Critical Blast Publishing

After months of writing, recording, revising, mastering, and learning considerably more about digital music distribution than he ever expected to know, R.J. Carter's Another Second Chapter is officially out.

The ten-track Americana album released digitally today, August 14, bringing together songs about fathers and sons, faith and failure, stubborn independence, lost years, second chances—and what might happen if somebody actually makes good on the threat to turn this truck around.

Another Second Chapter isn't an album about starting over. It's about realizing the story didn't end where you thought it did.

R.J. Carter has released the first official video single from his forthcoming album, Another Second Chapter, with a lyric video for “The Boy I Told Goodbye.”

The video pairs the song with a sequence of still images that gradually illustrate the story behind the lyrics, turning one of the album’s most personal tracks into a short visual narrative. Rather than a conventional performance video, it follows the song scene by scene — from a painful drive made many years ago through memories of a family struggling with a decision no parent wants to make.

About the video: This lyric video uses AI-generated still imagery to dramatize the real-life events described in the song.

Featuring stories from Eric Shanower, Troy Riser, Michael Tierney, and seventeen other masters of the form, FANTASTIC VOYAGES is all about doors -- doors in this world we were never

For years, readers have known R. J. Carter as a storyteller through novels, short fiction, essays, comics, and publishing projects. On August 14, Carter adds a new chapter to that creative journey with the release of his debut Americana album, Another Second Chapter.

Built around ten story-driven songs, Another Second Chapter explores faith, family, gratitude, regret, perseverance, adoption, working-class life, and the unexpected turns that reshape a life. The album began with two deeply personal songs: Days Ahead, written after the realization that the years ahead had become fewer than the years behind, and The Boy I Told Goodbye, a reflection on the son Carter placed for adoption three decades ago.