by Nick Christophers
It’s always a pleasure to find a good taste of rock n roll to dance to. Seasoned artist, Robert Allen or better known as Down Town Mystic, has served up another project to be remembered. He wears more than one hat when it comes to music as a producer, singer and song writer. Rob had a company called Sha-La Music Inc where he created and produced artistic content for publishing, licensing and distribution. The company at first was an Indie Publishing and Production company which then developed into label and management.
Rob would soon develop his personal project after he began working on his own recordings. The name for the project came to him as an omen. While he was on his way from NY to Boston he was passing through Mystic, CT and came across an old sign that read “Next stop Downtown Mystic”. At that point something went off in his head that said, that sign would be his projects name. Hence, his new project was to be named Down Town Mystic.
“I play old school R n R and downtown is where the rock clubs are usually located. I’m a numerologist with new age leanings in Astrology, Tarot, Runes, etc., so I live in the Mystic. But the strange part of the story is on subsequent rides up to Boston I never saw that old wooden sign again. The other thing is once I took the name DownTown Mystic, I put one of my tracks on a music industry cd sampler and got picked up by KROQ DJ Jed The Fish as his “Catch of The Day” and played on his show at rush hour in LA. It was an omen!!”
Rob Allen has worked with many incredible artists via his project DownTown Mystic. Artists like Ian Hunter, Max Weinberg, Garry Tallent, Steve Holley and Paul Page. On his “Down Town on E Street EP Featuring Max Weinberg & Garry Tallent” he had he pleasure of working with Max and Garry on that EP. As for Steve and Paul who are the rhythm section of the Rant Band for Ian Hunter have been featured on all of Rob’s albums. The specific EP “The Down Town Mystic on E Street” had a single “Way To Know”, on the project that reached #1 on the Roots Music Report Chart in the UK and Europe.
It is no surprise judging from his style that he would have been influenced by Tom Petty. Rob has always felt a certain connection to Tom’s style and how it translated within his own music. Tracks like “American Girl”, “You Don’t Know How It Feels” and “All You Can Carry” are Tom Petty classics that have left a profound effect on Rob. So far, Rob has released “DownTown Nashville EP” (2016), “Rock’n’Roll Romantic” album (2016) and the current “Better Day” album. He also released two singles in 2018 after signing a Digital Distribution deal with AWAL via Kobalt Music.
His music has been well received worldwide on radio and also via TV. His single “Way To Know” was picked up by a company called Jungle Punks which used the track on the first season of The Voice. Besides that, since linking up with JP he has about sixty songs on close to 200 TV shows. His music has also been featured on The Carrie Diaries on the CW, American Pickers on the History Channel, as well as shows on MTV, CNN, USA, TLC, Nat Geo and Discovery.
The current album “Better Day” has ten songs on its digital version and two bonus tracks on the CD. At the moment Rob is not looking to do any touring for the new album. He just released the physical CD on April 17, 2020 and has gained some traction so far considering the recent pandemic. On the horizon he will be releasing the single “Modern Ways” on May 22nd including the track “History”. With the assistance of Jenni Finlay Promotions, he was able to release them at American Radio. So far, “Better Day” has been played on fifteen stations. There will be two world premieres for the videos on YouTube. For the European market the single “Modern Ways” will be released on May 20, 2020 via the iPluggers online radio platform. Rob has created a unique project in Down Town Mystic that many could appreciate and relate to. Hopefully the spirit of Tom Petty can keep gracing him with good vibes.
