Patrick Coman
"...the love child of Jimbo Mathus & Lou Reed" -WRFG Atlanta
In an era where volume dictates attention, Patrick Coman pulls you in with a quiet unshakable confidence. It’s a confidence built from a decade behind the scenes with some of the generation’s best songwriters as a booking agent, sound engineer, and producer for premier Americana station WUMB, before stepping into the spotlight with his debut full length album Tree Of Life.
Bio
Patrick Coman is a singer/songwriter originally hailing from Tulsa, OK. Following the path of "Tulsa Sound" innovators like Leon Russell and JJ Cale he walks the narrow path between blues and country, between straight and swung rhythms, hearkening back to the very beginning of rock n' roll.
After releasing his debut album Tree Of Life ("atmopsheric film score blues" -Ryan's Smashing Life) he toured nationally and supported legendary artists like Del McCoury, Joan Osborne, Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams, and Robbie Fulks.
Press & Reviews
Boston Herald
Jed Gottlieb, Music Editor
Patrick Coman begins his new album, “Tree of Life,” on a pirate ship in the fog at midnight (possibly with Tom Waits as his first mate). At least that’s how opening track “Heartbeat” feels, with boot heels stomping on warped planks, rattling chains and a fatal loneliness. The song’s vibe is hypnotic, but Coman doesn’t stay in it long.
A fixture in the Boston Americana scene, the singer-songwriter has no fear of sonic wandering, and “Tree of Life” is proof.
On “Don’t Reach,” he happily does a Buddy Holly rockabilly shake. For “9-5ers,” his touchstone is a sloppy, swaggering Elvis. (This is meant as high praise!) “Dirty Old Bed Blues” features the singer almost sashaying through an R&B romp backed by some drunken New Orleans trumpet wails.
The well-worn homages are welcome, but Coman is at his best when he is at his strangest. The title track returns to the rough aesthetic of boot heels pacing planks and bar room wisdom, and the words, voice and feel — that desolation! — are completely Coman’s. Of course, it never hurts to have guitarist Peter Parcek (who produced the LP along with drummer Marco Giovino) unleash a squall of feedback and fury as he does on the track.
Aquarian Weekly
Climb The Tree Of Life
For singer/songwriter Patrick Coman’s startlingly good Tree Of Life — on his own For The Sake Of The Song label — he holed up in a rural Massachusetts studio that was more like a club house a la The Band’s Big Pink than a sterile recording facility. The comparison is apt as Coman has fashioned the kind of rockin’ Americana that his fellow Okies from Tulsa, JJ Cale and Leon Russell, used to spin off with seeming ease — the only cover is Russell’s “Magic Mirror”. With drummer Marco Giovino of Robert Plant’s band co-producing a riotous rhythmic thrust of three guitars, drums, baritone sax, lap steel, mandolin, tuba, trombone, stand-up bass, electric bass, three keyboards, accordion and four vocalists, it’s to his credit that the sound doesn’t simply take over. Coman’s ideas, his thoughtful lyrics, his well-worn voice with that hint of somebody you think you know but really don’t, carries this most impressive debut.
Red Line Roots
Show Review: Patrick Coman at The Burren
Patrick Coman has been a staple of the Boston music scene for years and he released his latest album, Tree of Life, at The Burren on Saturday night. A few months ago, Patrick and his family moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, leaving a hole in our local music scene, as Patrick was an integral part of WUMB and organized an incredible run of tribute shows under the banner, “For The Sake of the Song.” It was good to have Patrick back in the area, joining forces with the incredible Peter Parcek, who co-produced the new album, for an evening of blistering blues.
In the liner notes for Tree of Life, Patrick quotes Woody Guthrie: “All you can write is what you see.” That kind of honesty can be hard to come by, but Patrick really lives it in his songwriting: he is entirely without guile and delivers straightforward, heartfelt lyrics in every tune. The highlights of the evening for me were when he really went for it vocally, climbing his register and stepping back from the microphone to shout and scream. He picked his spots for that well, especially on “Rock When I Roll,” and “Keep My Soul.”
