Jersey Week: The Cucumbers

One more from Stinky for NJ Week featuring The Cucumbers, a talented band inextricably associated with the Hoboken scene of the 1980's.

As Jon Pareles pointed out in the New York Times, "Most pop songs end where romance begins," but The Cucumbers "write about friction and affection within longtime couples." 

Writing for the Chicago Tribune, Tom Popson made a similar point: The Cucumbers' lyrics "often exhibit a matter-of-fact acceptance of life's limitations, particularly in the area of male-female relationships.'' Cucumbers singer-songwriter Deena Shoshkes agreed: ''The rock'n'roll cliche is to write about totally letting go, self-indulgence, sex and drugs and rock'n' roll. But the subject of a lot of our songs is compromise, accepting certain things for other things.''

After Deena Shoshkes and Cucumbers cofounder Jon Fried married and became parents, they continued to make music. Deena and Alice Genese made a children's record called Over The Moon. Deena and Jon wrote most of the music for Sing SOS, a compilation of various artists for autism awareness. Participants included Marshall Crenshaw, Dar Williams, Jonatha Brooke, Ari Hest, Jackson Browne, Valerie Carter, Dan Bern, Mike Viola, Marti Jones and Don Dixon.

Jon and Deena have formed a new sextet called The Campfire Flies, and they released their first album Sparks Like Little Stars in 2019. Deena is also a solo artist, and she most recently guested on an infectious 2020 country-rock single called "Dance The Night Away" with the band Poor Man's Opera. That song, as well as several solo tracks by Deena, are interspersed with live and studio songs by The Cucumbers in Stinky's brand new Homemade Album.