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Robs Raw Music

Thirty years ago Chicago-born RJ Comer abruptly withdrew from music school and gave up on his dream to be a musician. Dark years of violence, addiction, poverty, fractured relationships, and suicide attempts followed, culminating in a come-to-Jesus weekend in a Mississippi jail. RJ straightened himself out (mostly), worked his way through college, earned a full scholarship to law school, and became an attorney.

He thought he was done with music, but music wasn’t done with him. Eight years ago, while a partner in a Los Angeles law firm, a band RJ started for kicks got signed.

RJ stormed back into music, fusing his love of roots and blues in two band LPs, two solo EP’s, and several songs for film. Now a full-time musician living in the Tennessee woods, RJ’s toured from Canada to Florida and throughout the U.S., earning official showcases at SXSW, Canadian Music Week, and various songwriter’s festivals—steadily garnering critical acclaim and building a fanbase.

One Last Kiss is RJ’s first solo LP—a collection of songs from a man who transcended hardships few people escape. RJ’s songs are both conversational and poetic, deftly straddling traditional and contemporary Americana and Blues. With a baritone voice that can be powerful, ragged, or soothing, RJ shows the emotional and experiential range of a man who once only knew how to fight or flee, but slowly learned to live and prosper, and eventually learned to love.

This superb album opens with a kind of love song ‘UNDER A LOVER’S MOON’ written by RJ’s wife Deborah as I think he kinds of struggles a little with romantic happy upbeat songs.So Deborah,who runs the business side of their partnership,decided to theme it on their shift from urban life to their dream of living in the Tennessee woods.This track certainly has that upbeat boogie which gets your feet tapping.Great start.

‘IF I COULD BE WATER’ is track 2 and it brings the pace right down. This track reveals the painful falsehood and steep emotional price of being a strong silent type.It is a rootsy and cinematic song with RJ’s voice as smooth as bourbon but as gritty as sand.
Track 3 ‘DESERT MAMA’ is inspired by RJ’s friend,an old time vagabond banjo player and photographer,who decided to live a kind of nomadic lifestyle in the desert commune of East Jesus in California.His friend could contemplate the meaning of existence through art.It is a bluesy kind of song that makes the desert come alive.

‘CAIN’S BLOOD’ is track 4, a cover of a song written by Michael Johnson and Jack Sundrud, and recorded by American country music group 4 Runner.
A fan suggested that RJ cover this song,which was a Christian/Country crossover hit. RJ tracked down the video of the song and to make it his own,RJ slowed it right down and made the guitar chords dirtier.

‘BAD DAY IN PARADISE’ is track 5 and like the previous track I feel it would not be amiss in the hit TV series ‘True Blood’ or ‘Sons Of Anarchy’. It has that element of darkness surrounding it. It came to RJ one morning on an idyllic drive to work along a palm lined Beverley Hills street as storm clouds gathered above.

Track 6 is ‘LET’S RUN’ is a beautifully written country ballad which transmits the same story as the opening track ‘Under A Lover’s Moon’. It tells us of a story of people who want to radically change their lives.

Initially this song was written to a request for songs to be written to accompany a classic telecoms advert involving meerkats!!
This song will certainly resonate with a lot of people wishing to get away from the dull groundhog days of modern life.

Track 7 ‘ALL OVER AGAIN’ and continues in the same theme.It tells us about wanting to spend those few extra minutes curled up in bed with your loved one before setting off to your mundane job with your mundane anal boss. Yet you keep smiling and you kep plodding along because you work for your family.
Dedicated to the workers.

The song is one of my favourites.

‘LEAVE YOUR LIGHT ON’ is track 8 is a lone wolf love song.Driven by two acoustic guitars with stunning chords and all built around a melody that is both pleading and triumphant.
The story tells us of a longing for a loved one whilst travelling alone doing your work,be it a musician,salesman or any job that gets you travelling alone.
Leave Your Light On so I can find my way to you tonight.

