by Danny Colman
originally published on Rock On! This Week’s Sound Bites…12/18/2025 (NewJerseyStage.com)
“Lord have mercy; the short of it is, I originally come from Wichita, Kansas of all places,” laughed Glenn Alexander. “I’ve been back here in the New York City/New Jersey area for a long time. I have a lot of albums out from my early life, then I took some years off and now I’m back at it; I’ve spent the last 17 years of my life touring with Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes and prior to that, just playing with a long list of folks who are all listed on my website and then, I have this band. They are the horn players from the Asbury Jukes, we’ve been together nine or ten years. Wow, I’ve thought about that, we’ve been together nine or ten years and in ’26 I think it will be 10 years because our first album came out in 2016 or somewhere around there. So, yeah, I love that band, it’s a great band and those horn players are world class, they’ve toured and worked with everybody. I’m just excited as heck because JB and I are good friends and I love what he does and his album is killin’. I love that he and I got our heads together on this, it’s gonna be a fantastic night of music, I can tell you that.”
Alexander, a seasoned musician who along with blues man James “JB” Barnes are bringing their respective talents and bands, Shadowland and The JB Blues Band to Tuckerton’s Lizzie Rose Music Room on Friday January 30 for a 7:30 p.m. show that promises to rattle the room’s stained glass windows.
Modestly, Alexander stated that he has spent nearly two decades with Southside Johnny but what he failed to mention until prodded was that he has either performed or recorded with Jan Hammer, Max Weinberg 7, Jon Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen; just to scratch the surface.
“That list goes back a long way,” he said with another laugh. “Sometimes you list things and I love that I got called for certain things; I’m just sharing with both of you cats, I was reminded of it this week. When I was 19 or 20 years old, the first big gig I got hired for; I learned how to do certain things when I was young and one of them was to read on guitar and I got hired to back up Helen Reddy. Listen to this, with the touring Woody Herman Jazz Group and Woody Herman was still alive and conducting that band, it was unbelievable; if you stick around long enough, a whole bunch of things pop up (Laughs).”
Barnes may not have the lengthy catalog of Alexander but what he does have are friends in the business and the knack of finding the right people. His latest release, “My Mississippi Roots” is doing very well and it was that “Knack” which led him to Glenn and eventually to this January 30 gig at The Lizzie Rose.
“Yes sir, I’ll tell ya’, this is my second LP and I’m no veteran of putting out records like Glenn is but this is my second one and it’s blowing up beyond my wildest dreams,” Barnes began with a tone of appreciation. “I think the album is true for two reasons, one, I’m telling a heartfelt story of my family, not in a bitter way, I’m just talking about what happened through my family over many years and I turned it into music. Anthony Krizan was my producer and did a great job of producing this record and he plays on it and by the way, Glenn’s daughter Oria is singing on two of the tracks, “Brown Eyed Blues Man” and the remake of “Wild Horses.” So, it’s just wonderful and I appreciate people like you who have listened to the record and got something from it and it’s folks like you who are helping me to keep the blues alive and people like Glenn who are out here now. I’m getting a very big response to this record and I’m just overwhelmed.”
“I believe things are meant to happen.” he went on. “I don’t know, maybe it was two years ago when I walked into a place called The Stone Tavern and Glenn and his daughter were doing a duet in there. I was actually sitting in the far bar, I wasn’t in the same room but I could hear the music. You know me, when I hear music, I get up and walk over to whoever is doing it and that is how I met Glenn and his daughter. I didn’t know Glenn personally but I knew of him and I knew he was with Southside Johnny for a long time and I’d heard his name throughout the years. So, when they were on break, we started talking and as it turned out, he knew Anthony Krizan as well and that they’d known each other for many years; talent sticks with talent. So, I’ve been going to a few of Glenn’s shows and learning from him as to what he does as a band leader, checking out the music and that’s how I met him and then asked him if he’d be willing to do a double bill. I’m gonna be opening up for his band at The Lizzie Rose; he said, “Yes” to my lovin’ (Laughs)”
“JB and I, as he just pointed out,” quickly added Alexander, “I love when you meet cats and it’s meant to be and it turns out that we know so many of the same people. I’d heard his name and there are people I know who have worked with him and Anthony Krizan who I have tremendous respect for, he is just a monster talent . He is an incredible songwriter, guitar player and producer who gets great sounds and the fact that JB was doing his record there with Anthony; it sounds really good. They did a great job but I love when things happen as they should, it was an accident that we met that night but we’ve been talking about things ever since.”
