Welcome back to Shecky's Jam Hales. I'm Shecky and today I want to tell you about a band that had the nerve to break into a bar in the middle of the night just to finish playing a song. They got arrested, they stood in front of a judge, and that judge, instead of throwing the book at them, gave them community service and said they appeared to be, and I quote, from good homes. And that is how one of the most beloved underrated and fiercely hometown jam bands in New Jersey
got their name. Today we're talking about From Good Homes. The story starts in the 1980s in rural northwestern New Jersey, Sussex County, up near Pennsylvania border. The kind of place where everybody knows everybody and Friday nights belong to whoever's playing in the local band. Childhood friends Todd Schaefer, Brady Reimer, and Patrick Fitzsimmons had been making music together since high school. Schaeffer on guitar, vocals and harmonica, Reimer on bass, Fitzsimmons
on drums. They went through a couple of name changes along the way, first calling themselves Old Crow, then the Dogs, but the core three remained locked in. They were joined by a multi -instrumentalist, Jamie Cohn, in 1990, who plays guitar, mandolin, violin, and more, end by saxophonist Dan Myers, who also plays melodica and keyboards. With all five members in place, From Good Homes was fully formed. But now, the name, because this story
is too good to rush past. The band was playing in a hometown show at a local bar when the owner decided to close down early. before the band had gotten to perform a song they had rehearsed all week. That song was I .O .U. by The Replacements. They'd worked on it, they wanted to play it, the bar owner said, no, shut it down, everyone out. So the band left, and then sometime in the wee hours of the morning, they made a decision that only makes sense if you're young and really,
really love that song. They went back to the bar, they broke in, They turned the amps up to 10, and they played the song. They were arrested. They appeared in court, and the judge looked out at these young musicians from the small towns of northwestern New Jersey, clearly not hardened criminals, just genuinely passionate about music to an irresponsible degree, sentenced them to community service, and remarked that they seemed
to be from good homes. From Good Homes, that's the name, born out of a replacement's cover, a locked door, and a judge with a sense of humor. And from that moment forward, they decided they had to live up to it. Make every show feel like that night. That desperate must -play turned the amps up to 10 energy, every single time. By the early 1990s, From Good Homes had developed something generally hard to define. They called it hip -hop. Critics called it that, too, affectionately.
It was rock, folk, Celtic jazz and a jam band influences all braided together, rooted in Todd Schaeffer's sharp, warm, personal songwriting. It was the kind of music that made you want to dance and feel something all at the same time. They stated their mission plainly. We wanted first and foremost to make a real, honest form of music that moved people. Both their brains, and their butts, and left them overall feeling good. That's the whole philosophy right there.
Move your brain and move your butt. How many bands can honestly claim to do both? They toured the East Coast relentlessly, then Colorado ski towns, then further. And here's something that might generally surprise you. In those early years, From Good Homes was the headliner, and the bands opening for them included Hootie and the Blowfish, Dave Matthews Band, Blues Traveler, all three of those bands at some point opened a show for From Good Homes. Let that sink in
for a second. Dave Matthews Band opened for From Good Homes. There's a quote from the band's own biography that I love. After listening to an FGH opening set, Dave Matthews reportedly told them, sounded great, quit your day jobs. coming from Dave Matthews in those early years when he was just starting out to build what became one of the most successful touring acts in history.
