Beyond the Covers: How Hickory is Rewriting the NJ Music Scene

In this week’s episode of Greetings From the Garden State, host Mike Ham is joined by the full lineup of Hickory, a rising New Jersey folk-rock band that’s quickly carving out a name for themselves across the state and beyond. What started as a few friends trading GarageBand tracks during downtime has grown into a six-piece powerhouse fueled by years of shared history, tight musicianship, and a deep love for original music.

The group dives into how Hickory came together after years of playing in different cover bands, how they balance creative drive with day jobs and families, and the challenges—and rewards—of pushing original music in a cover band-heavy market. With one album already under their belt and a second slated for September, Hickory isn’t just here to play shows—they’re building something bigger.

We cover:

• The band’s origin story and collaborative songwriting process
• Navigating the NJ music scene as an original act
• The shift from playing covers to building a library of original work
• Their growing catalog, including Postcard Picture Show and a new album on the way
• Upcoming gigs at Stanhope House, Cricket Hill Brewery, Hidden Track Records, and more

Stick around after the interview for a special performance. If you love honest songwriting, tight harmonies, and the kind of band that clearly loves playing together, Hickory is one to watch.

🎶 hickoryband.com
📱 Instagram: @hickory_music]

Thank you to the NJ Lottery for supporting the show!

Music: "Ride" by Jackson Pines

Transcript

Speaker A [0:00 - 0:00]: Foreign. 

Speaker B [0:19 - 0:41]: What's up everybody? Welcome back to another episode of Greetings for the Garden State, powered by the New Jersey Lottery. I'm Mike Ham. We are here in the spaghetti triangle. I don't know if you guys know what the spaghetti triangle is, but we're in one corner of it. But we'll talk about that once we introduce who you guys are. This is Radio Garden State hq. So we're doing another show from the house, the home studio. We're here with the band Hickory. Guys, welcome to the show. 

Speaker C [0:41 - 0:42]: How's it going? Thanks for having us. 

Speaker B [0:42 - 0:47]: Absolutely, absolutely. So we'll start with you. Rob. Do you know what the spaghetti triangle is? 

Speaker C [0:47 - 0:47]: I don't. 

Speaker B [0:47 - 1:09]: Alright. Spaghetti triangle is Bloomfield, Belleville, Nutley. When all the Italians left newark in the 60s, they all settled here. So this triangle has like the highest concentration of Italian people, you know, like in the country. I feel like it's like a super high. It's more so Nutley now, but kind of carrying the torch. But the spaghetti triangle Boomfield's coming back. 

Speaker D [1:09 - 1:10]: They're making a circle. 

Speaker B [1:10 - 1:19]: We're here. So anyway. All right, let's talk about the band. Let's, let's first. I think it'll be good because this is the most people we've ever actually had on a podcast episode. 

Speaker D [1:19 - 1:20]: Family. 

Speaker C [1:20 - 1:22]: Yeah, I don't think. I didn't think everybody was going to show up. 

Speaker B [1:22 - 1:23]: Yeah, the door just kept opening. 

Speaker C [1:23 - 1:25]: Probably did tell you like two people, three people. 

Speaker E [1:25 - 1:26]: Yeah. 

Speaker C [1:26 - 1:27]: Assuming I had it in my head. 

Speaker B [1:27 - 1:34]: That it was going to be four and then here we are with the seven of us now. All right, good. Yeah, yeah, we'll just, we'll add them in as we go. 

Speaker C [1:34 - 1:37]: I mean some of them aren't even in the band they just showed up to. 

Speaker E [1:37 - 1:38]: Yeah. 

Speaker C [1:38 - 1:39]: So but we'll let them stay. 

Speaker D [1:39 - 1:40]: Sure. 

Speaker B [1:41 - 1:58]: Yeah. Can't shake them. Just like a rotating lineup of people. So let's, we'll go around the room, we'll introduce everybody first and kind of what you do with the band, we can keep it pretty short and then we'll kind of get into maybe the history of the band and then how, what we're doing now and all the stuff that's coming up and, and everything like that. So we'll start with you, Rob. 

Speaker C [1:58 - 2:00]: Sure. Rob, singer, guitar. 

Speaker F [2:02 - 2:05]: Jason, keyboards, harmonies. 

Speaker D [2:06 - 2:09]: Dave, guitar. Pretty much anything. The strings in the band. 

Speaker G [2:09 - 2:12]: Matt, drums and background vocals. 

Speaker C [2:12 - 2:13]: Yeah. 

Speaker F [2:13 - 2:15]: Dan, mandolin, guitar. 

Speaker E [2:16 - 2:18]: Ted, bass. 

