A SALUTE TO THE JERSEY SOUND (DAY 2)

THE JERSEY SOUND
(It Ain't Just Springsteen)

Season’s change, and here in the Garden State, we experience that to a great extent with colorful sunsets that drop down behind tall trees whose falling leaves are just as colorful.

What hasn’t changed, though, season after season or year after year, is the colorful music scene that has shaped both the state, and the industry, for decades. Something global warming can’t take away from us is this: The Jersey Sound. Even as we fluctuate from spring-like temperatures to frost-covered mornings to the point of whiplash, we can find the beauty in this state with ease. It’s everywhere, filling the five major senses no matter where you go. You can see swirling sunsets of orange and pink, feel leaves crunching underfoot, taste a rouge snowflake on a chilly day like today, smell the industrial cities (for better or for worse), and hear The Jersey Sound. This state may just be the most sense-heavy place in the nation, and we are not going to complain. (Although, NJ is known for that – some complaints, some choice words, some high octane moments, some energy, and some attitude. The attitude of New Jerseyan artists and New Jerseyans in general is a through-line in the film at hand.)

The Jersey Sound: The Musicians Who Call New Jersey Home, the aptly named documentary that came out this year and premiered this past June in the cultural hub of Asbury Park, explores such. “This was a tough four years, but it was a labor of love, and to see the reaction that I, myself, and my team received on that day in Asbury Park was very gratifying,” the producer told us in a conversation a couple months of ago. “And since then, there have been some good articles written. I’ve gotten some nice responses from people. I’m very pleased to say the least.”