Eddie Rocks Unity College Centre

UNITY (July 16): Veteran New Jersey rocker John Eddie will perform 8 p.m. Saturday, July 25, at Unity College Centre for the Performing Arts, 42 Depot St.

Tickets, $15, are available by calling 948-7469 or online at unityme.org.

John Eddie

On the roller coaster of his career so far, Eddie has had enough big breaks, hard luck, new beginnings, false starts, serious adventure and big fun to inspire a boxed set's worth of country songs. He has managed to document a lot of this on "Who The Hell Is John Eddie?", his debut disc for Lost Highway, along with details of assorted dreams, wishes, romances and regrets. The funny thing is, his career first took at a time when everybody, in the music biz at least, wanted to know who Eddie was.

It was the mid-1980s and the Virginia native, recently relocated to New Jersey, was playing a showcase club in Manhattan called Trax. A busload of supporters had come to cheer him on, and Eddie wowed everyone in the house. By the next morning, he found himself on the brink of an intense major-label bidding war that soon attracted the interest of the press as well as the industry. It didn't hurt that Bruce Springsteen, was, and still is, a fan and would sometimes surprise Eddie by hopping onstage during his weekly gig at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, N.J.

Though lots of comparisons to the Boss were made, especially after Eddie signed a two-album deal with CBS/Sony, Eddie's approach has always more Memphis than Asbury Park. He has a lot of country in him plus elements of soul music, folk and rockabilly.

Up next at Unity College Centre will be Niamh Ni Charra, the former lead violinist with "Riverdance," 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 31.