Peter Parcek is a tough act to follow and he opened the show with a stunning display of virtuosic guitar playing, capped by some slide guitar magic on Peter Green’s “Show Biz Blues.” But there was no competition, only collaboration, and it is clear how much mutual respect there is between Patrick and Peter. Jeremy Van Cleave joined during both sets on fiddle, adding color and texture to the band; the way he and Peter made space for each other’s solos was fantastic and reflected a high degree of communication between the players. The band ended with the burning “Chelsea Street,” another highlight, and we’ll be looking forward to the next time Patrick’s back in town.
Glide Magazine
Tree Of Life review (8/10 stars)
This is a rather pleasant surprise, never having heard of Patrick Coman. Yet, when the producer credits denoted guitarist Peter Parcek and drummer Marco Giovino, Coman’s Tree of Life certainly seemed worthy of a listen. It’s an eclectic mix of roots and blues material that did not disappoint. Parcek also plays lead guitar and Giovino, who has produced for Robert Plant and Buddy Miller, plays drums, percussion and organ behind Coman’s rocking, oft quirky songs.Of note, “Beehive Queen” Christine Ohlman guests on “Don’t Reach.”
Coman was a long-time Boston musician and radio personality before recently relocating to Charlottesville, VA. Coman comes across so confidently, you’d swear he’s been making records for years. That confidence was mostly born from a decade behind the scenes of some of this generation’s best songwriters as a booking agent, sound engineer, and DJ/producer for Americana station WUMB-FM in Boston. He was very familiar with Parcek and Giovino and worked with them over the past few years.
Coman’s musical foundation, however, traces to his upbringing in Oklahoma where, like every musical Okie, he was influenced by Woody Guthrie; and later by Leon Russell and J.J. Cale. His vocals certainly resemble more of an Oklahoma quality than a New Englander. Speaking of Guthrie, Coman says, “Today it is eerie to see how his Dust Bowl-era themes are just as relevant as ever. Although my sound is different, I like to think that Woody would appreciate songs like ‘Trouble #2’ and ‘The Judge.’ He was the master of boiling down an injustice to the point where anyone could understand it and while it doesn’t get mentioned as much, his combination of folk, blues, and hillbilly music paved the way for those of us who work in the cracks between genres.” “Chelsea Street,” for one, has that Tulsa shuffle popularized by J.J. Cale.
Coman says this about the record, “Even though a lot of the songs are pretty heavy we had so much fun during the recording process. Marco has this great studio out in rural Massachusetts that feels like a little clubhouse or what you’d imagine The Band had in mind with Big Pink. It was a place where we felt comfortable letting our imaginations run wild and really creating a sonic landscape for each song. No idea was too crazy for us to try and I think that type of freedom gave us the ambition to strive for something great.”
The different sonic landscapes are perhaps best typified by the contrast of the opening bleak, spooky “Heartbeat” offset against the vibrant vaudeville-like “Dirty Old Bed Bug Blues” accented by multi-instrumentalist Neal Pawley’s tuba and trombone. It’s also hard to deny the catchy appeal of “Rock When I Roll” with its chorus line – “Why do you rock baby when I want to roll?”
Most of the material was written in the month leading up to and immediately following the birth of Coman’s first child. Songs were constructed late at night or early in the morning when dreams blur with reality. That bridge between day and night informs both the album’s title and its sequence, which ranges from eerie and haunting to raucous and rollicking. Those times allowed for plenty of reflection as Coman tried his best to deal with his inner demons. It forced him to be honest and his doubt and fears are best shared in “Heartbeat,” ‘Keep My Soul,” and “Tree of Life.” Coman’s honesty is paired with a bit of wit and wide ranging musical palette that’s instantly credible.
