TJ Mayes Over the Moon
Shawnee, Oklahoma singer songwriter TJ Mayes has a new album Over the Moon, that’s country with a little bit of western dark side energy all played at once together, lightly and fluidly. TJ is generally known for his rockabilly and roots rock music, but on this album he takes just one step closer to older style country in the tradition of Roy Orbison and even a little Marty Robbins, furthering his own unique blend of these delightful styles. At the same time, it’s ultimately folk rockish and basically Americana. There’s a fair degree of a tortured soul processing its tribulations in this album, from the pain of watching a society come apart, to acknowledging painful abusive relationships, and folks who passed away too soon, while every step of the way points to wanting to escape, perhaps far way … over the moon.
“Prelude / Take the Moon” is an instrumental with a classic western rhythm and feel. But next up, on “Burn It Down” the pace is slower and more reflective, with TJ’s vocals expressing emotionally and soulfully as he speaks out about the situation that needs to be stopped: “Persistence in apologies degrading the very meaning, never say you’re sorry again/ Covering the tracks of bad men / It’s too late to right the course of the ship, so let’s sink this, let’s sink this paper ship.” The pedal steel and the “whoa whoa whoa” sounds like old timey country vocals, in the Roy Orbison range, but the topic is all very right now.
In “Melancholy Blue” the guitar playing is Americana in style and it’s a confessional song about a man, or really anyone, learning to be in touch with their emotions and expressing them instead of stuffing them down and locking them away somewhere as traditional may teach: “It took me years to sing straight from the heart, A suppressed, pushed down, locked away wretched art, Just like you taught your old boy to do, A man aint a man unless he can hide the blues/ Now I’m belting out thunderstorms standing on a cloud, Washing all the blood that stains the ground, Sing Sing Sing that melody so true, Ring ring ring that melancholy blue.” It’s a skillful mix of country baritone and pedal steel with a more contemporary blues expressiveness.
“Let’s Do It Again” picks up the pace with the idea of repeating something thrilling that’s a little scary: “Who doesn’t dare to open that door, step into the abyss reaching for a little more/ Steady we move, steady we change, steady we embrace the new and the strange/ Lets do it again.”
There’s also a darkness here, around the theme of relationships that were disturbed and toxic. “Ode to Love” exposes a harmful relationship: “Too many times we’d speak, I’d turn the other cheek / Pull the knife from my back and cover up your guilty tracks / Too many times we’d speak, I’d turn the other cheek/ Too many times…” Then there’s a love that drove someone to suicide in the folksy (with darker baritone guitar): “Suicidal Love”: “She ruptured your heart, took the breath from your lungs, Played the long game with a great big gun / ‘fore you knew it, got them Xs for eyes instead of Xs and Os on the day that you died / Whoa – oooo Tell me was it worth it, was it worth the suicidal love.” And the confused and tortured “Love. Miss. Hate.”: “I love you, I miss you, I hate you, I’m chasing ghosts and I don’t know why / I love you, I miss you, I hate you, a hollowed host singing sad lullabies, sad lullabies…”
“Ash to Ash” is a song of tribute to grieving and saying goodbye to someone: “I know I’ll see you on the other side.” In case you began to forget TJ’s rock n roll roots, the distortion on the guitar here reminds you.
TJ Mayes has managed to blend styles together into his own unique sound – a challenge not many can meet. The songs knit together older country styles with easy more contemporary Americana, folk, and root rock sentiments, and it’s an enjoyable, rare sound that sounds just like you’ve already always known it. Add that to TJ’s deep thinking, soul-bearing lyrics and it’s really special. You can find the music here on his Bandcamp page: https://tjmayes.bandcamp.com/album/take-the-moon
Musicians on the album are TJ Mayes on vocals and guitar; Johnny Carlton on upright bass; Steve Boaz on drums; and Kyle Reid on pedal Steel, electric guitar, Hammond organ, baritone guitar, and synth.
Over the Moon was recorded and mixed by Michael Trepagnier and mastered by Carl Saff. It was recorded at Cardinal Song Studio in Oklahoma City. Album Art was created by TJ Mayes with graphic design by Beck Rustic. Most of the songs were written by TJ Mayes, with some co-writes with Jenni Mayes.