Track 9 is ‘HOUSE GROWN COLD’ is a heartbreak love song for a lost love.
A mix of country,blues and Cajun, RJ found it very difficult to write as his love was still prevalent in his life and had been for 23 years,so what did he do? He took a walk near his house on a snowy morning and looked back on his house and imagined what life would be like without his wife Deborah.

‘STILL DOIN TIME’ is track 10.
It is a song written by John Moffatt and Michael P. Heeney, and recorded by American country music artist George Jones which reached #1 in the US charts in 1981.
RJ fell in love with this song whilst in high school. RJ’s version really emphasises the deep regret and suffering in the song by slowing the tempo down to a snails pace. RJ has certainly made this version his own.Love it.

The penultimate track is ‘YOU’D DRINK LIKE I DO TOO’ is written in homage to his own drinking daze and stories he has accumulated in the bars of New Orleans. RJ puts his wry and witty riffs to this song. A favourite amongst fans in his solo shows.You can envisage many a night in the bars and saloons around the world with this song ending the night on the jukebox.

The final track on this terrific album ‘ONE LAST KISS’
‘I honestly don’t remember most of my first kisses but I remember every last kiss’ is what RJ tells the audience when he introduces this song.
It is quite a dark but poetic bluesy track that explores the ultimate last kiss,the kiss of death.

He tells of Edgar Allen Poe,who never recovered from the death of his young bride,he tells of his own heartbreak memory of his mother kissing his fathers body before they closed the casket and of course the most famous last kiss by Judas.

This album really delivers some dark moments but also some beautiful bright love moments too.

Overall the album delivers some superb music that would not be amiss in ‘TRUE BLOOD’ or ‘SONS OF ANARCHY’

Each listen amplifies my liking,and each listen gives me a different definition of country,blues and cajun sounds. RJ’s voice is like a damn good bourbon,smooth yet gritty with that unmistakable kick.

RRM RATING 7.5/10

RRM STAND OUT TRACKS: ‘UNDER A LOVER’S MOON’ ‘BAD DAY IN PARADISE’ ‘LET’S RUN’ ‘ONE LAST KISS’

Read Review at Robs Raw Music >

Rocking Magpie (UK)

RJ Comer
ONE LAST KISS
Growling Moon Music

Soundtrack For A Hot August Night in a Tennessee Backwater.

It’s fascinating what music can do for a person; be they a listener like you or I but actual musicians themselves; as it seems that the ‘power of music’ has been a golden thread in RJ Comer’s life be it his time as a violent addict or later after cleaning himself up and discovering God; as an attorney……music got him through some dark times.
Now, many years later he’s a full time singer-songwriter living in the Tennessee woods making music and occasionally touring the United States , North, South, East and West to popular acclaim it has to be said.

The rather snappy Under a Lover’s Moon opens proceedings with some neat fiddle and guitar interjections complimenting RJ’s rich and expressive baritone voice. The song itself is one of the few love songs I’ve heard recently which is written and about a genuine couple of mature years who actually seem to like each other; which gives it an extra star at RMHQ.
Obviously not everything is as upbeat as that opener; but that’s not to say that the songs from the darker edges of life; House Grown Cold and Still Doin’ Time spring to mind don’t have a brittle beauty to them too; as they do.

After playing in bar bands for many years, it’s obvious RJ Comer can turn his hand to most genres of popular music; but he generally sticks to the Country-Blues format I normally associate with Townes, Guy and Rodney; but he’s got a lot more strings to his bow than that as Desert Mama and If I Could Be Water prove; with something of an early Neil Diamond ‘feel’ to them at times.
Like all the great singer-songwriter’s Comer digs deep into the darkest corners of his memories for his songs and comes out the other end with such raw delights as Bad Day in Paradise and You’d Drink Like I Do which are both perfect for the wee small hours of the morning when you feel that the whole world is against you……and it might be; but RJ Comer let’s you know you aren’t alone.

