Biography

Contact: Robert Allen/robert@sha-lamusic.com

Other DownTown Mystic Releases:

DownTown Mystic: AmeriKarma

DownTown Mystic: RnR 4 The Soul

DownTown Mystic: 21st Century Rock'n Roll

DownTown Mystic: The DownTown Demos

DownTown Mystic On E Street Deluxe

DownTown Mystic: Better Day

DownTown Mystic: Rock'n'Roll Romantic

DownTown Mystic: DownTown Nashville

DownTown Mystic

With Bruce Engler:

Bruce Engler feat. DownTown Mystic: One More Chance

Downtown Mystic: Used Records History 1979-1985
Sha-La Music/The Orchard
Digital UPC:195081639383
1. Please Be There (1980-The Tupelos with Garry Tallent) 3:05
2. Sweet Little Sixteen (1979-The Tupelos 45 Vinyl Single) 3:20
3. Sweet Lies (1979-1982-The Tupelos/1st Solo) 3:06
4. Baby Believe Me (1982-1st Solo Project) 3:14
5. Night Time Girl (1982-1st Solo Project) 3:51
6. I Just Want to Love You (1982-1st Solo Project) 3:31
7. You Didn't Know (1983 Demo) 3:02
8. Same Old Lover (1983 Demo) 3:31
9. Turn Around and Go (1985-Used Records) 4:04
10.Fly Like the Wind (1985-Used Records) 3:14
11.Modern Ways (1985-Used Records) 3:11
12. History (1985-Used Records) 2:37

Produced By: Robert Allen
(p) & © 2020 Sha-La Music, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Downtown Mystic: Used Records History 1979-1985 is the new album from DownTown Mystic. It contains previously unreleased pre-DownTown Mystic material that would become the basis for the DownTown Mystic project over a decade later.

It's the 2nd album release for DownTown Mystic in 2020, which started with the critically acclaimed Better Day in January. That album has yielded 5 singles with consistent radio airplay on over 300 stations in 27 countries. The previously unreleased songs from the new album include original versions of some of the artist's best-known songs like Turn Around And Go and Modern Ways, the last single from Better Day. The idea for releasing an album of previously unreleased pre-DownTown Mystic material came from an unlikely source.

In 2017 DownTown Mystic Writer/Producer Robert Allen received a letter in the mail from renowned British rock journalist Nik Cohn, who had been living in Asbury Park, NJ doing research for a book on the late 70s-early 80s music scene there. He had come across a band called The Tupleos that had made an impression during that time hooking up with E Street Band bass player Garry Tallent. Cohn was able to trace the band back to Robert. It got Robert to go back into his musical archives, listening to tracks by The Tupelos, as well as the solo material he made after leaving the band.

Robert explains, "It was so strange to get that letter out of the blue, like someone tapping you on the shoulder to look at something. It wasn't until this pandemic stopped everything that I had the time to go back to that material and think about releasing it. With the Better Day release winding down it seemed like the right time".

"Familiar but fresh is the mantra here, as Robert Allen looks back at his past, in the same way everyone else does from time to time. The difference is, he has got plenty to show for it." JamSphere Magazine


DownTown Mystic
3-Way Heartbreak Single
Sha-La Music/The Orchard
Digital UPC:195081849959
1. 3-Way Heartbreak 3:49
2. Same Old Lover (Radio Mix) 3:46

Produced By: Robert Allen
(p) & © 2020 Sha-La Music, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

3-Way Heartbreak is the stand-alone single released in advance of the DownTown Mystic: Used Records History 1979-1985 album that will be released on November 6, 2020. The 3-Way Heartbreak single also includes the track Same Old Lover, recorded in 1983. With its use of synths and drum machines, 3-Way Heartbreak fits in nicely with the current comeback of 80s music.

Stranger Things Music Supervisor Nora Felder loved the song and wanted to put it in the 2nd season of the show until she found out that the song wasn't a hit in the 80s because it hadn't been released.

