Reported by Piper Tenney, Edited by Beatrice Larzul
On March 1st, 2023, Rye resident Rob Sammon released his first solo album, The Hurt. Inspired by many greats such as Elton John, Bernie Taupin, and Bruce Springsteen, his album is “guaranteed to hit a nerve with anyone with a pulse”, “combining heartfelt lyrics with catchy hooks,” as stated by its press release.
Rob recalled that most of these tracks were written during the pandemic isolation. However, the title track was inspired by an unhappy couple Rob had once seen at a restaurant.
“It made me think about the relationships that fail and also about the cycle of life,” Rob said. “It occurred to me that this couple had once been in love like most couples, but something happened. What was that something? Why were they stuck? What changed?”
Rob has always considered himself a writer, but he noted that “adding music to [his] words has proven to be a different and magical kind of expression.” He writes music 60-80 hours a month and never goes anywhere without his guitar.
“This collection includes heartfelt lyrics, sometimes true, mostly not, of stories that I wanted to tell,” Rob said.
Rob has lived in Rye for 12 years and has been making music for the past 8 of them. His writing process starts with choosing a BPM (beats per minute) and a certain style depending on his mood. After that, he is ready to begin to work on the lyrics.
“Sometimes the music comes first, sometimes the lyrics,” Rob says. “It’s often the melody that comes before anything else—just to the drum track.”
In 2021, Rob collaborated on his first record with friend and neighbor Sandy Wollman. When asked to compare the two records and the process of creating them, Rob said, “I only played guitar on one track on ‘Short way down,’ but I sang them all, and I wrote seven of the nine tracks. On this record, I play on more than half of the tracks. It was important to me to play more on my records.” He also credits many other talented musicians who contributed to the album including GE Smith, Lincoln Schleifer, and his producer Joe DiGorgi.
Rob Sammon’s album The Hurt can be found on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube.