The record closes with the title track ONE LAST KISS; a sad old tale with a truly mournful fiddle accompaniment about the singer’s father but could easily be interpreted by any of us to describe many relationships that have haunted us too.

Hmmmm; where to go for a Favourite Song’? There have been a few contenders; not least the first and last tracks and more than once I’ve played Let’s Run on repeat several times, but I’m going out on a limb with the nigh on Gothic Cain’s Blood, which not only describes Comer’s life that straddled good and evil in equal quantities; but again this is the mark of a great songwriter; could describe most of us and not least myself over the years, which is quite some achievement.
I love music in many formats which is why I do what I do with this website; and every now and again a really rare talent comes along like RJ Comer; and if he’s not too old to grasp the nettle…….he could and should be a Major Star in the Americana world if there is any justice.
Or he may just enjoy his anonymity living with his wife in that Tennessee backwater; and who can blame him?

Released 15th June 2018
https://www.rjcomer.com/

Read Review at Rocking Magpie >

Americana Highway

From the get-go of the subtle country hook underlying “Under a Lover’s Moon,” it’s clear that RJ Comer has a gifted voice and sense of melody that makes you want to hum along.

There’s a sense of instant familiarity you feel listening to One Last Kiss, Comer’s debut solo album (Growling Moon Records). While entirely contemporary, it sometimes feels like an old friend dropped in to say hello from a top forty chart played on an old FM radio station in another era.

The singer’s commanding vocals gives extra resonance to his material. In “If I Could Be Water,” built around Brian Sutherland’s cello and Daniel Foulks harrowing fiddle, Comer’s voice is so deep it feels like he’s reaching down into the well he’s singing about. You can’t help but think of its uncanny resemblance to the great Neil Diamond. When Comer sings about the rewards of work and life in “All Over Again,” the effervescent arrangement is even twinged with a touch of Diamond’s melodic splendor.

One More Kiss was produced by Shawn Byrne. Comer and his band cover a lot of ground within the roots amalgam. The intrigue of “House Grown Cold” is accentuated by the brooding guitar licks of Randy Khors. “Bad Day In Paradise” has a nice harp overlay and “Desert Mama” is a light, swinging shuffle. The traditional bluesy “You’d Drink Like I Do” has a sense of humor as Comer laments about working at a cemetery and dropping dead bodies into the ground, only to have them talk back to him.

But the best songs on One Last Kiss happen when Comer is at his most personal. In his personal plea to a lover in “Leave Your Light On” he has perhaps his best line: “I’ve been out so long my eyes can’t be trusted.” In the devastating closing title track, Comer’s dark family saga is summed up in one line: “You’re dead before you know you’re hurt.”

The album marks Comer’s solo debut after previously releasing two band albums and EPs. It also marks a triumphant life turn for the singer who endured a series of events that brought on poverty and several attempted suicides. He served time in jail where he turned his life around and went on to work his way through law school to become a lawyer.

In this context, the autobiographical “Let’s Run” takes on greater meaning. I suspect there’s more to his life story than revealed in “Still Doin’ Time” and the album’s title track. As some of the songs hint, we hope that he will continue to unveil more of what lies below the surface.

Read Article at Americana Highway >

Whisperin and Hollerin

Where would blues and country music be if the world were full of clean living monogamous men who had no demons to fight? RJ Comer would not be the best person to ask. His chequered past has followed the ritual rite of passage involving violence, addiction and suicide attempts.

Needless to say, loving relationships have not always proceeded smoothly either. Perhaps he has a point when he sings “If you had my kind of trouble” You’d Drink Like I Do Too.

For many years, Comer gave up on music altogether to get straight. He qualified as an attorney and worked as a partner in an LA law firm. That explains that it’s only now that he’s gotten round to recording his first solo album.

He recruited some Nashville musicians for his backing band and set out to make a record that would entertain and inspire. However, the cover image of a car wrapped around a tree gives fair warning that he doesn’t skip lightly over the dark years that led up it.

