on January 26th.”

The news from Jerry Vivino hit hard: “With a heavy heart I am sad to announce the passing of my brother and everybody's favorite uncle, Floyd Vivino. After a 2 and a half year battle with ongoing health issues his curtain peacefully closed at 6:05pm on Thursday January 22nd. Rest in peace big brother. You will be missed, but always remembered by friends, family and your loving fans.... 10/19/1951 - 01/22/2026

There’s no argument that Bucky Pizzarelli—born in Paterson 100 years ago—was one of the greatest guitarists of all-time. Recently, at the Morris Museum in Morristown, his son, bassist  Martin Pizzarelli, his trio, and guest soloists, paid tribute to the man who in his long career collaborated with Les Paul, Tony Bennett, Paul McCartney, Aretha Franklin and Sarah Vaughan before becoming a fine-art painter.

When Mike Delevante’s solid solo project, Summer Days, came out last year, it raised eyebrows as it was released only digitally. After all, Mike and his brother Bob are Americana legends.  As The Delevantes, they had the first #1 on the fledgling Gavin Americana Charts in 1995 with their Long About That Time debut—produced by E Street bassist Garry Tallent—for the prestigious Rounder label out of Massachusetts. The Brothers, now in Tennessee, came out of Rutherford (Bergen County), and formed The Delevantes in Hoboken.

The fifth annual edition of Princeton’s popular free multi-genre Porchfest will take place Saturday, April 25, at noon for five hours on multiple porches all over town with sets of live music. Performers do 45-minute sets. Applications to participate are being accepted now until February 12.

MLK Day—the third Monday in January—was signed into law as a National Holiday celebrating the birthday of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. by President Ronald Reagan in 1983. The day has historical significance in The Garden State.

On Valentine’s Day, Deena Shoshkes and Jon Fried of The Cucumbers will release a book (Hello George) with music (As You Heard Me). The longtime Hoboken favorites found their first flush of love and art while busking in early ‘80s Paris and Rome.

Before Hoboken singer-songwriter Karyn Kuhl formed her own band, she was in Gut Bank, Sexpod and Psych-O-Positive (as its drummer). P-O-P got off to a shock-value start with its ferocious “Blood…” debut in 2017. Eight years and a few personnel changes later, they were cited by longtime Jersey critic Jim Testa as the best psychedelic band of 2025.

They started out as a Hoboken high school band in 2022. Today, 3 Dollars—vocalist-guitarist Arthur Pawley, drummer Ben Kamel, guitarist Tyler Wachtel and bassist Costas Krassos—are perfecting their sound in a style that has been described as post-emo punk. Along the way, they’ve been collecting kudos from Hoboken Girl, Hudson Reporter and NJ.com.

Frank Sinatra’s image, music, cultural significance and coolness quotient is too great for him to ever really die. Why should we be deprived of the man who put Hoboken on the national map? Death, oftentimes, is a boon for an artist’s career. Just look at Elvis. And The Fab Faux reminds us that Beatle music will always outlive the four guys who originally made it. It’s just too good to stop when they do. Enter Hollywood’s Gary Anthony.

Step By Step is an octet of four musicians and four vocalists from six different areas of New Jersey:  Lakewood, Jackson, North Brunswick, Branchburg, Bayville and Keansburg. Their mission statement is to “keep the essence of Johnny Maestro’s music alive.” To that end, they’ve performed all over the state and beyond at theaters, township events, oldies shows and festivals.

There once was a band from Morris County called TV Toy who took punk into prog. The original trio of Rob Barth, Steve Peer and Dreux Bassoul had a song they called “Weekend” that drove fans nuts when they opened for Talking Heads, Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes, Bill Bruford and Jan Hammer. Recorded in Passaic County, it will be part of Rob Tannenbaum’s exhaustive CBGB:  A New York City Soundtrack 1975-1986, a four-CD boxed set due January 30 on Cherry Red Records.

The amalgam of grit, hard-rock, old-school metal, indie-rock, shock value and punk have manifested itself into the cohesive whole of Rahway, named after their hometown in Union County. The new single is “Drowning.” The new tour starts January 21 in SC, before traveling on to NC, TN, KY. PA, MA and CT, opening for Scotty Austin, the former lead singer of Saving Abel.

NoLifeTil Metal Records will release Completely Covered in Black, by Patriarchs In Black, on February 13.  Paramus guitarist Dan Lorenzo (Hades, Non-Fiction) and Brooklyn drummer Johnny Kelly (Type O Negative, Danzig) will host different singers and bassists on each track. Expect blistering covers of Led Zeppelin, Kiss, Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Twisted Sister, Queen and Peter Gabriel. 

While at Princeton earning her Evolutionary Biology degree, Brittany Haas joined the jam-grass band Crooked Still on fiddle with whom she recorded four albums of esoteric bluegrass, folk-grass, jazz-grass and chamber-grass. No telling if she smoked a lot of grass. Probably not. For if Hass is anything, it’s focused. Driven.

Jersey City indie-folk singer-songwriter Jacob Tremont hit his stride in 2025 with the laid-back groove of his wistful “Slow Motion Night.” It’s the title tune of his impressive new album that landed in May on Mint 400 Records out of Passaic County. Tremont’s music fits right alongside Wilco on a mix-tape. He writes of heartbreak and healing in a soothing everyman voice one could easily love.

Hoboken’s Doctor Mister Genius have self-released “Man of Simple Taste,” the latest in a series of singles, this time accentuating their particular brand of Americana Soul (through a Jersey blender). As written by guitarist David Ribyat, it is yet another stab at their freewheeling genre-bend that has up to now included punk, metal and surf.

The Jersey Sound would like to wish everybody a healthy and happy New Year.

Morris County First Night, Ocean City First Night, and Seaside Heights First Night: Train rides, hot air balloons, face painting, fireworks, magic, Rizzo’s Wildlife Show, The OMG Bubbles Dazzling Bubble Show, meet’n’greets with Mickey and Minnie Mouse plus Polynesian Princess Labubu and a singalong with The Hunter Girls.

The 2025 stateside leg of the My Chemical Romance tour is over. Reviews were fantastic. The 2026 Southeast Asia leg of the tour has been pushed back from April to November. Valentino Petrarca, writing in The Aquarian, called it “their most exciting year yet…it’s not just another tour, it’s a whole new world.”