Joe Cirotti Trio, a well-oiled string band from the shadows of Northwest Jersey’s Appalachian ridge, fuses their multi-instrumentalist upbringings with a passion for the roots of American folk, jazz, country, and bluegrass. Their bond is rooted in proximity, strengthened by a blue-collar passion for picking, and buoyed by their shared propensity for roots music and whiskey.
Formed in 2015, the current line-up of Joe Cirotti: guitar, Pete Lister: upright bass, and Timmy Coyle: mandolin and guitar, continues to craft a sound steeped in tradition yet infused with modern twists.
Jackson Pines is an indie folk duo from Jackson, New Jersey, consisting of Joe Makoviecki and James Black. Both members previously played together in the group Thomas Wesley Stern. Their debut LP, entitled Purgatory Road, contains 10 original songs recorded in a barn by Simone Felice
The Gas Stations Blues & Diamond Rings (EP) was released in 2019, and Bob Makin in New Jersey Stage says the duo "prove themselves to be one of New Jersey's best examples of those kinds of sounds and stories [of] American roots music." That year, they were featured on the PBS program State of the Arts. It followed Joe and James from Jackson to Asbury Park
In 2021, Jackson Pines recorded their second full-length record. It was produced by Ro Karunaratne. It came out Summer 2021 and was premiered at the Sea Hear Now Festival in September, where they opened for Dr. Dog and Ani DiFranco one of the main stages.
In 2022, Jackson Pines toured "Close To Home" and began working on the Ridgway family repertoire and other folk material that would become "Pine Barrens Volume One". In December, the new backing band of Cranston Dean and Max Carmichael would join them, along with James Herdman, to record Pine Barrens Volume One.
On January 1, 2023, Mt. Holly Jail, a 19th-century Pine Barrens folk song, was released ahead of "Pine Barrens Volume One". The band toured the region preserving and highlighting the connection between their music and the folk music from their home, playing at Steelstacks, WXPN, and headlining the New Jersey Folk Festival at Rutgers University.[7]
Jackson Pines then appeared on NPR stations such as Prarie Public Radio, KBCS, and WXPN and were featured on their own episode of PBS's "Here's The Story", highlighting their music and special connection to Albert Music Hall, the "Opry of the East".
"Pine Barrens Volume One" was named 2023 Album of the Year by The Aquarian Weekly
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