“In the musical universe or the universe in general, things just somehow happen. When you have a situation like this, it was just meant for us to meet that night at random. I happened to be in the area and thought, let me stop in and have a beverage and lo’ and behold, I heard all of this good music and it was Glenn and Oria,” said Barnes.
Already in the process of recording “My Mississippi Roots,” Barnes knew that he needed something, something that would give the album a bit more than he could imagine and after hearing Oria sing with her father, things just fell into place.
“My Mississippi Roots,” when I heard her sing that night, I contacted Glenn and I told him I’d love to ask his daughter to do some background vocals on “Wild Horses” and/or a couple of other songs and he said, “James, she’s her own person, you talk to her directly” (Laughs) and I said, “OK.” So, she agreed to do it and the person singing lead on that particular song is Steven Braxton who happens to be my nephew. Going back to my first record, “JB’s Favorite Things,” I thought, wow, I need a singer. I was talking to Anthony and I told him I needed a singer, someone who was really gonna stand out and he said, “I’m sure you know somebody. I’ll sing a few songs for you of course” but I wanted somebody who could give me an R&B flavor to the blues. So, I thought about it and I rang up Steven. This was two years ago, I called him and told him that I knew he could sing his butt off on R&B but I asked, “Have you ever tried the blues? The blues and R&B are connected at the hip” and he said, “Uncle James, I’ve never sang blues before but I’m willing to try it.” So, not only did he do a hell of a job on the first record but he’s singing four songs on this new record and I just wanted to have some other great voices around what he was doing on the lead vocal. That’s where Oria came in and Anthony does some great backgrounds, I do some background but not much (Laughs) and that’s how it happened; it was just magical getting all of those great voices on that song and the entire record.”
Alexander’s pedigree extends far back but his music DNA has left scars from past wounds, wounds that he has learned and benefited from; wounds that have brought him to where he is today.
“I have a lot of albums from my earlier life. I played a ton of instrumental music but that is a long story with bad management and record deals and I left that and started moving more towards blues and the things that got me into music which is a bit of southern rock like the Allman Brothers and some Lynyrd Skynyrd. So, that led me to Southside and now, the last few years, I have two albums out with my band Shadowland. The first one, our debut album was, “Glenn Alexander & Shadowland” and the second one is “Glenn Alexander & Shadowland Knocking On The Door” which is the story of my life; I’m just always knocking on the door trying to get in, doesn’t matter if it’s women or record deals, I’m always just knocking on the door and hoping somebody will answer (Laughs).”
When the doors open at 7 p.m. for the 7:30 p.m. show on January 30; what can we expect from each act? Barnes is opening for his friend but says he has some things up his sleeve.
“We are gonna just come right out with a lot of songs off the new record which is doing so well,” he said confidently. “I plan on also doing a small tribute, maybe two songs from our hero, Mr. BB King. He would have been 100 years old this past September and he’s up in heaven now playin’ the blues and God is diggin’ it so, I’ll have to do a couple of songs from BB King and I’ll also do a couple of songs from the first record as well. This is my first time performing at The Lizzie Rose, I’m looking forward to it and opening for Glenn Alexander & Shadowland and we just want people to come out, sit down and relax and enjoy the music because they are gonna get some great music that night.”
Alexander wasted no time, immediately jumping in to agree.
“This is interesting because I haven’t totally thought about it because we have a lot of material on top of the two albums. We’re used to doing longer shows, we do a lot of one set shows but I’ve totally not zeroed in on that. I’ve got a lot of ideas, we’ll be doing what we do which is, throw in some blues tunes. We’ll do “Born Under a Bad Sign” and some others, maybe “Big Boss Man.” We’ll do a few things like that the people will know but we’ll put our spin on it. I second what James said, he couldn’t say it any better. So, people, you want to get out there, get your tail in a seat and fasten your seatbelt because you’re gonna hear a good night of music that’s for sure.”
To find out more about Glenn Alexander & Shadowland, please visit www.glennalexander.com and to discover more about James “JB” Barnes, please visit www.JBKeepingthebluesalive.com