Freed from the constraints of time and the dreams of landing a big record deal, James Deely took his time to work on his first album since 1995. Backed once again by the Valiants, the record called A Harder Road was ten years in the making. This decade of time was as difficult as the title suggests, but led to arguably the band’s finest release.
James Deely and the Valiants originated in Long Beach Island in the 1980s. They played many popular bars from Asbury Park to New York City and Philadelphia. Like many bands, they took their shot and put a lot of money behind a record with the dream of making it big. When the record deal didn’t come, the band split up, but remained in touch over the years. Deely would later release a solo album, play in several bands, and eventually move out to California where he owns and runs a moving company.
When Paul Ford (the bassist for the Valiants) told Deely he would be in California for a couple of days on the way to Hawaii, James realized they had a great opportunity but had to move fast. He called up Pete Barnett (the band’s original drummer) who was also in California and they quickly headed into the studio and cut 11 tracks. After the recordings, Deely and Tunkel began the long process of overdubbing and trying to finish the songs.
“We all have jobs and lives and stuff,” explained Deely. “It’s not like the old days where you’d go in and finish the record in a month or whatever. It got spread out over time, which I kind of enjoyed because I could mess around with it more. I almost didn’t want to stop working on it. I got addicted to it I guess.”
The record would add appearances by Tunkel, PK Lavengood, Steve Barlotta, and what may be the last recording by Kevin Kavanaugh, the long-time member of Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes, who passed away in 2011. Sadly, Kavanaugh is only one of many who passed away during the decade. The list includes Deely’s wife, his father, and the album’s original engineer. “There’s a dedication list on the back that goes on forever,” Deely notes.
Deely and Tunkel knew each other from the 80s when the Valiants and Red House (Tunkel’s old band) were both playing in the same clubs. They were two of the few bands who could play The Stone Pony and the Green Parrot — two very different worlds; one filled with traditional rock and roll, the other with new wave and alternative rock. Together the pair finished the record over time, working from opposite coasts. In recent years, Deely would release a finished song online to let people know the full record was definitely coming. When Deely returned to New Jersey last year before a trip to Ireland, he joined Tunkel on stage at the Dragonfly Music & Coffee Cafe in Somerville.
“Bruce said ‘What song do you want to do?’” recalled Deely. “I said let’s do Bob Dylan’s ‘I Shall Be Released’ because that’s the way I feel now. We’re not bound by any shackles. We’re not bound by any money or any commitments. You want to go play in the Dragonfly, go do it. You don’t want to play, don’t do it. You want to record and put a song out — whatever you want to do you can do it. We’ve basically reached a point where we don’t have to rely on music for money and it kind of takes us back to when we were teenagers. Back then, we just played because we loved it. And that’s the way it is now.”
Few bands are ever remembered for one town the way James Deely and the Valiants are remembered for Long Beach Island. The shore town was a haven for cover bands until the Valiants were featured in the local newspaper, The SandPaper. In the article, Deely pointed out how the band would travel to Asbury Park, New Brunswick, Philadelphia, and New York for shows, but couldn’t get a gig in town. The owner of The Tide bar read the article and saw an opportunity. He gave the Valiants their first hometown gigs and the band was off and running. LBI became a place where the band could always make enough money to keep going.
“So we would just do some gigs there, make some money, and then run around,” said Deely. “We were out of our minds! We were chasing women and drinking - that’s the way I thought it was supposed to be! You know you take that out of it, it’s like ‘What are we doing here?’ I was taking vocal lessons there and they were telling me you can’t drink and sing. I’m like, I need a new vocal teacher!”
With A Harder Road, Deely gives long-time fans a chance to hear what the band they used to see around LBI would sound like if they put a record out today. The songs have the same vibe and energy found on the band’s original releases with one difference — the addition of saxophone on a pair of tracks. Screamin’ Steve Barlotta’s sax adds a touch of Jersey Shore flavor to “The Last Ride” and “Scars On The Outside” - an ingredient that they largely avoided back in the day.
“We tried to stay away from the saxophones,” explained Deely. “I was afraid that in South Jersey if we had a saxophone we’d get tied too much into Springsteen. Then when Clarence Clemons died, I started thinking maybe we should put sax on a couple of these songs as a tip of the hat to Clarence. Some of my favorite music of all time is the early Jukes and E Street Shuffle days - the South Jersey / R&B sound.”
It may have taken ten years to finish this record, but it won’t take nearly that long for the next one. Deely is already working on a more acoustic record for his next release. He likens it to Springsteen’s Tunnel of Love - something that isn’t exactly a rock record, but still contains drums and percussion. In addition, he’s got dozens of tracks from the Set The Night On Fire sessions that were recorded and transferred to digital. He figures he has about two other records waiting to go out after this one.
Jersey Shore music fans will love A Harder Road. It not only stands up to the band’s original releases, it surpasses them. This one was worth the wait.
Join us for McCarter at the Museum - renowned performing artists in one-night only events at the Princeton University Art Museum.
Jason Robert Brown is a four-time Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist of The Last Five Years, Parade, Songs for a New World, 13, The Bridges of Madison County, Honeymoon In Vegas and The Connector, has performed as a soloist or with his band in venues around the world, including sold-out shows at the London Palladium and Carnegie Hall. His albums as a singer-songwriter include Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes and How We React and How We Recover on Ghostlight, and Coming From Inside the House and Live In Concert with Stephen Sondheim on Concord.
With Special Guest Tony nominee Betsy Wolfe. Tony Award-nominated actress Betsy Wolfe is currently starring as Audrey in the acclaimed Off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors, following her recent Broadway run as Madeline Ashton in the hit musical Death Becomes Her. She previously originated the title role in Joy, the new musical inspired by inventor Joy Mangano, and earned a 2023 Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her celebrated performance as Anne Hathaway in & Juliet. Other Broadway credits include starring as Jenna in Waitress, Cordelia in the acclaimed revival of Falsettos, Bullets Over Broadway, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Everyday Rapture, and 110 in the Shade, as well as her critically acclaimed performance as Cathy in the Off-Broadway revival of The Last Five Years. Wolfe made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Die Fledermaus and has appeared as a guest artist with more than 65 symphony, pops, and philharmonic orchestras worldwide, including the New York Philharmonic and BBC Symphony Orchestra, with performances at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Her screen credits include First One In, Estella Scrooge, CBS’s Instinct, and the film adaptation of The Last Five Years. Wolfe is also the co-founder of BroadwayEvolved, the acclaimed musical theatre training program she launched in 2018 to train and mentor the next generation of theatre artists.
A limited number of early access tickets for McCarter Director’s Circle members and members of the Museum’s Partner Circle are available, on sale Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at 12:00 PM. General public on sale begins Friday, September 18, 2026 at 12:00 PM.
Please be aware there is no public drop-off or parking at the Museum. For visitors with mobility needs, please contact the Museum at least three business days in advance of your visit to request special access to the Museum via Elm Drive. Call 609-258-3788 and select option 1 to speak to a visitor services staff member, or email Louise Barrett at [email protected].
