DownTown Mystic Releases Holiday Album Featuring AmeriKarma Demos and Final Versions

Sha-La Music Inc. announces the holiday release of The DownTown Demos: AmeriKarma Demos & Final Versions by US Roots Rocker DownTown Mystic. The album will be distributed to all streaming services worldwide via The Orchard/Sony Music on December 20. This release follows the artist's career-defining 2023 album AmeriKarma, which achieved over 3 million streams and significant global radio success.

The DownTown Demos contains 11 tracks featuring final versions of four core AmeriKarma tracks—Live, Shadow Walk, Fly, and When The Angels Sing—along with four demos and three bonus tracks. This configuration allows listeners to compare the demo versions against the final productions. DownTown Mystic writer/producer Robert Allen explains the creative origins: "I was recording a sync project and experimenting with some beats. There were 4 tracks out of about 15 that I kept coming back to. I eventually heard the possibilities and began to create melodies and then write lyrics."

The holiday release serves to celebrate the profound personal journey behind AmeriKarma's creation. The lead track Live was written ten months before Allen's diagnosis with MDS (pre-Leukemia), and seven months later in 2019, he received a life-saving stem cell transplant. Allen reflects, "I guess I was trying to tell myself something. It's been a long, strange trip for sure and the one constant that kept me going was the music." Most songs for AmeriKarma were written during his recovery and the COVID-19 quarantine period.

In 2022, Allen entered Shorefire Studios with drummer Steve Holley and bassist Paul Page to record the tracks that would become AmeriKarma. The first single Fly was released during mixing sessions, a year before the album even had a title. The current release caps off a successful 2024 for DownTown Mystic, which began with the Rock'n'Roll 4 The Soul album, followed by its companion Acoustic Sessions EP, and the Better Day Digital 45—all charting on the NACC College Radio Charts.

The project also features DownTown Mystic's first AI video, Shadow Walk, created by Joshua Elyashiv of the band SHIV, released via YouTube to promote the album. Jon Delange/Tinderbox Music handles video promotion. Looking ahead, the next single One More Chance will be released on January 24, 2025, accompanied by a new AI video, followed by The Wish album in spring 2025. The artist also has sync-licensed songs in upcoming films Sovereign starring Dennis Quaid, Nick Offerman, and Jacob Tremblay, and Everything's Going to Be Great starring Bryan Cranston and Allison Janney.