Lead guitarist Robbie Robertson [1943-2023] wrote “Christmas Must Be Tonight” for bassist Rick Danko [1943-1999] to sing on The Band’s seventh studio album, Islands (1977). Reportedly, he wrote it upon witnessing the birth of his son. Elton John famously loved it.  Train and Ronnie Hawkins covered it. Mark Mulch, originally from Toms River in Ocean County, now living in Nashville, in our humble opinion, has the best cover of all.

Good Damage, the Middlesex County band we wrote about last March when they claimed to be “Better Off Alone,” has gone one step further by wanting to be “Just Alive.”

"I finished writing “Christmas In Songtown” after I returned from a trip to Ireland this fall. I saw buskers on the streets. I saw musicians in the pubs sharing their joy of music from Kelly's in Belfast and Temple Bar in Dublin. They were universally playing practically the same covers you'd hear at the Jersey shore bars, so I figured I'd give us all a challenge in song to write a better one than this.”

I guess it had to happen. The evil forces of the oxymoronic soft-rock agenda have kidnapped the great Bumblefoot, paired him with Graham Bonnet of Rainbow, and forced him—kicking and screaming—to record “Just The Two Of Us,” the Grammy-winning 1980 soul song by Bill Withers and Grover Washington, Jr. It’s on the new Yacht Metal from Cleopatra Records.

Before Twisted Sister became internationally-known rock stars, they were Silver Star out of Bergen County, cross-dressing and considering themselves to be New Jersey’s answer to the New York Dolls. From ’72 to ’80, they toiled in clubs constantly refining and redefining their act. It wasn’t until ’82 that the band as we know it blossomed. Cleopatra Records has now released the 12-track Hammerheads 1980, named after a West Islip, New York, venue.

When we last visited The Modbeats in August, they had put out “Frankie,” a song actually better than anything its subject (Frankie Avalon) ever did. Now the band from Cherry Hill in Camden County that blends a 1960s British Invasion feel with surf-rock and power-pop has come up with another winner:  “Midnight Train” (listen below). It’s been a fan favorite at gigs.

The #1 purveyor in the world today of the sound of Quintette du Hot Club de France—the groundbreaking band that Belgian-born guitar pioneer Django Reinhardt and violinist Stephane Grappelli started in 1934—is Stephane Wrembel from Maplewood. It’s called Gypsy Jazz and it is, indeed, its own special genre.

She was 22 at Woodstock in ’69 when she walked out on that stage in a soft drizzle, a complete unknown armed with only an acoustic guitar, and proceeded to make half a million people fall in love with her, myself included. Throughout the years, that love has deepened, her quirky albums became beloved, and her gigs legendary (like the time the electricity went off at a Rutgers gig and she sang her heart out with no mic, or her incendiary set at The Capitol Theater in Passaic on her birthday. “Anyone else celebrating a birthday tonight,” she impishly asked and I raised my hand.  Her death last year at 76 came as a shock.

After a seven-year lay-off, the Asbury Park Music Foundation (APMF) has announced the return of the Asbury Park Music Awards. (It originally ran from 1993 through 2018.) According to the foundation, “the event celebrates the artists who keep Asbury’s legendary music scene alive while also raising funds to provide life-changing music education to under-served youth in our community.” February 20, 2026, at The Stone Pony, will be the next chapter of this prestigious award ceremony.

The Annual Light Of Day shows have been scheduled for January benefitting efforts to eradicate Parkinson’s Disease and related illnesses. Over the last 25 years, the Light Of Day Foundation has raised upwards of seven million dollars.

Asbury Park icon—by way of Mississippi—Steve Forbert You’d See The Things That I See (The Day John Met Paul).” He announced the song by saying, “While touring England in November of 2010 I was able to (along with Diane) make a visit to John Lennon’s childhood home in Liverpool. All Beatles fans have heard of Mendips.

It was 2023 when we introduced you to Nikki & The Skyrockets out of Jersey City. Now the band has released the eponymous follow-up to its impressive Late Last Night debut. Singer-Songwriter-Guitarist Nicole Bozzuto is a force to be reckoned with.

The almost-famous Wayne B. Olivieri, from Union County, just finished recording what he’s calling “a New Year’s lullaby” (Bongo Boy Records) at Sky Lab Studios in Monmouth County with his band, The New Bardots—keyboardist John Croot, drummer Johnnie Rago, bassist Dan Skye, guitarist Gar Francis.

He came out of West Orange but made his mark in San Francisco. MoMojo Records/MVD Distribution has released Arrival, the sixth album from The Lucky Losers, Phil Berkowitz and Cathy Lemons. They both sing and write the kind of songs that stick to the mind like a tattoo on the brain.

He came out of West Orange but made his mark in San Francisco. MoMojo Records/MVD Distribution has released Arrival, the sixth album from The Lucky Losers, Phil Berkowitz and Cathy Lemons. They both sing and write the kind of songs that stick to the mind like a tattoo on the brain.

The Director of Music & Worship at the APC Church in Monmouth County has recorded and self-released his sixth album, The Book of Enoch Volume #1, his first in eight years. Pianist Enoch Smith, Jr, bassist Kai Gibson and drummer David Hardy convened at Teaneck Sound in Bergen County. The result is a glorious seven-track master class in how to make traditional and modern hymns swing like crazy.

The Director of Music & Worship at the APC Church in Monmouth County has recorded and self-released his sixth album, The Book of Enoch Volume #1, his first in eight years. Pianist Enoch Smith, Jr, bassist Kai Gibson and drummer David Hardy convened at Teaneck Sound in Bergen County. The result is a glorious seven-track master class in how to make traditional and modern hymns swing like crazy.

Actor-Comedian-Short Guy Danny DeVito (Class of 2010) hosted the 17^th Annual New Jersey Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony November 21. Twenty New Jerseyans, from all walks of life, were honored.

By the time iconic folksinger Woodrow Wilson “Woody” Guthrie [1912-1967] came to New Jersey in 1956 to live for six years within the walls of the Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in Morris County, he had cemented his reputation. In fact, the opening scene of A Complete Unknown has Dylan visiting him and playing for him a song from his 1962 debut album called “Song To Woody.” Now comes news that 22 of the private 1951 recordings from a stash of 300 songs on 32 tapes will be released by Shamus Records as Woody at Home Volume #1 and #2.

Weird New Jersey magazine once cited New Milford in Bergen County as one strange place. Maybe its vibe nurtured Dream Pop enthusiasts Lips Of Strangers to pursue its highly stylized and synthesized shoegaze nostalgia. Their pop smarts has manifested itself into a second EP, Too Long For Lovers.