The title track is not simply a romantic memory but conjures up Judas’ betrayal. The video for this is preceded by a quotation from Edgar Allan Poe: “I became insane, with long periods of horrible sanity”.

A battle with faith and identity is evident from other biblically themed tunes – Cain’s Blood and Bad Day In Paradise.

Nevertheless, his solid, crooner’s instinct remains intact and the music is ultimately a celebration of love and survival. He now describes himself as “a guy who loves my wife of 22 years, drives a truck and lives in the forest”.

Turning his back on city ways seems to have been a key factor in this change of fortunes. On Under A Lover’s Moon he sings of the relief of moving “from high rise buildings to high rise trees”.

Still, the bruised baritone voice and wealth of authentic detail leave the listener in no doubt that his journey to this more stable existence has followed a rough road. This may be a familiar tale but it is one well told .

It is a testament to the fact that Comer has travelled down plenty of lost highways without crashing.

Read Article at Whisperin and Hollerin >

No Depression

BY RON WRAY
APRIL 24, 2018

R. J. Comer “One Last Kiss” This guy has a great raw country voice and persona. His songs have some dirt and grit on them. His tune, “If I Could Be Water,” is a raw beauty. He carries the record with a lot of power and variety.

Read Article at No Depression >

Maverick Magazine (UK)

Thirty years ago Chicago-born RJ Comer abruptly withdrew from music school and gave up on his dream to be a musician. Dark years of violence, addiction, poverty, fractured relationships, and suicide attempts followed, culminating in a come-to-Jesus weekend in a Mississippi jail. RJ straightened himself out (mostly), worked his way through college, earned a full scholarship to law school, and became an attorney.

He thought he was done with music, but music wasn’t done with him. Eight years ago, while a partner in a Los Angeles law firm, a band RJ started for kicks got signed.

RJ stormed back into music, fusing his love of roots and blues in two band LPs, two solo EP’s, and several songs for film. Now a full-time musician living in the Tennessee woods, RJ’s toured from Canada to Florida and throughout the U.S., earning official showcases at SXSW, Canadian Music Week, and various songwriter’s festivals—steadily garnering critical acclaim and building a fanbase.

One Last Kiss is RJ’s first solo LP—a collection of songs from a man who transcended hardships few people escape. RJ’s songs are both conversational and poetic, deftly straddling traditional and contemporary Americana and Blues. With a baritone voice that can be powerful, ragged, or soothing, RJ shows the emotional and experiential range of a man who once only knew how to fight or flee, but slowly learned to live and prosper, and eventually learned to love.

Some Nashville notables contributed to One Last Kiss, creating a primarily acoustic sound that is classic but never stock, and is always distinctly RJ. Grammy-winner Randy Kohrs—renowned for his work with talents as diverse as Jim Lauderdale, Dolly Parton and Dierks Bentley—shows the full range of his abilities on One Last Kiss, from the insane resonator solo on the hallucinogenic “Desert Mama” to his swaggering riffs on “Bad Day in Paradise.” Fiddler Daniel Foulks from the Parker Millsap band adds his signature freight train fiddle to joyful tracks like “Under a Lover’s Moon” and quietly mourns with RJ on the bluesy ballad “One Last Kiss.” Foulks also leads the fiddle & cello duo fluidly accompanying RJ’s longing and regret on “If I Could be Water”—achieving a sound that is at once profoundly intimate and yet also cinematic.

One Last Kiss was produced by Shawn Byrne in his Nashville studio. One of Nashville’s most sought out multi-instrumentalists and a SESAC Writer’s Award winner, Shawn is also gaining a reputation as a producer—having trained under the guidance of Grammy winning producer Nathan Chapman.

Byrne’s challenge was to create a musically coherent sound for an album that includes joyful love songs to a song about the kiss of death and for a singer that belts, growls, and whispers. Around an acoustic backbone of percussion, fiddles, guitars, and harmonica, Byrne fleshed out the sound for each song by selectively incorporating cello, keyboards, mandolin, electric guitar, or accordion. The result is a sound that preserves the timeless qualities of acoustic Americana & Blues, invokes the open space of rural life, but is updated for the increasingly urban 21st Century audience.