Speaker D [2:18 - 2:19]: Nailed it. 

Speaker B [2:19 - 2:33]: That was great. So can we talk? Let's do like a 30,000 foot view of like the types of music that Hickory PLAYS if people come out to a show, what are they supposed to expect? You know, let's. Let's give them an idea of what Hickory is all about. 

Speaker C [2:33 - 2:37]: Sure. Folk rock is probably the easiest way to go, but I mean, a little. 

Speaker D [2:37 - 2:45]: Bit of kind of stems all over the place from there, though. That's the easiest kind of demographic. We throw it in because sometimes there's a drop down. You got to pick what style of music you play. 

Speaker C [2:45 - 2:45]: Yeah. 

Speaker D [2:45 - 2:52]: But then we touch on the blues and kind of little rock heavier. It's kind of whatever we feel, really. 

Speaker C [2:52 - 2:54]: Some people throw us in country for a couple. 

Speaker D [2:54 - 2:57]: Yeah. We've been added to a bunch of country playlists, so it's kind of. Kind of all. 

Speaker C [2:57 - 2:58]: Which is kind of new for us. 

Speaker D [2:59 - 2:59]: Yeah. 

Speaker C [2:59 - 3:00]: For me, it's just good music. 

Speaker D [3:00 - 3:01]: How about that? 

Speaker B [3:01 - 3:02]: Yeah, you play good music. I like that. 

Speaker C [3:02 - 3:03]: Well, let's just say it's music. 

Speaker E [3:03 - 3:04]: Yeah. 

Speaker B [3:04 - 3:06]: Music General. General music. 

Speaker C [3:06 - 3:07]: Let's keep the expectations. 

Speaker B [3:07 - 3:26]: Yeah. If you like, the audiences can be anybody, you know. All right, so I'm curious, and just as you guys were kind of filtering down here and with more to come, I'm curious, like, how you all found each other and then were like, hey, let's start a band together. Was it just kind of like, what. What are the origins of Hickory? I think that would be a good way to. 

Speaker C [3:26 - 3:27]: Yeah. 

Speaker B [3:27 - 3:27]: Explain it. 

Speaker C [3:28 - 3:54]: So the band has been together for less than. This band has been together for less than a year. But we've all known each other way too long. Combination of. Some of these guys are related, so really long. And some of us have been. We've all been in groups together, like different cover bands. Some original bands. Back in the day, Dave and I played in original bands. All these guys played in original bands at some point. But this project, I would say less than a year. 

Speaker D [3:54 - 4:09]: Yeah. We were all in cover bands together in some weird way and would all play together as one giant comfort band, like the Allman Brothers. And then, I think, was it like a little over a year ago, we decided to start writing some songs again and taking a stab at it. 

Speaker B [4:09 - 4:17]: Yeah. And how did you did, like, filter out, like, oh, we're playing all these different cover bands. We don't want this guy, but we want this guy, so. 

Speaker C [4:18 - 4:22]: Well, that was Jay, but he's here anyway. He's still here. 

Speaker B [4:22 - 4:22]: Yeah. 

Speaker D [4:22 - 4:25]: So important conversation to have right now. 

Speaker C [4:25 - 4:27]: This is great. Because he doesn't have a microphone in. 

Speaker B [4:27 - 4:28]: His hand, so we can't even respond. 

Speaker G [4:29 - 4:30]: Jay, earmuffs. 

Speaker F [4:30 - 4:31]: Hi. 

Speaker D [4:32 - 4:41]: And that's why. Yeah, no, it Started, I guess, really, we're just starting to stay sending some vocal tracks, like voice tracks back to each and forth to each other with some song ideas. 

Speaker C [4:41 - 4:42]: Good old garage band. 

Speaker D [4:42 - 4:43]: Garage band. 

Speaker B [4:43 - 4:44]: We love garage band around going back. 

Speaker D [4:44 - 4:47]: And forth and just kind of stemmed from there. 

Speaker C [4:47 - 4:52]: I was like, oh, I think the other thing. The other thing, too is, like, we still play in those other bands. So it's not like we ditched everybody. 

Speaker B [4:52 - 4:52]: Sure. 

Speaker C [4:52 - 4:52]: You know. 

Speaker E [4:52 - 4:53]: Yeah. 

Speaker C [4:53 - 5:06]: And it's. I think Ted and I spoke about this. I think we're on the way to the. The cabin. Ted and I got to drive together on that one. And it was nice. But he was saying, like, if this was 20 years ago, you played in another band, the other band would get, like, super jealous. 

Speaker B [5:06 - 5:06]: I think. 

Speaker C [5:06 - 5:09]: I think at this point, like, it's all. It's all good. 

