usician Justin Skyler may feel “there’s no place like home” when he and his band perform Jan. 18 at the Broadway Grille’s Underground, located inside The Inn at Jim Thorpe.

“Broadway Underground is definitely home base for us,” said Skyler, whose self-produced 2020 debut album “Village Idiot” included “Let Me Help You Out,” for which he filmed a music video. “I started out there five years ago right before COVID hit. It was my first gig.”

Skyler, who references retro sounds in his music, dabbles in matters of the heart, humor and wordplay. Aside from Skyler on guitar and vocals, the Justin Skyler Band features: Geraldine Patire, keyboard and vocals; Tyler Mangold, drums; and Daniel Stark, bass.

The Underground show, Skyler said, will feature a mix of originals and covers, as “not even my own mother can sit through a three-hour performance of my own songs.”

Furthermore, “I may even bring out my famous Bill Clinton plushie I named Horatio. I like to wiggle him around between songs.”

During the show, Skyler plans to perform songs such as “Subject to Explode,” “Dead and Gone,” and “Cleared For Landing,” his favorites among songs the band has yet to release.

“We are in the beginning process of recording and plan to put out our original music sometime this year if all goes to plan,” Skyler said. “I have about a dozen songs I’ve been sitting on, so I am chomping at the bit to record them.”

Skyler and his band, producing the new tracks, will self-release the material. He and the band have not decided whether new music will come in the form of singles or an album.

Born in South Jersey, Skyler moved to the Jim Thorpe area at a young age. Raised just outside of the town, he currently lives in Jim Thorpe “with my current wife, AI Homemaker Bezos, Version 1.”

Before the Jan. 18 Underground gig, Skyler — whose “A New Awakening” appeared on 2024‘s “The Musicians of Jim Thorpe: Our Town Album” — discussed his music passion.

Q: What made you want to pursue music, and who were some favorites and influences?

A: Music seemed to arrive in pieces before I fully realized my love and drive toward it. When I was 5, I would sneak into my mom’s room and play her guitar and hum along to it when no one was around. I used to think of it as an adult activity at the time.

Electric guitars arrived in my house when I was 14 and I became hooked. Growing up, I was very sheltered and didn’t hear much — mostly Christian rock and Eminem from my family. As I grew up, I fell into teenage tropes such as Green Day, Ramones, Sleeping With Sirens and the punk-rock screamo thing. As I matured, I fell in love with the weirdness of Talking Heads and their ability to throw it all out the window and combine artistic ideas into music.

I fell into a few years of a lot of folk; classics such as Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Nick Drake, and more recent artists such as Joan Shelley. I always listen to Queens of the Stone Age, Jack White, The Beatles and Thom Yorke. They all changed my ideas about music drastically.

I also have a love for raw music such as The Replacements, The Stooges, Terry Reid and The Strokes. I love funkier stuff such as Al Green and Vulfpeck. I’m all over the map. Andrew Bird is another musician I deeply admire.

Q: How was the process of writing and recording “Village Idiot“?

A: There was a lot of throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what was gooey. I was 19, figuring out how to record and put together music that was digestible for me and everyone else. I feel so far removed from that person, as I should.

Q: Do you have other music projects aside from your band?

A: I have performed a lot of acoustic stuff in the past, but I am focused on my original music with my band. We are sort of a buffet, stylistically. Nothing is off limits. Our live show displays that well. I like a lot of different stuff and want to try new things.

Everyone in the band is super talented at their instrument — all musical assassins. They have been with me for two years now. I love these people dearly.

Q: What have been some music-career highlights thus far, and what else would you like to accomplish?

A: I enjoyed playing at the Golden Age Air Museum air show in Bethel, as well as Fall Foliage in Jim Thorpe, this past year. I’m looking to get out and do some festivals this summer, and push my original music more than anything.

The goal right now is to record my new songs this year, as well as continue to expand my horizons and get better as a songwriter and musician.

Music doesn’t have to be a formula. I want to impress myself with my writing and musicianship.