“Every day people may find a lot to relate to in this record and will hopefully be entertained and inspired.” RJ says. “I’m a guy who loves my wife of 22 years, drives a truck, and lives in the forest. But I once abandoned my dreams and was on my way to being a young corpse or an old inmate. Instead I made a success of my life and was given a second chance to make music. All that is in this record.”

Read Review at Maverick >

Folk and Tumble (UK)

BY: GERRY MCNALLY

‘One Last Kiss’ is the first full long-player from Chicago native RJ Comer. This record follows on from a run of successful EP releases over the last few years.

‘Under A Lover’s Moon’ opens the record with a radio-friendly, alt-country, blues, boogie-based love song. This is followed early on by ‘Let’s Run’, which is again set in the same soundscape.

Where the record gets really interesting is when RJ Comer’s ability to mine the dark side of humanity comes to the fore.

‘If I Could Be Water’ and ‘Bad Day In Paradise’ both give the listener the impression of a lost soul searching to be cleansed of past misdeed or crime and the longing to move on.

‘Cain’s Blood’ highlights the soul-searching of a tortured individual who has to battle with their inner demons to find balance in their life, while ‘House Grown Cold’ broodingly depicts the break up of a relationship.

‘One Last Kiss’ is a complex and multi-layered record put together by an individual who has lived more in one lifetime than most. Violence, addiction, poverty, broken relationships and brushes with salvation are all evident within this semi-autobiographical work.

Produced by Nashville-based Shawn Byrne the record has a raw and earthy feel to it and with RJ Comer’s witty and often gritty vocals it gives the listener an all too eerie live in the room sound.

The effects of personal betrayal by family and friends is explored in the mournful title track ‘One Last Kiss’ which is, without doubt, the standout song of this collection.

The record has a fascinating mix of light and dark subject material contained within, but it is RJ Comer’s darkest material that shines brightest.

‘One Last Kiss’ is released on Friday 15th June on Growling Moon records.

Read Review at Folk and Tumble >

Lonesome Highway

The cover photo on RJ Comer’s One Last Kiss album depicts a vintage car ploughed into a tree on the side of the road, an image which could aptly refer to the singer songwriter’s early career. From singing in a church choir as a young boy, to addiction and homelessness as a young man, RJ Comer eventually conquered his demons and the Chicago-born troubadour subsequently relocated to rural Tennessee, where he currently resides with his wife and dog. Having dropped out of music school and abandoned his musical career, three decades passed before Comer finally turned his life around and won a scholarship to law school. To complete his rehabilitation, while performing with his band semi-professionally, he was signed by a record label.

One Last Kiss is Comer’s first full album having released two mini albums, Hell Hole Swamp in 2015 and Nightly Suicide in 2016. His rugged baritone vocals reflect a life well lived and perfectly suit the twelve country tinged blues tracks on the album. Recorded at Great Hill Productions and Slack Key Studios in Nashville, the production duties were undertaken by multi-instrumentalist Shawn Byrne, who also plays guitars, bass and mandolin on the album. Even with Comer’s vocals always upfront the quality of the playing shines through, Randy Kohr’s (Dolly Parton, Jim Lauderdale, Dierks Bentley) slide guitar is especially intoxicating on House Grown Cold and Desert Mama. The latter is a playful yarn about an LSD trip in the desert (“I can’t say that I’m sober, but I can say I ain’t been drinking, I see a snake swallow its tail and then it rolls away like a wheel”). Let’s Run is a simple ballad craving escapism from the nine to five rural grind and features Grand Olde Opry staff fiddler Eamon McLoughlin on top form. Under A Lover’s Moon is a confessional love song celebrating the writer’s contentment and fulfilment.

Read Article at Loneseome Highway >

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