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Welcome back to Shecky's Jam Hales. I'm Shecky

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and today I want to tell you about a band that

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had the nerve to break into a bar in the middle

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of the night just to finish playing a song. They

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got arrested, they stood in front of a judge,

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and that judge, instead of throwing the book

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at them, gave them community service and said

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they appeared to be, and I quote, from good homes.

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And that is how one of the most beloved underrated

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and fiercely hometown jam bands in New Jersey

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got their name. Today we're talking about From

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Good Homes. The story starts in the 1980s in

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rural northwestern New Jersey, Sussex County,

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up near Pennsylvania border. The kind of place

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where everybody knows everybody and Friday nights

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belong to whoever's playing in the local band.

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Childhood friends Todd Schaefer, Brady Reimer,

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and Patrick Fitzsimmons had been making music

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together since high school. Schaeffer on guitar,

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vocals and harmonica, Reimer on bass, Fitzsimmons

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on drums. They went through a couple of name

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changes along the way, first calling themselves

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Old Crow, then the Dogs, but the core three remained

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locked in. They were joined by a multi -instrumentalist,

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Jamie Cohn, in 1990, who plays guitar, mandolin,

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violin, and more, end by saxophonist Dan Myers,

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who also plays melodica and keyboards. With all

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five members in place, From Good Homes was fully

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formed. But now, the name, because this story

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is too good to rush past. The band was playing

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in a hometown show at a local bar when the owner

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decided to close down early. before the band

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had gotten to perform a song they had rehearsed

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all week. That song was I .O .U. by The Replacements.

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They'd worked on it, they wanted to play it,

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the bar owner said, no, shut it down, everyone

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out. So the band left, and then sometime in the

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wee hours of the morning, they made a decision

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that only makes sense if you're young and really,

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really love that song. They went back to the

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bar, they broke in, They turned the amps up to

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10, and they played the song. They were arrested.

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They appeared in court, and the judge looked

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out at these young musicians from the small towns

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of northwestern New Jersey, clearly not hardened

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criminals, just genuinely passionate about music

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to an irresponsible degree, sentenced them to

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community service, and remarked that they seemed

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to be from good homes. From Good Homes, that's

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the name, born out of a replacement's cover,

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a locked door, and a judge with a sense of humor.

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And from that moment forward, they decided they

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had to live up to it. Make every show feel like

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that night. That desperate must -play turned

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the amps up to 10 energy, every single time.

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By the early 1990s, From Good Homes had developed

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something generally hard to define. They called

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it hip -hop. Critics called it that, too, affectionately.

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It was rock, folk, Celtic jazz and a jam band

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influences all braided together, rooted in Todd

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Schaeffer's sharp, warm, personal songwriting.

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It was the kind of music that made you want to

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dance and feel something all at the same time.

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They stated their mission plainly. We wanted

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first and foremost to make a real, honest form

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of music that moved people. Both their brains,

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and their butts, and left them overall feeling

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good. That's the whole philosophy right there.

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Move your brain and move your butt. How many

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bands can honestly claim to do both? They toured

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the East Coast relentlessly, then Colorado ski

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towns, then further. And here's something that

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might generally surprise you. In those early

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years, From Good Homes was the headliner, and

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the bands opening for them included Hootie and

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the Blowfish, Dave Matthews Band, Blues Traveler,

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all three of those bands at some point opened

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a show for From Good Homes. Let that sink in

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for a second. Dave Matthews Band opened for From

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Good Homes. There's a quote from the band's own

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biography that I love. After listening to an

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FGH opening set, Dave Matthews reportedly told

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them, sounded great, quit your day jobs. coming

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from Dave Matthews in those early years when

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he was just starting out to build what became

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one of the most successful touring acts in history.

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That is a serious endorsement. In 1995, their

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major label debut, Open Up the Sky, came out

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and the band went on a year -long national tour

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opening arena dates for Dave Matthews band Rat

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Dog featuring Bob Weir and others. They toured

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with Bob Weir during an especially heavy stretch,

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right around the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995.

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Opening for Ratdog at that moment for those audiences

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still processing the loss of Grateful Dead was

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not a minor assignment. From Good Homes met that

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moment. Their songs also landed in 1997 Hollywood

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film Picture Perfect starring Jennifer Aniston

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and Kevin Bacon. The band's bio notes met both

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of them, and Bacon chatted with them about guitars.

