All jokes aside, New Jersey is a pretty great place. While it has a lot of offer as a state, it also has a rich musical history that many people remain unaware of. Everyone knows about Springsteen and Sinatra, but there’s more out there too, including a diverse current music scene.
Tune in to Garden State Sound with Evan Toth to explore music with connections to New Jersey. You will hear in-depth interviews with some of Jersey’s best music makers and have the opportunity win tickets to some of the best concerts in the state.
Garden State Sound is hosted by longtime NJ radio personality and musician Evan Toth on WFDU.FM.
“Many years ago, while tightly ensconced in the audience at the August Wilson Theater of Jersey Boys, I found my mind wandering. Sure, the music and performers were great, but the light plot and minimalist scenery of Jersey Boys was—to me—growing thin. Until, that is, the character of Bob Crewe was introduced: he was depicted as a sophisticated, charismatic force, the force which may have imbued Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons with the urbanity they needed to catapult them from scruffy New Jersey musicians they were to international recording artists they became. All accounts appear to support the way he was depicted in the show: he was musical and artistic dynamism.
Last month, Bob Crewe passed away. Not only was he responsible for producing and writing some of the biggest hits of the Four Seasons, but he produced and released some other major music from the ’60s and ’70s. The guy even co-wrote “Lady Marmalade.” He was a Jersey Boy himself; born in Newark.
Tune in to this week’s Garden State Sound, an all too brief tear through the important catalog of Bob Crewe.” —EZ