"DownTown Mystic: Used Records History 1979-1985 is the collection resulting from Allen's stroll down his own Rock & Roll memory lane. The single sounds like the hit it should have been, had it ever been released back in the day." The Static Dive

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Biography

Rock'n'Roll spoken here...

The sound of DownTown Mystic is “vintage yet modern”. The music is rooted in all the great traditions of American Rock‘n’Roll, blending story telling songs with vintage guitars and analog recording into a unique style that owes nods to Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds, The Beatles and Rolling Stones but somehow manages to sound as contemporary as anything currently available.

DownTown Mystic is the alter ego of American Rocker, Robert Allen, whose passion for “old school” recording borders on obsession. Robert adds, “I grew up listening to all these great records and their sound and style has stayed with me”. Robert is joined by a stellar cast of musicians, including drummer extraordinaire Steve Holley (Paul McCartney/Wings/Elton John/Ian Hunter) & urban legend Paul Page (Dion/Ian Hunter) on bass, as well as one of the great rhythm sections in the history of American Rock'n'Roll--Max Weinberg & Garry Tallent of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band.

DownTown Mystic broke through at US Americana Radio with the self-titled DownTown Mystic CD in 2013. That album spent 10 months on the US Americana Radio Charts, with a #1 Single and #3 Album on the Roots Music Report Charts. This Stateside success was built on DownTown Mystic’s 1st release, Standing Still, which found critical acclaim overseas in 2011. That album made the Top 25 Euro/Americana Chart, which lead to a Licensing Deal in Europe distributed by Sony Music.

2016 started with the release of the single Way To Know in Europe and spent 3 weeks at #1 on the Official European Independent Music Chart. In the spring the DownTown Nashville EP was released and debuted in the Top 5 Most Added on the US Americana Association’s Radio Chart (AMA). This summer, the digital release of the Rock'n'Roll Romantic album drew rave reviews, setting up the release of the Rock'n'Roll Romantic cd in the fall.

It started at Radio with veteran tastemaker, Jed The Fish, playing a DownTown Mystic track as his “Catch of The Day” on “World Famous” KROQ in LA, one of the most influential stations in the US. This would be followed by the “Mayor of The Sunset Strip”, legendary KROQ DJ Rodney Bingenheimer, playing another track and leading to national airplay.

From there, DownTown Mystic was off and running. Besides gaining recognition from Radio programmers, the DownTown Mystic Brand has been developing nicely with Music Supervisors via Sync Licensing. DownTown Mystic has music placed in movies and on over 200 TV shows, including The Voice on NBC, American Pickers on the History Channel, as well as shows on MTV, USA, CNN, Discovery, NatGeo, GACTV, TLC, WETV, Destination America and Lifetime.

“I have never heard a rock n’ roll band be so relentlessly high-quality, intelligent, thought-provoking, fun and just wonderful to hear; musically solid, and never-ever boring!” Rick Jamm/JamSphere

“Robert Allen AKA DownTown Mystic, took those old school influences that were planted in his musical soul, tended them with reverence, pollinated them with some fresh melodies and produced a tasty crop of tunes” Kath Galasso/OnStage Magazine

“brilliantly conceived piece of musical art”
Rod Ames/ReviewYou.com

“genuine emotions and lots of soul” Rune Hager/Rootsy/Sweden

“DownTown Mystic is a real pleasure: a pure sound with a brilliant production and top musicians gives the listener the feeling there is still reasons to hope in Music”
Mike Penard "The DJ" / "American Roots Music"/RadioISA/France

“With Robert Allen and DownTown Mystic we are in the field of best crafted rock'n'roll” Davide Albini/Roots Highway/Italy

"Allen's influences--Byrds, Beatles, Buffalo Springfield--permeate his guitar-driven songs, adding a retro sound to his more modern Americana leanings" Dave Curtis/Direct Current