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Kevin Bacon chatting about guitars with a band

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from Sussex County, New Jersey. This is the beautiful

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randomness of the music career. And in 1998,

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From Good Homes received an achievement award

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from Billboard magazine and Irving Plaza in New

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York City from the most consecutive sold out

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performances ever at that venue. 12 in a row,

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sold out, at one of the most respected mid -size

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venues in New York City. 12 times that record

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stood. If I'm giving you one song to start with

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from Good Homes, I'm giving you The Butterfly

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in the Tree. It appeared on the 1998 self -titled

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album. On the surface, it's a love song, a story

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about two people spending an afternoon in the

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field, painting each other with body paints and

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laughing into the sky. It was that pastoral quality

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from from good homes does better than almost

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anyone. The ability to make you feel genuinely

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at home in someone else's memory. You hear this

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song and you can picture the field. You can feel

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the afternoon light. Here's what makes it the

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right entry point and what makes it more than

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just a beautiful folk song. Live it transforms.

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The Butterfly in the Tree became the band's signature

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jam vehicle, a song that could stretch into extended

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territory, full of improvisational interplay

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between Schaeffer's guitar, Cone's fiddle and

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mandolin, and Meyer's saxophone. It breathes,

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it builds, and it goes anywhere. Every great

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story needs a farewell, and From Good Homes got

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one of the best. August 7th, 1999, Waterloo Village,

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Stanhope, New Jersey, the outdoor venue that

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has been their annual summer home since 1994.

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Except this time, it wasn't a summer concert.

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It was a goodbye. RCA had just dropped them.

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The band members were in their 30s now with wives

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and newborns and lives that didn't have room

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for climbing back into a van and starting over.

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They had made the decision. That was it. Five

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thousand people showed up at Waterloo Village

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that night. Five thousand fans who had followed

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this band up and down the East Coast to Colorado

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ski towns to sold out nights in Irving Plaza.

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They came from one last evening of hip -hop in

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the fields of Sussex County. The band played

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for three hours. Three hours. It wasn't a set

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list. It was a biography. They pulled from every

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corner of their catalogue the early college circuit

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barn burners from RCA album tracks that they

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never got the radio promotion they deserved.

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The live favorites have had crowds sing alongs

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for years. Charlie Loves Our Band, The Giving

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Tree, There She Goes, Boulevard of Dreams, and

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of course, The Butterfly and the Tree, stretched

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into a long, winding, emotional journey that

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left almost Nobody dry -eyed. Here's some things

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that you didn't know about from Good Homes. After

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the breakup, frontman and primary songwriter

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Todd Schaeffer formed Railroad Earth in 2001,

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the bluegrass -influenced jam band that went

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on to sell out venues across North America for

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two decades. Longtime FGH fans who followed Schaeffer

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on Railroad Earth say they can hear the DNA from

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good homes in every note he writes. A second

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fact that you might not know is Brady Reimer

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got a Grammy nomination. Bassist Brady Reimer

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reinvented himself after FGH as a child's music

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artist. His 2008 release, Here Comes Brady Reimer

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and The Little Band That Could, was nominated

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for a Grammy Award for the best musical album

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for children. The bassist from a New Jersey Jam

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band became a celebrated figure in kids music.

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That's a real career arc. They were in a Jennifer

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Aniston film. Two From Good Home songs were included

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in a 1997 20th Century Fox release, Picture Perfect,

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starring Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Bacon. The

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band met both of them at some point and reportedly

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chatted with Bacon about guitars. From Good Homes

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never became a household name. They didn't get

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the radio play that they deserved. RCA didn't

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push them hard enough, the timing wasn't quite

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right, and yet 5 ,000 people showed up at their

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farewell concert and the fan base never scattered.

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It just waited patiently for 10 years. That's

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the truest measure of a band. Not chart positions,

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not streaming numbers, but whether the people

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who found the music held on to it. Whether it

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meant enough to them to keep showing up, keep

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talking about it, keep asking when the band was

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coming back. From Good Homes made music with

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a mission. Move your brain and move your butt

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and leave you feeling good. They broke into a

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bar to finish playing a song. They got a name

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from a judge who saw through the mischief to

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the heart underneath and they spent the next

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decade and a half making good on that name. If

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you've never heard of them, Start with the butterfly

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in the tree then take enough home the live farewell

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record then find the reunion showing recordings

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from Waterloo and If they're playing anywhere

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near you, I don't care how far you have to drive

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Just go that's it from good homes. That's Shecky's

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Jam bands, and I'll see you in the next episode

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Stay curious out there and please If you get

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a chance, send me an email at sheckysjambands

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at gmail .com