Local singer, songwriter Tim Comings to perform at Atheneum

Tim Comings has been playing guitar professionally since he was in high school. He is also the director of the Nantucket Public Schools Student Assistance Program. Many people with children in the school system may know Tim Comings as the director of the Student Assistance Program with his office at the high school open all day so kids can drop in spontaneously to talk about anything that concerns them.

What many people may not know is that Comings is a talented musician and songwriter who began playing guitar at 14 and started performing professionally — meaning, he was paid for concerts with his band "Raven" — when he was just 16 and in high school in northern Vermont.

On Saturday, Oct. 3, Comings will give a concert of his original compositions along with playing with a couple of surprise guests, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Atheneum's Great Hall. Some of his pieces were recorded on his first CD, "One of These Days," released in 2005.

After touring between Vermont and Quebec with "Raven," Comings played with several other bands and experimented with a number of music styles to increase his versatility. During college he launched a blues group, in the 1980s he traveled extensively to perform, and in 1998 Comings joined the "Nobby Reed Project," who recorded pieces on six CDs that are still aired on radio stations.

"I spent a lot of years traveling and playing on the road and recording in studios," he explained. "I have friendships now with people from a wide geographical area with whom I played in those days. Our world was the places where we played and our fans.

Comings moved to the island in August 2008 from Lancaster, N.H. after attending a seminar at the New England Institute of Addiction Studies and learning that Peter Swenson, director of Nantucket Behavioral Health, wanted to begin a student assistance program here.

"One of the things that motivates me now is that many of the personal losses I've experienced over the years with my peers was around alcohol and drugs," he said.

Through the years, Comings has continued to write his own songs in the categories of folk, blues, jazz, country and rock, but does not have a favorite style he prefers to perform.

"It's all just music to me," he said. "Sometimes I will consciously write something in a specific genre, but all that I will play on October 3 is stuff I've written myself. Many are storytelling songs. Every song, every story, every poem someone has written was personally inspired in some fashion."

After college when Comings was raising a family and working in human services he put his music career aside, but just as he and his wife were about to tackle the costly challenge of buying a house in Lancaster, he was invited to join a new band formed by some of his friends from his former road concert days.

"It made the difference financially for us to be able to buy a house," he said, adding, "[Performing] just becomes such a part of you. It's one of my great loves in this world. It has taken me a long time to appreciate how fortunate I've been to be able to do this."

Comings said he has performed at some charity events on Nantucket, but his last solo concert was more than a year ago. His upcoming appearance resulted from his attendance at a library concert given by Erik Wendelken, Chuck Colley and Chris Westerlund. During a conversation there with Atheneum program coordinator Amy Jenness, she invited him to perform, as well.

"I said, 'Why not?'" said Comings. "I still enjoy writing songs and I still enjoy playing." I