That is a serious endorsement. In 1995, their major label debut, Open Up the Sky, came out and the band went on a year -long national tour opening arena dates for Dave Matthews band Rat Dog featuring Bob Weir and others. They toured with Bob Weir during an especially heavy stretch, right around the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995. Opening for Ratdog at that moment for those audiences still processing the loss of Grateful Dead was not a minor assignment. From Good Homes met that
moment. Their songs also landed in 1997 Hollywood film Picture Perfect starring Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Bacon. The band's bio notes met both of them, and Bacon chatted with them about guitars. Kevin Bacon chatting about guitars with a band from Sussex County, New Jersey. This is the beautiful randomness of the music career. And in 1998, From Good Homes received an achievement award from Billboard magazine and Irving Plaza in New York City from the most consecutive sold out
performances ever at that venue. 12 in a row, sold out, at one of the most respected mid -size venues in New York City. 12 times that record stood. If I'm giving you one song to start with from Good Homes, I'm giving you The Butterfly in the Tree. It appeared on the 1998 self -titled album. On the surface, it's a love song, a story about two people spending an afternoon in the field, painting each other with body paints and
laughing into the sky. It was that pastoral quality from from good homes does better than almost anyone. The ability to make you feel genuinely at home in someone else's memory. You hear this song and you can picture the field. You can feel the afternoon light. Here's what makes it the right entry point and what makes it more than just a beautiful folk song. Live it transforms.
The Butterfly in the Tree became the band's signature jam vehicle, a song that could stretch into extended territory, full of improvisational interplay between Schaeffer's guitar, Cone's fiddle and mandolin, and Meyer's saxophone. It breathes, it builds, and it goes anywhere. Every great story needs a farewell, and From Good Homes got one of the best. August 7th, 1999, Waterloo Village, Stanhope, New Jersey, the outdoor venue that has been their annual summer home since 1994.
Except this time, it wasn't a summer concert. It was a goodbye. RCA had just dropped them. The band members were in their 30s now with wives and newborns and lives that didn't have room for climbing back into a van and starting over. They had made the decision. That was it. Five thousand people showed up at Waterloo Village that night. Five thousand fans who had followed this band up and down the East Coast to Colorado ski towns to sold out nights in Irving Plaza.
They came from one last evening of hip -hop in the fields of Sussex County. The band played for three hours. Three hours. It wasn't a set list. It was a biography. They pulled from every corner of their catalogue the early college circuit barn burners from RCA album tracks that they never got the radio promotion they deserved. The live favorites have had crowds sing alongs
for years. Charlie Loves Our Band, The Giving Tree, There She Goes, Boulevard of Dreams, and of course, The Butterfly and the Tree, stretched into a long, winding, emotional journey that left almost Nobody dry -eyed. Here's some things that you didn't know about from Good Homes. After the breakup, frontman and primary songwriter Todd Schaeffer formed Railroad Earth in 2001, the bluegrass -influenced jam band that went on to sell out venues across North America for
two decades. Longtime FGH fans who followed Schaeffer on Railroad Earth say they can hear the DNA from good homes in every note he writes. A second fact that you might not know is Brady Reimer got a Grammy nomination. Bassist Brady Reimer reinvented himself after FGH as a child's music artist. His 2008 release, Here Comes Brady Reimer and The Little Band That Could, was nominated for a Grammy Award for the best musical album
for children. The bassist from a New Jersey Jam band became a celebrated figure in kids music. That's a real career arc. They were in a Jennifer Aniston film. Two From Good Home songs were included in a 1997 20th Century Fox release, Picture Perfect, starring Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Bacon. The band met both of them at some point and reportedly chatted with Bacon about guitars. From Good Homes never became a household name. They didn't get
the radio play that they deserved. RCA didn't push them hard enough, the timing wasn't quite right, and yet 5 ,000 people showed up at their farewell concert and the fan base never scattered. It just waited patiently for 10 years. That's the truest measure of a band. Not chart positions, not streaming numbers, but whether the people who found the music held on to it. Whether it meant enough to them to keep showing up, keep talking about it, keep asking when the band was
coming back. From Good Homes made music with a mission. Move your brain and move your butt and leave you feeling good. They broke into a bar to finish playing a song. They got a name from a judge who saw through the mischief to the heart underneath and they spent the next
decade and a half making good on that name. If you've never heard of them, Start with the butterfly in the tree then take enough home the live farewell record then find the reunion showing recordings from Waterloo and If they're playing anywhere near you, I don't care how far you have to drive Just go that's it from good homes. That's Shecky's Jam bands, and I'll see you in the next episode Stay curious out there and please If you get a chance, send me an email at sheckysjambands at gmail .com