People ask me all the time where these songs come from. The answer is simple: they come from the Jersey Shore and Pine Barrens. They also come from sand roads through the pines, diner counters at six in the morning, marinas where the boats rock against the docks, and small South Jersey towns where everybody still waves. This is country from the Jersey Shore, and these are the places behind it.
Here’s a back-roads tour of the South Jersey spots that show up in my songs, or that inspired them. So grab a coffee, roll the windows down, and come along.
Why the Jersey Shore and Pine Barrens Belong in Country Music
When most folks hear “New Jersey,” they picture turnpike traffic and city skylines. However, they don’t picture more than a million acres of pine forest, cedar-water rivers, cranberry bogs and sandy two-track roads. That’s the New Jersey Pine Barrens, protected as the Pinelands National Reserve, and it’s one of the most country places on the East Coast.
Then head east and you hit the Jersey Shore: bays, back channels, fishing boats, boardwalks and lighthouses. Put the two together and you’ve got working people, open roads, long nights and good stories. In other words, that’s everything a country song needs. South Jersey may not be the South folks picture, but it has its own kind of country heart.
Pine Barrens Back Roads and Small Towns
Batsto Village and Wharton State Forest
If the Pine Barrens has a heart, it might be Batsto Village. This historic village sits inside Wharton State Forest, the largest single tract of land in New Jersey’s state park system. In fact, Batsto got its start in the 1700s as a bog-iron town that helped supply the Revolutionary War, and later it made glass. Today you can walk past the old mansion, the general store and the sawmill, and feel how quiet the pines get at the end of the day.
Batsto is named right in “Swingin’ The Pines Tonight,” a two-step about a dance night out in the pines. If you’ve ever driven out there with the sun going down behind the trees, you know why it made it into a song.
Green Bank and the Mullica River
Green Bank is a tiny river town on the Mullica River, with tea-colored cedar water sliding by and boats tied up along the bank. It’s the kind of place you could drive through in a minute, but you’ll remember it for a long time. The Mullica winds from the deep pines all the way down to Great Bay and the ocean, linking the Pine Barrens to the Jersey Shore. Similarly, a lot of my songs live in that same space between the woods and the water.
Chatsworth, Cranberry Bogs and the “Capital of the Pines”
Chatsworth is often called the capital of the Pines. Out there, cranberry bogs turn deep red in the fall, sand roads run off in every direction, and the old Pine Barrens stories (yes, including the Jersey Devil) still get told. In fact, New Jersey is one of the top cranberry-growing states in the country, and most of that harvest comes out of these pines. Songs like “Welcome to the Jersey Pines” and “Signal Through the Pines” come straight out of that feeling.
The Back Roads: Route 9, Route 539 and the Roads in Between
You don’t really know South Jersey until you’ve skipped the Parkway and taken the long way. Route 9 rolls through old shore towns from one end of the coast to the other. Route 539 cuts straight through the pines, and you can go miles without seeing much more than trees, sand and sky. These back roads are where “Still Rollin’ Home” and “Dust-Road Highway” were born: windows down, radio on, headed home.
Jersey Diners and Hometown Taverns
The Jersey Diner
New Jersey is known as the diner capital of the world, and South Jersey takes that seriously. There’s nothing more country than a counter stool, a bottomless cup of coffee and a waitress who calls you “hon.” Out on Route 539 in Warren Grove, Lucille’s Luncheonette has been a Pine Barrens breakfast stop for about half a century. Places like that are where you hear the real stories: fishermen, farmers, truckers and folks just passing through.
And you can’t talk about Jersey breakfast without Pork Roll. Down here, it’s pork roll, egg and cheese, and that’s not up for debate. That’s exactly why “It’s Pork Roll Where I’m From” got written.
The Taverns in “Boardwalk & Backroads”
Every small town has its tavern: the neon sign, the jukebox, the regulars on the same stools every Friday. The song “Boardwalk & Backroads” names some real South Jersey bars that are part of that story: the Golden Nugget Tavern, the Green Bank Tavern, Jay’s Elbow Room, One More Bar & Grill and Prospector’s Grille. Hometown bars like these are where country music has always lived, and putting their names in a song is a way of tipping our hat to them.
Jersey Shore Marinas, Bays and Boardwalks
Marinas and Back Bays
Some of my favorite moments happen at the marinas along the back bays, from Barnegat Bay down to Great Egg Harbor Bay. Morning comes with gulls, diesel engines and coffee in a paper cup. Evening comes with the sunset over the marsh and the boats heading in. That waterfront feeling, with an old clam shack lit up by string lights, is what you see in the header at the top of this site. It’s the same spirit behind “Christmas at the Clam Shack” and the Clam Shack Studio.
Lighthouses on the Jersey Shore
Lighthouses are the landmarks of the Jersey Shore. Absecon Lighthouse in Atlantic City is the tallest lighthouse in New Jersey. Up the coast, Barnegat Lighthouse (“Old Barney”) stands at the north end of Long Beach Island. In between are seaport towns like Tuckerton, and old-time spots like Historic Smithville in Galloway. To me, a lighthouse is a song all by itself: a light that keeps shining so somebody can find their way home.
The Boardwalk
Atlantic City built America’s first boardwalk back in 1870, and the boardwalk has been part of Jersey Shore summers ever since. Salt air, arcade lights and a slice of pizza on the boards are the memories behind “Back When Jersey Was Ours,” a look back at growing up on the shore in the early ’80s.
Hear the Jersey Shore and Pine Barrens in the Music
If you want to hear these places, here are some songs to start with:
- “Swingin’ The Pines Tonight”: a Pine Barrens dance night, with Batsto named right in the song
- “Welcome to the Jersey Pines”: an invitation into the woods, the sand roads and the people who live there
- “Boardwalk & Backroads”: South Jersey taverns, back roads and where it all started
- “Back When Jersey Was Ours”: early-’80s Jersey Shore nostalgia
- “Still Rollin’ Home”: a back-roads song about finding your way home
- “It’s Pork Roll Where I’m From”: a South Jersey breakfast anthem
- “Christmas at the Clam Shack”: the holidays, Jersey Shore style
You can find the songs on the Music page and the full records on the Albums page. You can also hear them on Forest Raynes Radio, playing country from the Jersey Shore all day long.
About the songs: Every song mentioned here was written by the father-and-son songwriting team of William A. Guerro Sr. and William A. Guerro Jr., known as Guerro Songs, and recorded by Forest Raynes.
Tell Me Your Favorite South Jersey Spot
Every one of these places has a story, and I know you’ve got your own. Maybe it’s a diner where they know your order, a marina you’ve been going to since you were a kid, or a sand road in the pines that only the locals know. Tell me about it on Facebook, Instagram, or through the Contact page. Who knows? Your favorite spot might end up in the next song.
Heading out to visit? Hours and seasons change, especially for small-town diners, taverns and waterfront businesses, so check ahead before you make the drive.
Real roads, real people, and real stories. That’s country from the Jersey Shore.