LeANN MUELLER
STRAIGHT NO CHASER
What if the Beach Boys had grown up in New Jersey, a few decades later than they actually did?
The a cappella group Straight No Chaser provides an answer for that question in their “Jersey Girl,” a rewrite of the lusciously harmonized 1963 Beach Boys hit that nods to Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi and the “Jersey Shore” reality TV show, and asks the question: “So much beach and interstate/Why’s it called the Garden State?”
Check out a 2010 performance of it, below, filmed at Harrah’s in Atlantic City.
The group, which formed at Indiana University in Bloomington in the 1990s, has performed often in New Jersey — particularly in Atlantic City — over the years. For information about their current activities, visit sncmusic.com.
New Jersey celebrated its 350th birthday in 2014. And in the 350 Jersey Songs series, we marked the occasion by posting 350 songs — one a day, from September 2014 to September 2015 — that have something to do with the state, its musical history, or both. To see the entire list, click here.
CONTRIBUTE TO NJARTS.NET
Since launching in September 2014, NJArts.net, a 501(c)(3) organization, has become one of the most important media outlets for the Garden State arts scene. And it has always offered its content without a subscription fee, or a paywall. Its continued existence depends on support from members of that scene, and the state’s arts lovers. Please consider making a contribution of any amount to NJArts.net via PayPal, or by sending a check made out to NJArts.net to 11 Skytop Terrace, Montclair, NJ 07043.
