Locals Coverings Locals: Patrick Coman Covers Tim Gearan

Many, many people approached me about contributing to the Locals Covering Locals project when I first announced it. Most of the messages ran the gamet from “Hey, I would love you to be on this” to “Hey, I think you should pick me, I f’ing rock”. One person shot me a quick message along the lines of “Hey man, you know I’d love to contribute any way that I can or just come and hang out with you guys at the studio.” That person was Patrick and is one of the reasons why he has become such a good friend. He gives so much of his heart to building and furthering the community here in town with his For The Sake of the Song Series, his Local Folk show on WUMB, and putting together bills with himself and other bands and never asks for anything in return. He is simply happy to be a part of this thing and contribute good to benefit us all. I’d like to think the two of us are very much the same in that manner. His selflessness and attitude about building something can be a rarity among performers, so it was important for me that he be a part of the project.

I first met Patrick years back when we played a show at a mutual local haunt together. A place that was trying to have music, but may not have been the right place for it. I still loved the joint. We kept in touch and soon I was playing his series in tributes to John Prine and Ryan Adams and we were sharing gigs here and there. We ended up on the New England Americana committee together, another community builder. And have remained good buds that help each other when we can and are always trying to do the most for the community that is possible as individuals.

Patrick had a couple of ideas but really was set on a Tim Gearan tune. Now, if you don’t know Tim Gearan, then move away from Boston right now because all hope is lost for you. The man is the king of the residency here in town and kills it night after night after night. Well, the song title fit the project pretty perfectly, but another one of our other acts had initially reached out about a tune from Tim (other local musicians also love Tim Gearan). Luckily for us all it worked out, the other artist nailed their final song and Patrick really brought something special to this tune. Not only that, but he also included our engineers, Andrew Kramer on upright bass and Sam Margolis on harmonica, myself on mandolin, and his old friend and former bandmate Erin Nelson on drums. In true Patrick Coman fashion he took something individual and spread it out to include more musicians. Well played sir, well played indeed.