The cover of From Good Homes’ 1994 album, “Open Up the Sky.”
Based in Northwestern New Jersey, From Good Homes was a standout New Jersey roots-rock band of the ’90s. They did a lot of touring and made it to a major label, RCA, but never quite broke through nationally, and broke up in 1999. Still, they’ve retained a strong bond with their fans, and have done a lot of reunion shows over the years, usually in New Jersey, and usually around this time of the year. This year’s show takes place Friday at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, and they’ll play their 1994 RCA debut, Open Up the Sky, in its entirety, in honor of its 20th anniversary. Listen to one of the album’s best tracks, “Wide Open Wide,” below.
All five members have remained active in music: Frontman Todd Sheaffer now leads the band Railroad Earth; bassist Brady Rymer is a Grammy-nominated children’s musician; drummer Patrick Fitzsimmons records and tours as a solo artist; saxophonist Dan Myers does session work and runs a production company; and multi-instrumentalist Jamie Coan plays with the Red Top Ramblers.
New Jersey celebrated its 350th birthday from Sept. 2014 to Sept. 2015. And in the 350 Jersey Songs series, we marked the occasion by posting 350 songs — one a day, for almost a year — that have something to do with the state, its musical history, or both. The complete list is here.
