‘Guns & Gods & Gold’ – Wonderful New Album from Row Jomah

In the event that you were looking for an objective review of the new album Guns & Gods & Gold by Row Jomah, do us both a favor and stop reading right now. Because this isn’t it.

This is personal, for a lot of reasons. For one, I am an unabashed Row Jomah fan, and I’ve enjoyed every one of the two dozen shows I’ve seen them play, at festivals, bars, outdoors, even Beer and Brownies (I know, right?). For two, this band represents at many, many shows where their peers are performing and at festivals, always supporting their musician friends. For three, they included a song on this album just to give me a hard time. How am I not loving that?

The album release party for Guns & Gods & Gold is this Saturday, September 16th, at the Dunedin Brewery, with incredible fusion sextet JOOSE opening (Christian Ryan, reeds and flute; Justino Lee Walker, guitar; Yral ‘datdudeondrums’ Morris on, well, you know; Taylor Gilchrist, bass; Mark Mayea, keyboards; and Jimmy ‘Jams’ Rector on percussion).

JOOSE

[If you catch this before 5:30 today, Joe will be on WMNF 88.5 in Tampa to talk about the album and play a song or two with Amy Snider. You can listen online at wmnf.org.]

There are five important strengths you should know about Clearwater’s Row Jomah (this is NOT a five-paragraph essay, teachers and students). The band leader, Joe Roma, is an impressive, sensitive, insightful songwriter with a magical voice that can go from a whisper to a roar, with a wonderful falsetto thrown in for good measure. Bassist Jason Berlin works hard in the rhythm section with great, supportive bass lines. You might not notice him at first, but make sure you concentrate on him from time to time.

Courtesy of Jess Phillips Art & Photography

It was perhaps the second or third time I had seen Row Jomah, opening Great Outdoors Jam 2015 (and they’ll be at the 2017 edition), when this dude ran up to the rail, pointed at drummer Dylan Chee-A-Tow, and shouted (to everyone’s agreement, and I have cleaned this up): “That motherF’er is a motherF’er!” Then, you have Austin Llewellyn on keyboards, who runs the gamut from jazz to space rock, especially effective on electric piano, organ and synths. Splashes of “St. Thomas” and other quotes are an added bonus.

And then there is Melbourne Walsh, or Mel, for short. Which is appropriate. Mel doesn’t say a lot, and he’s not flashy on stage. He subscribes to the “Speak softly, and carry a big guitar” philosophy. His distinctive tone is a key feature in every Row Jomah song, and every song is the better for it. He is not under appreciated by fans of the band, but he certainly is underrated.

Courtesy of Jess Phillips Art & Photography

Guns & Gods & Gold was recorded by Matt DeSear at Burnt Orange Sound Studio in Bradenton. DeSear and Row Jomah produced it, and it was mastered by Vinny Svoboda, the brilliant bass player for Displace and a great sound engineer. The recording is magnificent. Cover art (of course it has cats) was designed by Dean Arscott.

Guns & Gods & Gold begins with a brief “Intro,” a lovely instrumental with clarinet* courtesy of Cody Moore of NoNeed and Dave Gerulat (shoeless soul) on percussion. Gerulat often sits in with the band. Elegant electric guitar and piano are joined by the rhythm section, which features upright bass from Svoboda. Then it’s down to business.

Joe Roma writes primarily about love relationships: successful, fractured, fading, lost, unrequited, putative, you name it. And the emotions come out in his voice. He was recorded effectively on the band’s first album, Cat People, and on last summer’s Live at the Dunedin Brewery, but this new album captures him perfectly.

One of the themes that recurs in his songwriting is the concept of “fading away,” which crops up right away on — appropriately — “Fade Away.” This is a choppy rocker with Walsh out front, Chee-A-Tow churning on drums, and Berlin laying down a great bass line. This is signature Row Jomah. Roma’s falsetto is deluxe, and Llewellyn takes great solos on organ and then piano. And Walsh kills it. Gerulat guests here, too.

“You look away, I beg you Please,
I still await what’s yet to come for me,
Oh, can’t you see?
With so much love and so much pain
We can’t forget the best is yet to be,
Oh, can’t you see?”

Dave Gerulat joins the boys at the recording session.

“The Corner” begins with an interesting one-minute intro of synthy wave sounds and Moore’s clarinet again. Then, as often occurs in RJ tunes, Roma’s acoustic guitar comes in, followed by Walsh’s electric. But this tune jams! It’s almost a cross between Particle and Marbin (never mind — my brain would explode). Svoboda adds upright bass here as well. Walsh nails it, again, and Chee-A-Tow is dynamite.