Speaker D [5:09 - 5:11]: Well, it helps that we're all also all in bands together. 

Speaker F [5:11 - 5:12]: Yeah. 

Speaker B [5:12 - 5:13]: So, yeah. 

Speaker G [5:13 - 5:15]: Some of the members of the other bands really weren't. 

Speaker C [5:15 - 5:18]: You should give them the microphone, Dave. There we go. 

Speaker G [5:18 - 5:33]: Really weren't interested in being in original projects. They kind of, like, what we do is in the COVID band. So that's kind of their thing. So it was kind of easy that some people probably weren't going to be on board for doing it anyway. So, you know. And like we said, we're all still in most of the bands that we're talking. 

Speaker F [5:33 - 5:37]: Yeah. We didn't have to have an awkward moment with anybody, you know, like, just. 

Speaker B [5:37 - 5:38]: Sorry. 

Speaker F [5:38 - 5:39]: Except for me, because I stayed. 

Speaker B [5:39 - 5:40]: Yeah. 

Speaker E [5:40 - 5:41]: Yeah. 

Speaker D [5:41 - 5:48]: We. We actually keep having that awkward moment with him. Doesn't seem to register with him. 

Speaker B [5:48 - 5:51]: And you told him my address, which is the worst part about the whole thing. 

Speaker C [5:51 - 5:53]: We actually said 102, but he showed up. 

Speaker B [5:54 - 5:57]: I was there since 9am I was wondering who that was. 

Speaker D [5:57 - 6:01]: I tell him the wrong address once as a joke, and then he got so mad, he just didn't show up. 

Speaker F [6:03 - 6:06]: All right. This gives more confusion. 

Speaker D [6:07 - 6:09]: We don't do that anymore. 

Speaker B [6:09 - 6:41]: So I'm curious because, like, so I've known. I'm not a musician. I don't play any instruments. But I have a radio station now. And we put on concerts and different things, too, through what we do. So, like, dealing with a lot of local artists and bands, but also now we're dealing with more like breweries and bars and venues that play. They, you know, have bands out. It seems as though. And you guys could probably speak better to this, that jersey is like, way more on the COVID band side. Like, it's just easier to get booked as A cover band than it is. 

Speaker D [6:41 - 6:43]: As an original band says the same thing. 

Speaker F [6:44 - 6:46]: It was 25 years ago was better. 

Speaker E [6:46 - 6:46]: Yeah. 

Speaker B [6:46 - 6:56]: But now it's, now it's different, you know, And I just think it's like for us it's a thing where we're, you know, that's what we're trying to do is kind of bring a little bit more attention back to trying to. 

Speaker D [6:56 - 6:58]: Find the places to play that want original music. 

Speaker B [6:58 - 6:58]: Music. 

Speaker E [6:58 - 6:59]: Yeah. 

Speaker F [6:59 - 7:07]: I think the breweries, the, the advent of the breweries in the area, I think that's helping because we're getting, we're having more luck with that, right? 

Speaker C [7:07 - 7:09]: Yeah, it's cool. 

Speaker E [7:09 - 7:09]: Yeah. 

Speaker B [7:09 - 7:31]: It's even, I mean like there's a couple places, you know, around that like I have presented like, hey, I know all these bands because now I know a lot. Right. Like I would love to put on a show, like a Radio Garden stage show here. And he's like, wow, my regulars aren't going to go for original music. And I'm like, I don't understand why not? You know, I've seen some of your cover bands and I don't think they're that great. 

Speaker C [7:31 - 7:45]: You know, I hope there's, I hope there's some kind of underground interest or like the pendulum swing swings back or something. Because there are people in this state that do like original music. But to everybody's point, places are few and far between. 

Speaker E [7:45 - 7:46]: Yeah, yeah. 

Speaker C [7:46 - 7:49]: I mean we all make more money playing cover songs, but that's why we. 

Speaker D [7:49 - 7:54]: Started doing cover songs. Cuz there was money in it. Doing this cost us more. 

Speaker C [7:54 - 7:55]: Yes. 

Speaker B [7:55 - 7:56]: For the love of the game. 

Speaker A [7:56 - 7:56]: Yeah. 

Speaker C [7:56 - 7:58]: We're in the hall. We're in the hall big time. 

Speaker B [7:58 - 7:58]: Yeah. 

Speaker D [7:58 - 7:59]: By the way. 

Speaker B [8:00 - 8:03]: Yeah, yeah. The checks are upstairs when you guys. 

Speaker C [8:03 - 8:08]: Walk out and these guys are wondering why I'm booking shows in different states, different countries. 

