AFTER RENO - "Let the River Run "
- Adam Jones - MusicFarmer5
- Apr 25
- 2 min read
MUSIC FARMER 5 - Review by Adam Jones
Where The Music Remembers You: AFTER RENO’s Streams of Reflection
There’s something magical about the way AFTER RENO opens up “Let the River Run” - a lone acoustic guitar dances through the soundscape, its rhythm unhurried yet surefooted—like water skipping over sunlit stones. It doesn’t just set the scene; it builds a quiet sanctuary, somewhere between memory and the wilderness. And then, just as you're drawn in, the lead vocal arrives.
It’s a voice that doesn’t ask for your attention—it commands it. AFTER RENO's PHIL TOBIN channels the wistful weight of BOB DYLAN with the gentle precision of JAMES TAYLOR, fusing raw experience with clarity and grace. There’s a certain defiant tenderness in the delivery—gritty but never bitter, warm but never sentimental. When he sings, “I gotta let go,” it doesn’t feel like surrender. It feels like freedom earned the hard way.
The song’s lyrical heart beats with echoes of solitude, choices unspoken, and the quiet ache of forward motion. Inspired by I’m Only Sleeping and Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright, the narrative doesn’t wallow in regret—it rides the current. The river becomes a metaphor not for escape, but for acceptance. It’s the kind of songwriting that invites reflection without preaching, storytelling that reveals rather than explains.
AFTER RENO—a partnership born from serendipity between guitar craftsman CHRIS GOULD and seasoned vocalist PHIL TOBIN—feels like an answered call. There’s a chemistry here that suggests decades, not months, of collaboration. GOULD’s guitar work is both steady and expressive, while TOBIN’s vocals rise with an emotional intelligence that feels lived-in. The chorus lifts like a leaf caught in an updraft—just enough grit to ground it, just enough air to make it soar.
