Comin' Home by Reagan Browne

Representing a return to his musical and geographic roots, Comin’ Home was recorded in Fort Worth, TX’s First Street Audio with co-producer Bart Rose, but Browne provided all the vocals and guitars in a stunning one-man effort that perfectly expresses his varied background.

“I’m High on Loving You” has the twangy surf noir guitars and falsetto harmonies of the Beach Boys crossed with the country regrets of Hank Williams’ classic “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” while “Sweet Diane” has a British power-pop feel, fueled by a Velvet Underground-like buzzsaw guitar riff that drives home the story of a disgruntled actress who finally gets her big break, only to let that success drive her crazy. Browne’s love of the thudding heavy metal stomp of Black Sabbath can be heard in the thunderous “Slingin’ Dirt”as well the the Who-meet-Hendrix instrumental freak-out “Wrecking Ball.” The riff-rocker “Let’s Think About Tomorrow” captures the hopefulness tinged with anger about the war in Iraq, while the sweet soulful piano ballad “Sophia’s Song,” to his seven-year-old daughter contains the tender sentiments: “An angel came and rescued me/Like a sinking ship lost out to sea/You’re the thing that keeps me strong/My love for you I’m singing in this song.”

“When I sit down to write, the biggest thing is creating good melodies,” says Browne. “Singing harmonies is also important, but I’m really a guitar guy, so the heavy stuff is my 1 passion.”

His eclectic influences come from listening to his neighbors’ discarded vinyl collection in his room as a child, with the Beatles, Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers (“the one with the zipper”), Black Sabbath’s Masters of Reality and Billy Joel among his favorites.

In kindergarten, he discovered the acoustic guitar when a classmate brought one in for “show and tell.” Within 30 minutes, he was entertaining the class by playing the riff from “Satisfaction.” It wasn’t until he was 12 that he picked up the instrument full-time, enthralled by viewing clips of Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and Eddie Van Halen.

“I’m dyslexic, so I could never read music,” he admits. “When I took classical guitar classes in high school, I would have to look at the page and pretend I was reading to fool the professor.

“I basically learned how to play by ear, which is probably the best thing that could have happened to me in terms of my songwriting, as it helped me develop my instincts for what would work in terms of the listener.”

Playing in cover bands, he avoided the microphone until others encouraged him to sing.

“I just decided, if I really wanted to do this, I had to start writing my own songs, and doing the vocals myself,” he says.

The result is Comin’ Home, the perfect showcase for both his warm vocals and impressive guitar stylings, which range from the bluesy feel of “Something Real” to the wah-wah workout of “For the Very First Time,” from the streamlined The Edge-like sizzle of “Sweet Diane” to the psychedelic fuzztones of “Slingin’ Dirt” and “Wrecking Ball.”

“I had the chance to use a lot of amps and guitars, including several Les Pauls and Stratocasters, in the studio,” he says. “I wanted to use a little something different on every song, so each would have a unique color.”

As for lyrical themes, much of the album is about being lovelorn, break-ups, bad relationships, the tug of the past set against the uncertainty of the future. Songs like “For the Very First Time” (“The lights went out on you/For the very first time”) and “Something Real” (“I’m going away/That’s what you said as you walked out of my life”) mourn the ones that left him behind. “Sweet Diane” (“All that you wanted/Was your face in a magazine”) and “When It Rains” (“So stop worrying about the things/That make the drama unfold”) are about people who can’t stand prosperity, while the hopeful “Sophia’s Song” and “You Got Me” tell his daughter he’ll always be there for her.

“My writing tends to go from one extreme to the other,” he nods. “It’s either about true love for somebody, or how things went south.”

At this point, Reagan Browne is ready to take his songs to the public. He admits it’s a lot different than making a movie or a TV show, where you have to wait to hear people’s reactions.

“The great thing about doing music is the instant feedback I get from all over the world when I put the songs up on MySpace,” he says. “People are already asking when they can buy the album or see me perform.”

For Reagan Browne, his debut album represents more than a return to his native state of Texas…it marks a homecoming to a place that he is increasingly making his own: as a singer/songwriter and guitarist.

“This is what I was meant to do all along,” he says. “I’m finally doing what everybody thought I should be doing from the get-go, and that’s playing music.”

Thankfully for us, Comin’ Home is the result. The acting world’s loss is pop music’s gain.

By: Roy Trakin

Senior Editor, HITS Magazine

For booking or publicity contact: Dione Dirito Public Relations at

dionedirito@aol.com

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