Speaker D [8:08 - 8:12]: I mean, we're playing in different states just because they're accepting. 

Speaker C [8:12 - 8:13]: Yeah. 

Speaker D [8:13 - 8:15]: Original music. I mean, that's why we're going to Maryland. 

Speaker C [8:15 - 8:23]: I think sometimes when I book shows, I, I'm a little cryptic about what, what kind of music kind of music. If we play originals or covers, I'll kind of, I'll feel out the booking. 

Speaker D [8:24 - 8:28]: And be honest, a lot of the COVID songs in our cover band we play, most people don't know anyway, they think that's true. 

Speaker C [8:28 - 8:29]: Yeah, that's true. 

Speaker D [8:29 - 8:33]: You know, I was always like, if I'm going to be in a cover band, I'm only going to play the songs I like. I don't really care. 

Speaker E [8:34 - 8:35]: Yeah, yeah. 

Speaker D [8:35 - 8:36]: It's got to be fun. 

Speaker B [8:36 - 8:57]: So. All right. So you said the band's been together for this. You know, Hickory has been together for about a year. And so when you first kind of like, conceptualized, like, what the idea of the band was going to be, was it just kind of like you said, just sending voice notes back and forth? Was there, like, an idea, like, you know, I'd really love to, you know, do something like this? 

Speaker C [8:57 - 9:12]: I think we've all probably been in, like, harder rock bands, whether it's like, metal or grunge or all sorts of, like, harder blues rock. And we. Maybe there's a little bit of that in this, but this is probably a little bit more Americana, folky. More folky. 

Speaker B [9:12 - 9:12]: Which. 

Speaker C [9:13 - 10:12]: It. It's fun for me because it's a. It's a little different. It's stuff I've. Or we've. I've shifted listening to the last 15, 20 years. Like, the usual, like, you know, Mumford Avet, Lumineers camp. Then like, a little from, like, little Chris Stapleton, some of that stuff. Marcus King, even, like, bands that I'm into now, like Wild Feathers, My Morning Jacket. I think I like My Morning Jacket because they're a little eclectic. They're not just folk, they're a little airy. They can play more rock. Sometimes, like, when Matt will send me something like, he. It's. You tend to go a little heavier. And I can hear it in, like. I'll hear, like, a band that I know and I'll be like, I could see. Or Black Keys, for example. So I could see, like, an idea that might be like, harder rock that may or may not totally fit. But if we kind of went in a direction of somebody that's in the middle, I think that kind of. Because I don't think we want to just be straight up one genre, one thing. It's just boring. 

Speaker B [10:12 - 10:13]: Yeah. 

Speaker D [10:13 - 10:15]: Keeps it interesting, too. To listeners. 

Speaker B [10:15 - 10:35]: Yeah, exactly. So can we also talk about. Too, like, so you start booking shows. Has there been, like, a moment over this course of this year where you're like, oh, you know what? Like, this is actually something that could, like, has some legs and we really enjoyed doing. Was there, like, ever, like, a moment? I mean, I'm sure working. Yeah, I get that from you. Yeah. 

Speaker D [10:38 - 10:40]: You can actually send them upstairs. 

Speaker B [10:40 - 11:00]: Yeah. I think my fiance, my dog are upstairs now, so that's not gonna happen. But has there been moments where, like, you know, you're playing a brewery, you're playing a. Wherever, like. Or even a space that you were like, oh, man, this is so cool to do, like, our stuff in this place and kind of be in front of people that want to hear our music. 

Speaker D [11:00 - 11:02]: You know, the reception's been pretty positive. 

Speaker E [11:02 - 11:03]: Yeah. 

Speaker D [11:03 - 11:19]: So far. I mean, even just putting stuff out on Spotify, making the vinyl, it's. It's gone pretty well better than I expected. Especially when we first put it out for the reception. We were getting the playlists we're getting add to and the amount of streams we've been having. You know, we're almost up to $100 in royalties. 

Speaker B [11:20 - 11:23]: That's honestly pretty good if you really dig down on it. 

Speaker D [11:23 - 11:24]: Forty something. Thousand streams. 

Speaker E [11:24 - 11:25]: Yeah. 

Speaker D [11:25 - 11:31]: So, you know, for us, and it's been. You know, the album count less than a year ago, so it's. That's been pretty positive. 

Speaker E [11:31 - 11:32]: Yeah. 

Speaker D [11:32 - 11:32]: So. 

Speaker B [11:32 - 11:33]: So that's great. 

Speaker C [11:34 - 11:36]: What do you think, Dan? You're so quiet back there. 

Speaker E [11:36 - 11:36]: Yep. 

Speaker D [11:36 - 11:39]: See, he agrees. 

