The Peter Karp Band

In the organizer's words:

Jersey Town

In the 1960s, the rhythms of "northern" New Jersey pulsed with great urgency. Perhaps it was due to the dense population of first-generation European immigrants thrown together in the mass migration of Latinos from South America, Mexico and Cuba, and the wave of African-Americans moving north from the southern states as part of the nation's second great migration after World War II. Here, in North Jersey, amidst the gray, gloomy, noisy and relentless rush hour traffic, amidst cold and crumbling rusty steel bridges and overpasses, under looming loading cranes that loomed like prehistoric skeletons over heaving refineries and post-apocalyptic swamplands, at the last chance and terminus of the NJ Turnpike, Peter Karp was born.

Peter Karp's latest CD, "Jersey Town," is a gritty, wild tribute to the state where he was born and the place where he honed his sublime storytelling skills and blues-rock guitar playing. The "Jersey Town" sound is real, aggressive, bluesy, relentless, passionate, gritty, spiritual, tough, hard and smart-ass, just like the place he was born into. 11 songs and stories about the people he played for, real and imagined. For years he played night after night at every liquor and beer bar along the NJ Turnpike. Songs about loss, love, murder, infidelity, strength and despair. Songs about faith, destiny, loyalty and perseverance. Songs with universal themes and a musical attitude that can only be described as "Jersey".

Peter Karp - Guitar
Mark Johnson - electric & slide guitar
Marco Xeres - Bass
Paolo Xeres - drums