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Community Corner

Hasbrouck Heights Got Talent with Singer-Songwriter Joe Ferreri

Local musician performs in Bergen County and in New York City.

Hasbrouck Heights' Joe Ferreri knew he wanted to play guitar after seeing Simon and Garfunkel perform when he was just 11 years old. He kept playing and by the time he was 18, he wrote his first song. He’s been writing songs and singing them ever since.

More inspiration came from Bob Dylan, Bon Jovi, and Buddy Guy which led him to Stevie Ray Vaughan which is how he learned to love the Blues. Ferreri says his songs are inspired by “true events, my life and the people around me.” His songs and singing style have that passionate, working class sound similar to Bruce Springsteen or John Mellencamp.

A few years ago, Ferreri saw Buddy Guy perform in New York City and his music life changed -  not from seeing Buddy Guy, but the opening act: Jackie Greene. He was then inspired to learn the harmonica and watching Jackie Greene's solo performances showed him “how good you can sound without a band.”

"Jackie Greene really had a huge impact on my music," he said.

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Ferreri’s first CD is titled “September” which includes the songs: "Pretend," "Goin Down," "Sunday Morning," "Sincere," "Around" and "Coming Home."

He has written about 20 new songs but “Sincere” is still his favorite and by far it has the most hits on his Myspace page. Ferreri finds song writing to be challenging yet rewarding, with some songs taking forever to finish, “like I have to wait for it to happen in my life before I can complete the thought,” while other songs come all in one sitting. Either way, Ferreri says “it's an amazing process and I feel honored to be able to write.”

Ferreri performs monthly at Desmond’s Tavern on Park Ave South in New York City. He performed at Sertino’s Café in Emerson this past Friday with future dates there to be announced.

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