Speaker B [11:39 - 11:44]: You guys do have a microphone in case you want it. Yeah. No one's touching it. 

Speaker D [11:44 - 11:46]: They're afraid of my brothers, in case you can't tell. 

Speaker B [11:46 - 11:50]: Oh, they are brothers, all right. That's where the awkwardness comes from. Sure. 

Speaker D [11:51 - 11:52]: Same awkward personality. 

Speaker E [11:52 - 11:53]: Yeah. 

Speaker B [11:53 - 11:59]: So. And then we're talking about, like, there's new stuff that just came out. Right. Is there more new stuff coming out this year? 

Speaker A [11:59 - 12:00]: Yeah. 

Speaker C [12:00 - 12:02]: So this is probably my fault. 

Speaker F [12:03 - 12:03]: Yes. 

Speaker C [12:03 - 12:17]: Yeah. So, yeah, we had a. Our first album December. December 20th, I think. December, this past December, postcard picture show. We and Dave got it done on vinyl, too, which is pretty cool. Did you bring a copy, by the way? Son of a bitch. 

Speaker B [12:17 - 12:19]: That's all right. Well, I need one. 

Speaker D [12:19 - 12:20]: I'm gonna get you one. 

Speaker B [12:20 - 12:23]: And then we all need to. You all need to sign it so that we can put it on the. On the wall. 

Speaker C [12:24 - 12:34]: And we have a second album Release date for September 19, 19. And you could tell by their expressions that it might. It might feel ambitious, but it'll. It'll be done, so. 

Speaker D [12:34 - 12:37]: So you know, what's good about, though? But to his point, there's been no writer's block. 

Speaker B [12:37 - 12:38]: Sure. 

Speaker D [12:38 - 12:41]: Like. And as we just keep coming up with these songs, we just keep recording. 

Speaker C [12:41 - 12:42]: So why keep them? 

Speaker F [12:42 - 12:45]: There's songs that are on either album, right? 

Speaker D [12:45 - 12:46]: Yeah, that we. Yes. 

Speaker G [12:47 - 12:48]: There's a big catalog of. 

Speaker D [12:49 - 12:52]: We have enough for a second and positive work. 

Speaker E [12:52 - 12:52]: Yeah. 

Speaker B [12:53 - 12:53]: Does that. 

Speaker C [12:54 - 13:08]: I was gonna say, I think maybe one of the good byproducts of us just being old and in this for a long time is, you know, for 15, 20 years of playing other people's music, it Feels like there's just pent up built up. 

Speaker D [13:08 - 13:09]: Yeah. 

Speaker C [13:09 - 13:14]: Ideas that we all have that if we didn't have day jobs, I think we'd be writing even more. 

Speaker B [13:14 - 13:17]: Yeah, the day job's the killer. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Speaker C [13:17 - 13:26]: But even. Even with that, we're either getting together or sending ideas using, you know, garageband logic, all that stuff, or just voice. 

Speaker D [13:26 - 13:27]: That's the other thing that's like, transform the whole thing. 

Speaker E [13:27 - 13:28]: We can. 

Speaker D [13:28 - 13:32]: He could send me a song and then we can all send back our parts. 

Speaker E [13:32 - 13:32]: Yeah. 

Speaker D [13:33 - 13:38]: And it's not like we're trying to wait till we get together to, you know, kind of put it and start to form the song, but we do. 

Speaker F [13:38 - 13:39]: That every once in a while. 

Speaker D [13:39 - 13:42]: We do that as well. But, you know, time becomes less. 

Speaker B [13:42 - 13:43]: Yeah. 

Speaker D [13:43 - 13:46]: You get older. So it's. It's good that, you know, when everyone has time to do things. 

Speaker C [13:46 - 14:23]: Like, a couple weeks ago, we got together and laid down pieces of, like, six or seven tracks, including, like, live drums and bass and both guitars and some mandolin. So, you know, we had keyboards, key. Oh, yeah. Sorry, Jay. Well, for the most, we got a couple. We got a couple songs on the keyboard, but. And then you came back. We got some more. But I mean, there's already, you know, 12 songs on the first album. There's 12 or 13 that are already ready to go, plus three that never made the first album. So, you know, again, I. People ask, like, you know, what kind of music or how are the songs? I'm like, well, they're songs, you know. 

Speaker E [14:23 - 14:23]: Yeah. 

Speaker C [14:23 - 14:37]: They have a beginning, a middle, and the end, and we like them and. But no, so we have plenty of material. I think that. But I think when I. When I throw a date out there, even the December one from this past December, I think some people were like, I don't know if we're gonna get that done, but we got it done. 