“So, have you been waiting long?
Why don’t you stay and talk a while?
Though the world keeps spinning ‘round,
Well, you were always on my mind.”

Courtesy of Jess Phillips Art & Photography

“Windowpanes” is of the unrequited love variety, at least for now. The song begins almost islands-like, with yet another solo from you-know-who.

“Lately I’ve found myself walking around your place,
Standing in the tall, tall weeds, hoping to catch a glimpse of your face.
Your daddy come and standin’ there sayin’
‘Son, what are you doing ‘round here?
Well, I ran off in the other direction,
But I’ll be back again, yes, sir.”

Acoustic and electric guitars do their intro thing again on “You & Me,” with fine solos from Llewellyn on piano and that guitar player.

“So you know, when you walk out that door,
It’ll be our last goodbye.
You and me could have rules the world.
Me sounds just fine.”

There is an almost Latin-jazzy feel to “Back & Forth” with great piano work from Llewellyn. More upright bass from Svoboda, here, too. Roma’s vocals kick in immediately, and Walsh’s solo takes it out to Alan Holdsworth territory. Call me a fanboy if you want, but he just knocks me out.

Vinny Svoboa

“Shred the Gnar” starts with a lovely duet between Berlin’s bass and Chee-A-Tow’s cymbals. It’s fractured love this time: “Want you back, Come on back.” Walsh solos, and then there is a great synth piano solo that turns into a UFO or spaceship or something (so wonderfully spacey). Walsh blisters another solo, with a lovely acoustic coda from Roma.

Courtesy of Jess Phillips Art & Photography

Acoustic guitar and piano set up “Two Hands.” This is the softest, most easy-going song on the album, with this hope:

“But the day when our paths cross again,
You’ll bring love in your right hand,
You’ll bring peace in your left hand,
You’ll bring it all in your two hands.”

“I know that when I think of you,
Oh, we’ll meet again on some brighter day, yeah, yeah, yeah.”

Courtesy of Jess Phillips Art & Photography

“Crawl,” Roma explains, “is basically just a guy walking through the swamp, and he meets the devil, and the devil wants to take him away, and he resists. It’s more of a story song. A lot of my songs don’t have a linear story, but that one does. That’s a really old song. Ha ha! The frogs were recorded at the studio. We were mixing one night, and it had just rained. Thought it was appropriately swampy.” Walsh rocks this one, and Chee-A-Tow does a great job in one second playing rims.

So another Row Jomah live staple is titled “Cat People.” You may or may not have figured out that that there is this thing with Joe and cats. The song is tremendous and goes through a variety of changes, including a great “Cantina Band” segment and a Chee-A-Tow tour de force. When the band’s first album, Cat People, was released, I discovered that “Cat People” wasn’t on it. 

Roma suggested that an EP might later come out with that tune on it, but there was no EP. Then I checked Live at the Dunedin Brewery. Not there either (although “Windowpanes” and “You & Me” both made early appearances there).

Which brings us to Track 10, “Cab Peephole.” This is a glorious jazzy jam fusion song. All 18 seconds of it. I’ll get over it. Eventually. [In the meantime, check the video at the top of the article.]

I suggested earlier that “Fade Away” was signature Row Jomah. In that case, “Better Days,” which also was on the live album, is quintessential Row Jomah. Perfect, superb Row Jomah. This is a long, dark tune, and Walsh rips another great solo. The tune develops for quite a while, and just when I was wondering where Llewellyn was, he popped right up with a modified-sounding electric piano, then switched to organ. His electric piano accents at the end are sublime.

“And I know that when I take your hand into mine
Everything is gonna be just fine.
As we go into darkened times, you know one day,
There will be better times.
I know that in the end, my friend, we’ll meet again,”

Courtesy of Jess Phillips Art & Photography

Finally, Roma laments “Little Plans.” This is of the pleading variety. Electric piano and electric guitar again rule, and bass and drums are spot on for every track on the album.

“I won’t let you go, And I beg you to stay
Until we grow old and fade away.
All of life’s little plans fall apart in the end,
But I won’t stay away.”

This album has Row Jomah written all over it. You should get one.

Some photographs courtesy of Jess Phillips Art & Photography.

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[*At some point at a late-night campfire discussion, a friend cracked up when I complained that the word processor I use routinely ‘autocorrects’ the word ‘clavinet’ as clarinet. This is the first time it got it right.]

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