Product Description
ROBERT JON & THE WRECK - HEARTBREAKS & LAST GOODBYES
RELEASE DATE AUGUST 22, 2025. ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!
Robert Jon & the Wreck - Heartbreaks & Last Goodbyes - California-based rock powerhouse, Robert Jon & the Wreck, double down on their signature blend of hard-hitting rock and country influences with their Dave Cobb-produced ninth studio album, Heartbreaks & Last Goodbyes. Fourteen years into their celebrated career, The Wreck's dynamic sound - steeped in blues, soul, gospel, country and psychedelic rock - has never been sharper. Now, with nine-time Grammy-winning producer Dave Cobb at the helm, the band has pushed it's artistry to new heights.
- 1 Sittin' Pretty
- 2 Ashes in the Snow
- 3 Highway
- 4 Old Man
- 5 Dark Angel
- 6 Long Gone
- 7 Better of Me
- 8 I Wanna Give It
- 9 Heartbreak & Last Goodbye
- 10 Keep Myself Clean
ROBERT JON & THE WRECK
Heartbreaks & Last Goodbyes
Journeyman Records
This is the 12th full-length studio release from these rockers from Southern California, and it is aptly named because most of the ten tracks on Heartbreaks & Last Goodbyes tackle both of what its title advertises – usually (as is true in life itself) at the same time.
And tackle these things Robert Jon & The Wreck most definitely do while playing in a style that demands attention because of its polished force, but that occasionally calls to mind groups such as Lynard Skynard and, especially, the Black Crowes.
Listen to this album casually, and you might miss what’s going on underneath Robert Jon Burrison’s often anthemic vocals, Henry James’ hard driving guitar riffs, and the band’s pacing. Listen closer, however, and it should become much clearer just how cathartic it is.
There are a lot of bad things happening on nearly every one of these songs (all of which the band, and sometimes others, share the credits on). They range from a marriage in danger of disintegrating (“Ashes In The Snow”) to the scars left by a father running out (“Old Man”), to somebody leaving (“Long Gone,” “Heartbreak & Last Goodbyes”), to both people leaving after burning down the house, tossing a Smith & Wesson in the pickup truck, and tearing off in an escape that never had a chance and quickly peters out (“I Wanna Give It”).
By comparison, Robert Jon singing of his romantic frustrations in Savannah (“Dark Angel”) seems like an enticing time, especially on top of the kicking music that’s propelling it.
But purifying Heartbreaks & Last Goodbyes is, and it is so because it takes no prisoners. Whatever terrible thing is rearing its ugly head to destroy Robert Jon’s life on whichever song, he and The Wreck don’t just persevere through the pain, they steamroll it. They even hammer that declaration home on “Better Of Me” and it’s one of the highlights of what is a superb effort.
This is the kind of album that – if you were to go no-kidding-around Good Ole Boy – you might be raising a PBR pounder out the window of your pickup in battered defiance as it plays on repeat and you’re yelling along with every refrain – tears welling up and rolling down your cheeks – as you speed down the highway bold and determined, moving forward…
And that’s okay. Heartbreaks & Last Goodbyes should be played at full volume.
– Matthew MacDonald