In the words of New Jersey-based Americana songwriter Eric Harrison, "You can neither take the New Jersey out of me nor take me out of New Jersey. I'm a proud lifer."
Fresh on the heels of last year’s critically acclaimed album “No Defenses” and the spirited musical defense of a fellow Garden State songwriter charged with DUI, Harrison and producer Kevin Salem began recording new material last fall with the goal of releasing another album in early 2025. Along the way it occurred to the singer that a couple of the new tracks stood out as “very New Jersey – literal, unapologetic, generally not giving a f#%^ what you think of them. These songs deserved their own home alongside some prior tracks with a similar attitude.”
Thus was born “(That’s What I) Ode to the Dirty Jerz,” a six- song EP featuring the new singles Sal’s Place and Diner, followed by four tracks from prior albums.
Harrison brags. “Nobody has ever released a bunch of songs about growing up in New Jersey ... right?!”
Historical cluelessness notwithstanding, the songs on this EP are undebatably Jersey-coded. Diners, bars and cars abound. The waitress in Breakfast has “frosted hair that never ends” ... The morning commuter in Friendly Town travels the Garden State Parkway steeped in “razor burn and gasoline/Howard Stern and nicotine.”
Sal’s Place celebrates a home for wayward New Jersey rock and rollers where everybody knows your name – “If you got a cowbell or a mandolin/Step inside, we’re gonna let you in.”
88 Jeep captures an eternal summer drive with “the wind in my hair and the heat on my feet/Now we got the top down/ Now we’re feeling complete.”
1986, a nostalgic tune about “growing up Jersey” in the 80s, celebrates a less impressive but biographically vital vehicle: In 1986 I knew more than I thought / I drove a grey Dodge Colt with a Kenwood deck My poetry was overwrought. . . . Looking for a hook or a ploy / I was an upper-middle-class white boy / Chasing credibility / In a game yet unexplained to me / Knowing that one day I’m gonna miss these days
The EP begins and ends within the proud confines of that endangered species long considered indigenous to the Garden State: a 24-hour diner.
“Step to me at 3 AM, slap a menu on my table,” the lovelorn singer beckons to his waitress in Diner, where, he concludes five tracks later in Breakfast, “we’re squared away now – nothing left to say/Though I forgive with all the love I save.”
She must have burned the toast!
“(That’s What I) Ode to the Dirty Jerz” was released in November 2024. You can check out the album on SoundCloud, Bandcamp or at Harrison’s website.