Speaker D [14:37 - 14:39]: Yeah, it's ambitious. We got it done. 

Speaker B [14:39 - 15:19]: Yeah. Well, I think it's. It just seems like it's something where it. It's like finally being able to scratch the creative itch, so to speak, you know, because you could do, like, covers your whole and make those your own as much as you possibly can, but it's still somebody else's stuff. So to be able to actually, like, put your own stuff together and be able to. For each of you, all six of you, to put your own stamp on it in a different way. And even, you know, like you said, doing stuff in different parts of the state, you know, like, oh, I'm gonna do my Drums now, you know, like. And lay those down, send them in. And then be able to be like, you know, this is what I think. And then it kind of helps dictate what the rest of it does. I think that's a pretty cool way to think about it and, you know, achieve that goal. 

Speaker D [15:19 - 15:27]: And we all know each other's kind of style since we've all been playing together in some way, shape or form for so long that it's easy to kind of vibe and get each other's ideas. 

Speaker E [15:27 - 15:28]: Yeah. 

Speaker D [15:28 - 15:31]: No one's stepping on each other's toes, just kind of. Yeah. 

Speaker C [15:31 - 16:00]: I think, like, really one of the things that I, like, totally love when we're rehearsing, whatever, which is so. Shows my age is. Is instead of like, oh, that was, you know, great solo. Or that was like, you know, that was so loud. Or that was standing up. Now I just get enjoyment when it's like so balanced and it's so nerdy. But I. With six guys, I do like that. But I think the other thing too about just keep cranking out new songs is like, I think we all would also just get tired of our first bunch of songs if we didn't just keep doing more. 

Speaker F [16:00 - 16:00]: So. 

Speaker E [16:00 - 16:02]: Yeah. Yeah. 

Speaker B [16:02 - 16:12]: I asked this to a lot of. I mean, granted, I mean, this is with no disrespect. A lot of the artists that we've had come through here to the Spaghetti Triangle have been a lot younger than you guys. 

Speaker C [16:12 - 16:13]: I believe that. 

Speaker B [16:14 - 16:22]: But. But 23. I was going 24, but, you know, whatever. 

Speaker C [16:22 - 16:23]: We're vintage. 

Speaker B [16:23 - 16:56]: Yeah, but I'm obviously like, you guys have been playing in bands for a long time. I've seen like, a lot of interesting stuff. Like, I'm always interested to kind of see like, how, like, what the scene is like at that particular time. So, like now Hickory's part of this, the New Jersey original, you know, artist scene for a year. How's that been, you know, like, well received from other bands? Kind of. Has there been any kind of connection with other bands around? Is it more just. You guys are kind of just doing your own thing and, you know, all that is. How does that. 

Speaker D [16:56 - 17:00]: You know, I think for the most part so far, all our shows and gigs we've been playing have been more just us. 

Speaker B [17:00 - 17:01]: Okay. 

Speaker D [17:01 - 17:03]: Right. So we've had three hour gigs. 

Speaker F [17:03 - 17:03]: Sure. 

Speaker D [17:03 - 17:08]: We're not playing with other bands. We're not sharing a set for 45 minutes and then getting off the stage. I mean, that. We do have that coming up. 

Speaker E [17:08 - 17:09]: Yeah, yeah. 

Speaker D [17:09 - 17:15]: But so we haven't been Paired up with a ton of that as just yet minus people that we know in bands that have come to see us. 

Speaker E [17:15 - 17:15]: Yeah. 

Speaker B [17:16 - 17:17]: You know, which is pretty positive. 

Speaker C [17:18 - 17:21]: I was gonna say open to it. I know, Dan, you've spoken about that, too, like, trying to get. 

Speaker G [17:23 - 17:44]: I. I was something. I also think, too, like, everyone having day jobs and families makes it hard to be part of the scene fully. You know, it's easier when you're younger to go out and spend the weekends, every live gig you can go to. But it's not as easy to do if we're not playing, you know, when you got kids and, you know, a job and all that. But we try. We try to get out there as much as we can. 

Speaker C [17:44 - 17:45]: Yeah, we're open to it. 

Speaker E [17:45 - 17:46]: Yeah. 

Speaker B [17:47 - 17:52]: I already put an idea in my head, so. But we'll talk about that later. Cool. 

Speaker C [17:52 - 17:53]: We're in. 

Speaker B [17:53 - 17:54]: All right. Cool. 

Speaker D [17:54 - 17:55]: We got it. Sign us up. 

Speaker B [17:56 - 18:03]: Yeah, but that's kind of like the. The goal, right? It's just like, book more stuff, play with more bands, be out in. In. 

