New Release: "Little Side Hustle" EP
( 6k monthly listeners on Spotify!)
Rome & the Canyon Echoes
Rome has been writing songs, playing piano & guitar, and performing since he was in High School in the prior Millennium. Somehow he avoided ever putting out an album – and thankfully that’s all changed now with the release of the “Little Side Hustle” EP in January 2024.
A singer-songwriter born in Texas and raised in Connecticut, Tom “Rome” Romary is a SF Bay Area "gig musician” who loves sitting down with friends to play & sing songs (when he's not hiking or skiing). This past autumn he corralled his posse of talented musicians to the studio to record some of the songs that have been haunting him for years.
Rome plays with The Wayhighs, Shagg, and Higher Ground at various bars and parties around the Bay Area. The Little Side Hustle EP is a grass-roots labor of love from people who share the love of creating art and making music.
Rome & The Canyon Echoes are...
...Tom "Rome" Romary and a posse of talented musicans from the bands The Wayhighs and Higher Ground
Rome, vocals and keys
Lorne Smith, guitars
Jack Caragol, guitar
Nick Lyon Wright, vocals and guitar
Kyle Mueller, drums & percussions
Dean Thomas, drums & percussions
Christian Stratton, Bass
Sean Han, Bass
Jake Blackshear, Saxophone
Clyde the Blynde, Trumpet
Rome LIVE!
Solo:
Tues April 23
Tahoe City Yacht Club
Tahoe City CA
6-8pm
Playing with The Wayhighs:
Thursday April 25
Wine Thieves
Lafayette CA
4:30 to 7:30pm
Friday April 26
Fourth Bore Taproom & Grill
Orinda CA
6:30 to 9:30pm
with Lorne Smith , Christian Stratton, Kyle Mueller, Clyde the Blynd, & Jake Blacksheear
Rome & The Canyon Echoes Radio
A great mix of tunes from Spotify from Wilco, Futurebirds, Sam Evian, Loose Fur, Daniel Romano, Robert Lester Folsom, Kurt Vila, Moniker and more
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Little Side Hustle - Production Credits
Producers: Rome, Lorne Smith, Kyle Mueller, and Nick Lyon-Wright
Mix Engineers: Kyle Mueller, Nick Lyon-Wright, Rome
Recorded at: Canyon Echoes Studios (Oakland CA )
EVENTS
Rome will be playing :
Tues April 23
Tahoe City Yacht Club
Tahoe City, CA
6 to 8pm
The Wayhighs playing...
Thurs April 25
Wine Thieves
Lafayette, CA
4:30 to 7:30pm
Friday April 26
Fourth Bore
Orinda, CA
6:30 to 9:30pm
The 10th annual "Summers are Forever" music festival in Tamworth NH this summer:
Sat August 10
Ogeedankee Lodge, Tamworth NH
4pm to 9pm (TBD)
The Guild in Pawtucket RI
Friday August 9
7pm to 10pm
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Song Lyrics and Notes
Lonely Summer, by Rome
Spent a lonely summer
In a crowded town
Yeah, it will run you down
Had a lot to give
She had more to gain
Dealing me only pain
Little time,
Had to makethat dime
Chasing money is a karma crime
Sippin’ bourbon
At the back of the bar
Wondering how I drifted far
I’m in a lonely coma
Sippin’ the house bourbon
Gazing across Brooklyn
No one is coming to join me
Looking back
I miss our walks
And the deep waterside talks
We were a thing but
To you it was a fling
Broken promise, it still stings
I know
We could never survive
In a city with dreams that are a lie
Spent a lonely summer
In a crowded town
Yeah, it will run you down
I’m in a lonely coma
Sippin’ the house bourbon
Gazing across Brooklyn
No one is coming to save me
When you left, I thought I was free
I was wrong, lost the prison key
House is empty, got no soul
Gotta dig myself out of this hole
Spent a lonely summer
In a crowded town
Yeah, it will run you down
Notes from Rome:
The first song I ever wrote…back in the 1980s…essentially about loneliness and lost love.
