SWAMPSCOTT — Growing up in Swampscott, Jeff Myerow remembers the moment rock music first grabbed hold of him. A neighbor had brought home two albums — Aerosmith’s “Get Your Wings” and the J. Geils Band’s “Full House.” Listening to those records, he said, changed his young life. 

“I just became a fan of both of these bands,” Myerow said. “And it just got me on a path of rock.” 

Decades later, some of the same musicians he grew up idolizing are featured on “Keep It Simple,” a new collaborative album from Myerow and Lynn musician Brian Maes, released under the name Myaero Maes. The record, which comes out May 19, brings together a sprawling circle of Great Boston rock musicians connected to bands like Boston, Aerosmith, RTZ, and the J. Geils Band. 

For Myerow, who spent years working behind the scenes in Boston radio and around the local music world, the project feels almost surreal. 

“A 15-year-old me never thought that these people would be involved in a record, never mind be my friends,” he said. 

Maes, a Lynn native and Berklee College of Music graduate, first crossed paths with Myerow through former Boston guitarist Barry Goudreau, who Maes began playing with in 1984 after joining Orion the Hunter, a band that toured with Aerosmith. Maes later co-founded RTZ with Goudreau and the late Brad Delp, writing the band’s Billboard-charting song “Until Your Love Comes Back Around.” 

Meanwhile, Myerow had become a familiar face around the Boston rock scene through his work at WBCN and other local radio stations. 

“Jeff was someone who a lot of us knew because he worked at WCBN,” Maes said. “He was always around the scene, and everybody liked him.” 

The pair first began writing together while on tour with Peter Wolf in the 1990s, trading ideas in hotel rooms between soundchecks and gigs. Over the years, songs piled up across multiple recording sessions, sometimes sitting unfinished for years before being revisited. 

Eventually, the duo realized that their collection had evolved into what could be a full-length album. 

“We resurrected a lot of the old files that were recorded way back in the ‘90s,” Maes said. “We were just like, ‘man, it’s a really great record.’” 

The project, a culmination of decades of playing, recording, and developing relationships with other musicians in the Boston scene, became deeply personal for both musicians. 

For Myerow, who described himself as “more of a behind-the-scenes person,” finally releasing a full album represents something he’s wanted for years. He insisted on waiting until the record could be pressed on vinyl, wanting listeners to be able to experience the album the same way he fell in love with music as a teenager, browsing through records at the old J.M. Fields in Vinnin Square. 

“When a new record came out, that was exciting,” Myerow said. “It’s not like these days when you go online … it’s not the same thing as opening a physical product.” 

Maes shared a similar appreciation for the physical format. 

“I think generations now miss out on that feeling of holding a work of art in your hand,” he said. 

The album also became a reflection of the close-knit North Shore and Boston music communities that shaped both men. Maes credits much of his early musical development to Lynn’s public school music programs and the local music scene that flourished throughout the area when he was growing up. As a teenager at Lynn Classical High School, he initially played trumpet before joining a local band as a singer. 

After one early performance, the older kids in the band told Maes that he would look “cooler” with a keyboard in front of him, rather than standing solely as a lead singer. 

“It was the biggest thing anybody ever did for me,” Maes said. “I took to it like a duck to water.” 

Around age 15, while experimenting on keyboards inside a local music store, Maes met musician and teacher Joe Carlton, who offered him lessons after hearing him play. Maes said that Carlton quickly changed the trajectory of his life, encouraging him to audition for Berklee College of Music at a time when he was struggling academically and unsure of his future. 

“This guy tells me that I’m good enough to go to Berklee,” Maes said. “It was a game changer.” 

Today, Maes still records out of his Lynn studio, Briola Records — a name inspired by a nickname given to him by his late older brother Lee. 

Throughout “Keep It Simple,” that sense of gratitude that Maes and Myerow have carried through the years is everywhere. The album features contributions from musicians who have since passed away, including Delp, vocalist Patty Barkas, and saxophonist Michael “Tunes” Antunes of the Beaver Brown Band.

“It’s an emotional ride,” Maes said. “I feel like it really encapsulates so much of our loved circle of musician friends and comrades.”

But the album is also deeply rooted in the relationships that still surround both musicians. Maes’ wife, MaryBeth, and daughter, Madeline, contributed vocals to the title track, “Keep It Simple,” helping give the project what Myerow described as a close-knit, family feel.

For Myerow, the record also serves as a tribute to people who shaped his life both personally and creatively, including his late mother, Sandra, as well as longtime friends Richard Lewis and Sib Hashian.

For Maes, the album is also a celebration of the friendship and the journey that he and Myerow have taken to this point. 

“It’s really nice to see this happen for Jeff because it means the world to him,” Maes said. 

And for Myerow, the project still carries the excitement of the teenager who once bought records at North Shore shops, while also reflecting the journey from radio studios and local clubs to collaborations with many of the artists he grew up admiring.

“You know,” he said, “it’s weird how things snowball.”