Speaker D [18:03 - 18:04]: Just get it out there. 

Speaker B [18:04 - 18:05]: Get it out there. 

Speaker D [18:05 - 18:07]: Just kind of putting it out there to make sure people could hear it. 

Speaker E [18:07 - 18:08]: Yeah. 

Speaker B [18:08 - 18:20]: Where are some places that you guys have played that people have in the state that people have. Have heard of? And then what are some. Maybe that are coming up down the road after this episode releases in a couple weeks that, you know, they can come check out? 

Speaker C [18:20 - 18:24]: So, working backwards, we really want to promote Stan Hope House. Saturday, May 10th. 

Speaker B [18:24 - 18:34]: You know, it's weird. Like, I'm a North Jersey guy my whole life. Sorry to cut you off. I only recently discovered the Stanhope house, which is weird for me, but it just, like, it goes all. 

Speaker D [18:34 - 18:36]: All across the board with the type of music. 

Speaker E [18:36 - 18:37]: Yeah. 

Speaker B [18:37 - 19:07]: One of our Friday show hosts on. On radio, Garden State Mick, he owns Shotzi's tattoo in Pompton Plains. They're moving to 10 of fly in a couple weeks. But he hosts a show on Fridays called Iron panther radio. So there's his little plug. But he's gonna broadcast a show from the stanhope House on April 12th. I think it's Revel at dusk is playing there. So we're gonna, you know, do something with the station for that. So, you know, I was like, I just really learned about Stanhope house. 

Speaker D [19:08 - 19:08]: Yeah. 

Speaker B [19:08 - 19:15]: And I was like, this place is amazing. Babe Ruth was there. They have so many, like, crazy, like, historical things there. 

Speaker D [19:15 - 19:16]: And Slick Rick play there. 

Speaker B [19:16 - 19:17]: That's. Yeah. 

Speaker D [19:17 - 19:18]: You know, like, it goes all across. 

Speaker E [19:18 - 19:18]: Yeah. 

Speaker B [19:19 - 19:19]: That's amazing. 

Speaker C [19:19 - 19:47]: Well, I was going to. I was going to. I'm going to put you on the spot. But I was going to say anytime you and Radio Garden State want to show up or plan to show up at one of our shows and cross promote, like, we're all about that. Whether it's a brewery or Stanhope, one of the breweries that we play a lot like our, I guess home away from home is Cricket Hill Brewery in Fairfield. We've all played there in various bands and we know them well. So that's like. That's why we'll have our release party there in September. So. So that'd be cool. Any of those shows, if you guys want to come out and. 

Speaker B [19:47 - 19:56]: Yeah, I mean, as long as we have someone that can, like, has the equipment to handle it, and there's only a couple of us that can, we're. We'll do it. Yeah, I think that'd be dope. 

Speaker C [19:56 - 20:37]: Wirebacher, this Saturday, that's in Pa. Easton. We're doing a pretty cool spot at Hidden Track Records in Boonton, their record store. They. They want to sell a couple copies of our records. So we'll do like a short showcase there, I guess, in May. Friday, May 2nd, I believe Zigmeister. In May, we're playing a festival up in Connecticut in July, Mystic River Jams. So that'll be cool. And then a cool brewery in Maryland, Berlin, Maryland, near Ocean City, called Burley Oak, which is. Had some pretty big names too, in the past, and a few other like, porch fests and town shows and stuff like that. 

Speaker E [20:37 - 20:38]: Yeah. 

Speaker B [20:38 - 20:51]: Is there a place and, you know, maybe it's something we can kind of manifest here, but like, places that you guys have either been to you, like, it would be so cool to play here with Hickory, like one like on the bucket list kind of thing. 

Speaker C [20:51 - 20:52]: Yeah, I can think of. 

Speaker D [20:52 - 20:54]: Stanhope House was one of them. 

Speaker B [20:54 - 20:55]: All right. That's. That's a great one. 

Speaker D [20:55 - 20:57]: That was one I've always wanted to hit. 

Speaker C [20:58 - 21:04]: I mean, there's. There's places that I know some of us have already played. I mean, they're all. I know that especially with the. 

Speaker D [21:04 - 21:06]: Crossroads is always a good place to play. 

Speaker B [21:06 - 21:07]: Yeah, Crossroads is cool. 

Speaker C [21:07 - 21:20]: The Jersey cover thing makes it tough for Jersey original bands to play without the whole thing of, like, selling tickets. But yeah, I'd love to. We've. We've played at. Some of us played at Stone Pony, but now to play there, it's, you know, the whole almost pay to play. 

Speaker D [21:20 - 21:23]: Yeah, that's kind of the same thing when we used to play in the city all the time. 

