DownTown Mystic returns with Mystic Highway, a high-energy rock journey shaped by top-tier musicians, bold AI creativity, and timeless authenticity. In this interview, he reflects on collaborations, sync success, and future projects.
The musicians on the DownTown Mystic project are an integral part of it in every way. They all contribute to the sound and energy you can hear and feel on this record. The songs are mostly up-tempo and that makes them very demanding to play. The musicians get put through their paces on these tracks. They all push themselves to deliver top performances and it shows.
Technically, this is the first AI video created for DTM by Richard Lewinsohn, but it’s not my first AI video. Richard also did the new “Read The Signs” video for Mystic Highway. I now have 5 AI videos in all, and I started making them because AI is the latest technology available. I have so many lyric videos using stock footage that I wanted to see what AI could do. You can always see something different with AI, even after many viewings.
The guitar players you named are all exceptional. I usually play all the guitars on most songs, but every now and then I have the opportunity to work with some great players like Lance, Bruce and JJ. I was looking to hear something different from these players on the Mystic Highway tracks. Lance is from Alabama and brings some of that southern grit to the tracks he plays on. He plays with great “feel” and you can hear it on “Modern Ways”. I’m on one side of the speakers and he’s on the other side and he sticks out just by the way he plays. Of the 3, I’ve worked with Bruce Engler the most. He’s been a big part of DTM since the start. We co-wrote “One More Chance” on The Wish album and we co-wrote “Read The Signs on Mystic Highway. I co-produced Bruce’s “One More Chance” album and played on it, so we’re very familiar with each other’s styles. He’s a great artist in his own right, so playing with him is a good time in the studio. Plus, he has a great voice, so having him sing on some of the tracks is a bonus. JJ is a very talented musician. He plays a few instruments, which makes him handy to have around. He plays a killer mandolin on “Some Day”, which is the big production piece on Mystic Highway. When he came to the session I had him try to put a dobro on the track. He spent a couple of hours playing the dobro but couldn’t come up with anything that stuck, so we moved on. 10 hours later, JJ’s packing up and he apologizes for not being able to get the dobro part earlier. I said it was my fault because I was the one who wanted to put a dobro on the track and it didn’t work. JJ mentions the idea that hit him when he first heard the song and plays me a bit of it. I immediately told him to reset up his gear because we’re recording his idea, which are these guitar swells that are made by hitting a note and then raising the volume on the guitar with the palm of the hand. The way JJ plays them sounds like a pedal steel guitar. It’s a very intricate guitar technique and JJ cuts the track in like 1 take and totally makes “Some Day” happen.
It hasn’t influenced the creative direction at all because syncs are so subjective. It all depends on the director and the vibe he’s looking for in a scene. That’s not something you can plan for. I’ve had songs picked by the music supervisor that got cut by the director. It happened on an episode of Stranger Things. Ouch! lol
I’ve remixed the tracks we recorded together and added some new things to the mixes. I think the overall sound has improved. This collaboration is a crucial one to the core identity of DTM because of the credibility that these 2 great musicians provide. I created the project to allow me to play with top-notch musicians. I wanted to make credibility in the music a priority. The project is all about the music and the musicians who play it. Therefore, the credibility of the musicians is paramount. I know how musicians will look at this project. When you’re throwing out names like Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Elton John and Ian Hunter, to just name a few of the artists all these guys have played with, I want to live up to those kinds of standards. If I can’t reach that level then it’s not worth it to me, and one of the ways to get to that level, is playing with guys who play on that level. I want the listener to have an experience they can’t get everywhere. I’m presenting a sound created by topflight musicians who know how to play serious Rock’n’Roll. The fact that Max & Garry form one of the best rhythm sections in the history of RnR is not lost on me. There wasn’t a DownTown Mystic when I recorded these songs with them. I had to bake the reels of tape to get Max & Garry’s performances onto a hard drive. They were in the process of recording the historic Born In The USA album with Springsteen, when they were recording these tracks with me on their days off. Outside of The Boss, they’ve only recorded with a handful of artists as a rhythm section, and DownTown Mystic is now one of them.
Mystic Highway is all about prime high-energy RnR. I want the listener to “Feel” the music. I used to get mad at hearing the term “classic rock” used to describe my sound, but I realize that’s exactly what it is. I’m trying to make classic rock sounding tracks on Mystic Highway, so it’s a complement when I do it right. As I’ve said earlier, I hold myself up to the high standard of the classics that came before me. I want the listener to hear the authenticity of what real RnR sounds like in this day and age.
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