You & Me, by Rome
You and Me
When we’re together
You and Me
No, that’s a never
You rip me
You rip me up
You rip me up
And tear me apart
You and Me
When we’re together
You and Me
Know that’s forever
You grind me
You chew me up
You chew me up
And spit me out
I’m screaming in your arms
I’m writhing in your arms
I’m bleeding in your arms
Lost in your passionate clutch
Ahhhh, Ahhh
You and Me
When we’re in leather
You and Me
Know that’s forever
You rip me
You grind me up
You fuck me up
And tear me apart
No, that’s not me
I leased my soul
I’m a darker shadow of myself
Ahhhh, Ahhh
You and Me
When we’re together
You and Me
No that’s a never
You grind me
You chew me up
You chew me up
And spit me out
I’m bleeding in your arms
I’m writhing in your arms
I’m screaming in your arms
Lost in your passionate clutch
Ahhhh, Ahhhh
You and Me
You and Me
Notes from Rome: Not sure really...it might be about binge drinking...it's not about me and Linda (although sometimes, she says it is).
Little Side Hustle, by Rome
Coasting downhill into Reno
Gas light is on
If I keep it in neutral
Should make it no problem
Got a twenty in my pocket
That’ll get a few gallons
Or maybe step into Boomtown
Hit the tables, flip a Benny
I’m looking for a little side hustle
Keep the Ranger rolling
Gotta find me a little side hustle
So my missy won’t go trollin’
Yeah, Yeah
Looking for a Little Side Hustle
Yeah, Yeah
Looking for a Little, Side Hustle
Did a tour in Iraq
Got through without a scratch
Came home to work the rigs
Been bustin’ my ass ever since
Did a pipeline gig last fall
Hauling pumps and rollers
Till the Feds, yeah, they shut it down
And the only pipe I’m pumping is my own
I’m looking for a little side hustle
Keep the Ranger rolling
Gotta find me a little side hustle
So my missy won’t go trollin’
Yeah, Yeah
Looking for a Little Side Hustle
Yeah, Yeah
Looking for a Little, Side Hustle
I’m looking for a little side hustle
Keep the Ranger rolling
Gotta find me a little side hustle
So my missy won’t go trollin’
Been grinding all my life
Job to job, Gig to gig
Paying the rent, paying the taxman
And not gettin’ ahead of it
I’m looking for a little side hustle
To keep the Ranger rolling
Gotta find me a little side hustle
So my missy won’t go trollin’
Yeah, Yeah
Looking for a Little Side Hustle
Yeah, Yeah
Looking for a Little, Side Hustle
Personnel:
Notes from Rome:
Life is often about the grind & the struggle – marriage, raising a family, holding a job, losing a job, winning, losing…almost losing it all, and then making the shoe-string catch to keep it all together and harmonious.
Little Side Hustle, by Rome
Cowboy Song, by Rome
The only Cowboy I ever met
Was married to the woman
I was trying to forget
But I couldn’t
The only Cowboy I ever fought
Was married to the woman
Who tied me in a knot
And I liked it
That Cowboy, he’s a rough and tumble guy
He kicked my dog, and blackened my eye
I had it coming, but it wasn’t my fault
That Cowboy’s wife, just won’t stop
She just won’t stop
Once in a blue moon
I let my mind wander
To a place
where I shouldn’t even bother
I’m riding my horse
Through a fertile mountain valley
The stars are bright
Sharing my saddle with Sally
Sequin Sally
I sling my rifle across my shoulder
Dismount my Steed, and whisper what I told her
Light a fire, pitch the tent,
Strum my guitar, and sing “we are spent”
Yeah we are content
The only Cowboy I ever shot
Was married to the woman
Who tied me in a knot
And she loved it
The only woman I’ll never forget
Is tightening the noose around my neck
Notes from Rome:
About gettin’ into trouble. And that Cowboy’s wife…she still won’t stop.
Mossy Steps, by Rome
Perched upon the Mossy Steps
The shimmering aspen quakes
Greeting change and me
She sheds her gold to the wind
Gentle and content with its stand
Wisdom Oak whispers secrets of the land
Standing on the Mossy Steps
I listen to the whistling wind
Climbing up a rocky slope
Searching for a path to hope
Far above the hemlock grove
I hear the brook below
Waiting on the Mossy Steps
Praying that I pass the Test
Hoping on a mountain pass
to glimpse the truth
Notes from Rome:
My strength and spiritual guidance has always come from getting away to humbly connect with higher powers in the great outdoors.