Speaker C [21:23 - 21:23]: Yeah, yeah. 

Speaker D [21:23 - 21:28]: You know, and generally you go into the city, you're playing at 1 in the morning, you're just playing to the other bands and their friends. 

Speaker C [21:29 - 21:35]: Yeah, the Delancey. June 7th. Write that down. I don't know. Do you guys have any Bucket List? 

Speaker D [21:37 - 21:39]: Albert hall down. That one's supposedly down south. 

Speaker B [21:39 - 21:40]: O. Albert Hall? Yeah. 

Speaker C [21:40 - 21:42]: You meant like the Royal. No, it's like. 

Speaker D [21:42 - 21:43]: Sure. 

Speaker B [21:43 - 22:41]: It's a Waretown. Yeah, that's like super, like historic, legendary. I did not realize. So the theme song of this show is from Jackson Pines, who's a folk band out of the Pine Barrens. And they're great. That's part of my idea. But anyway, so they play at Albert hall all the time. But when we recorded with them, their upright bass player lives in like, literally a bog house in the Pine Barrens. And he's a like, literally, he's like a welder at his grandfather's welding shop. Yeah, he's. They're so great. And they, you know, we seen them in Asbury Park. They played our first Jersey Fest show last year. They're just like, good dudes. But they were talking about, like, the history of just folk music in Jersey, which is significant. And Albert hall has like, a huge, you know, like, long history of folk music that no one even realizes. But they do some really cool stuff that we've been trying to get down there, but it's just. It's so far. You know, it's like a two hour ride from here. 

Speaker D [22:41 - 22:41]: Yeah. 

Speaker B [22:41 - 22:43]: I'm like, I'll get down there when I can. 

Speaker D [22:43 - 22:43]: It's not close. 

Speaker B [22:43 - 22:44]: No, definitely not. 

Speaker C [22:44 - 22:46]: I did put in for the Newport Folk Festival. 

Speaker D [22:47 - 22:47]: Okay. 

Speaker C [22:48 - 22:52]: And I did hear back, but we did not get it. Maybe not. They said maybe. 

Speaker B [22:52 - 22:54]: So don't go to the Newport Folk Festival. 

Speaker D [22:54 - 22:56]: F those guys to 26. 

Speaker C [22:56 - 22:58]: Maybe 26. 

Speaker B [22:59 - 23:04]: All right, let me just check the time. Perfect. Do you guys want to play some tunes? 

Speaker D [23:04 - 23:05]: Yeah, let's play some music. 

Speaker B [23:05 - 23:20]: All right, so we're going to kind of. We'll cut this off. We'll reconfigure empties, we'll unload empties and. And then we'll, you know, come back. So this is the green. Oh, yeah. Let's hit them with the links and stuff for people to go check out. Hickory. 

Speaker C [23:20 - 23:20]: Got. 

Speaker D [23:20 - 23:32]: Yeah. So we got the. Our website w. Www.hickoryband.com. we got the Instagram, which is Hickory Underscore music because, like, the wood. Turns out it's a famous name. 

Speaker B [23:32 - 23:32]: Sure. 

Speaker C [23:33 - 23:34]: Facebook. 

Speaker D [23:35 - 23:38]: Facebook. But everywhere, the Instagram will link you to all our other accounts. 

Speaker C [23:38 - 23:39]: And the website has a link to. 

Speaker D [23:39 - 23:46]: The store website has the link of all our shows. It has. You can buy the album on the website. You can get some merch on the website, things like that. 

Speaker B [23:47 - 23:47]: Awesome. 

Speaker D [23:47 - 23:48]: Which we also bring to all their shows. 

Speaker F [23:48 - 23:49]: The only fans. 

Speaker D [23:50 - 23:52]: Jay has an only feed account. 

Speaker B [23:52 - 23:53]: It's free. 

Speaker D [23:53 - 23:58]: It's free. Actually, people are paying him to stop send you money. 

Speaker B [23:58 - 24:01]: Yeah, yeah. Awesome. 

Speaker D [24:01 - 24:03]: Yeah. I mean all. All the normal ways to get in touch. 

Speaker B [24:04 - 24:07]: Cool. All right, well, thanks guys for this episode. 

Speaker C [24:07 - 24:08]: Thanks for having us. 

Speaker B [24:08 - 24:15]: This has been the Green Garden say podcast powered by the New Jersey Lottery. I'm Mike Ham. We were here with Hickory. Thanks for listening. We'll catch you next week. 

Speaker F [24:15 - 24:31]: Do you wanna lie? Do all my baby do you wanna ride? Oh, tell me before you go all the way do you wanna.