Hi, Everybody

It's a cloudy Friday in Virginia, but I'm still glowing from a great time with my friends, The Kennedys, at XM Satellite Radio. We recorded a concert there last Wednesday and Pete & Maura accompanied me and sang some glorious harmonies. The show will air on Tuesday, April 8th, at noon and will repeat on April 11th at midnight. All times EST on XM's Channel 15, The Village. If you don't have XM, let me recommend it to you. And, by all means, go to the Kennedys' web site and sign up for their mailing list.

Another recommendation: folkalley.com. Here's an internet station playing nothing but folk music 24/7 and their play list is wonderful. I'm hearing many artists for the first time on folkalley, most recently the Scottish group Malinky. Wonderful treatments of traditional Scottish music in a contemporary treatment that preserves the traditional feel. I've got to feel that you'd love them, too.

Robin & Tom at soundcheck, Bristol.

The January tour of England, Scotland and Paris couldn't have gone better. The shows were fun and the traveling mercifully easy, thanks to my super tour manager, Sean McFettridge. We had a night off in Birmingham and went to see No Country For Old Men. Being by now something of an old man myself, I couldn't agree more!

My accompanist was the amazing instrumentalist Robin Bullock who can play anything with strings.

If you like Celtic music, you must check out Robin's recordings. I have several on my iTunes site.

At our concert in Glasgow, as part of the Celtic Connections festival that runs there every January, who should show up at the sound check but my old and very friend, Josh White, Jr.

Tom and Josh White, Jr. Glasgow 2008

Josh was there at the invitation of the Festival to play songs made famous by his father, the late Josh White. If you remember listening to Josh, Sr., you'd be astounded to hear Josh, Jr. do them. We had a great, if brief, reunion.

The tour finished in Paris. I hadn't played Paris in years and years and was glad to accept the invitation to play at a tiny little cellar club called La Pomme d'Eve (Eve's Apple) in the Latin Quarter. It's on a tiny street, down 20 or so steps into a medieval cellar (13th century or so). I was told that just a year or so ago they discovered an identical cellar just below this one!

I was joined in Paris by my old friend, Eric Andersen who now lives in Utrecht, Holland. Midge and I first met Eric in North Beach, San Francisco in Autumn, 1963 and when he came east he became a vital part of the scene in Greenwich Village.

Tom and Eric Andersen Paris 2008

I complain about the travel (with cause!) but it does have it's blessings, such as seeing old friends like Josh and Eric and playing with fantastic players like Robin.

I'll be writing more soon and I thought I might write a little about songwriting, if you'd like.

Please take note that you can now order Comedians & Angels, Live in The UK, Your Shoes, My Shoes, and my book, The Honor Of Your Company directly from the web site. Everything will be personally signed. And for those of you in my age bracket who have discovered how incredibly time seems to pass these days, let me remind you that Christmas is a week from next Tuesday.

Peace,

Tom
March 2008

I first saw Pete Seeger at Carnegie Hall in 1960. He was doing a series of hootenannies for Sing Out! Magazine and I was a new kid in New York, come to see the man who, for me and for my generation, was the driving force behind the rapidly growing folk music movement. Even in my seat in the far reaches of the upper balcony, his energy and spirit overwhelmed me.

On another occasion I was going from club to coffeehouse down in the Village, from The Gaslight to The Bitter End and small "basket houses" in between, greedy for every note of every folk song I could hear. Up on Bleecker Street stood The Village Gate, several rungs higher up the prestige ladder than any of the folk clubs where I occasionally got the chance to sing a song or two. The Village Gate played nationally known acts like Leon Bibb, Miriam Makeba, Woody Allen and, on this rare occasion, Pete Seeger. Whatever the admission price was, I didn't have it, so I lurked in the lobby and caught a glimpse now and then through the curtain of Pete singing for a packed house. It was as thrilling for me as Carnegie Hall had been.

Tom and Pete - Newport, 1966 Photo: Joe Alper

I finally met Pete in 1963. Everyone knew he had been blacklisted for years and was never on TV or commercial radio. When the Hootenanny show went on the TV (ironic that Pete had been largely responsible for coining the word) it was obvious to many that he belonged on it if anyone did. The producer, Fred Weintraub (who owned The Bitter End) claimed that there was no blacklist; no, no, Pete hadn't been invited on to the show because they didn't think he could hold an audience. Hello? Had they ever seen this man turn a crowd of thousands into an instant choir?

Several of us Village folksingers––Phil Ochs, Pat Sky, Dave Van Ronk, Eric Anderson, John Phillips and I, among others––decided to organize a boycott of Hootenanny. We had a few small meetings at our Morton Street apartment and then a large session one afternoon at The Village Gate. We must have had 50 or 60 performers there and our surprise visitor was Pete himself. Predictably, Pete argued that whatever its wrongs to him personally, the show, for him, had more to recommend it. He felt it could spread folk music to a far greater audience and that fact, for him, was persuasive. We talked it over and found we still felt that he was being unfairly treated and so the boycott went on.

After the meeting I got up my courage and approached Pete. I took off my figurative activist/organizer hat and stood revealed as a young songwriter looking for a breakl I asked Pete if I could sing him a song I'd just written. He never says no to a request like that and I was able to sing Ramblin' Boy for him. To my great joy, he liked it and recorded it at Carnegie Hall I (I couldn't believe it) in a reunion concert with The Weavers (How great was that?). Because he had just learned it he got the chorus slightly wrong, singing, "Fare thee well, my Ramblin' Boy," instead of "Here's to you." Not a big deal at all to someone as thrilled as I was.

Pete and his family took off on a year's trip around the world and when the album came out, complete with Pete's mistake, I received a post card from India, containing Pete's signature drawing of a banjo and a message reading, "Dear Tom, Oops! Pete."

When I wrote How Beautiful Upon The Mountain last summer and recorded it for Comedians & Angels, Pete was prominent among those who inspired the song.

Alexandria
March 2008

The following items are now available directly from Tom online:

Comedians & Angels

Comedians & Angels is Tom's NEWEST RELEASE (February, 2008). Songs of love and remembrance recorded in Nashville with a country/Americana tinge. Over the course of the new CD’s 15 tracks, Paxton pays tribute to his family, his fellow musicians and activists, and to lovers "real or merely imagined." This album stylistically unites seven newly-penned originals with rerecorded versions of songs from his back catalogue of more than 40 albums, and delivers the warmth, simplicity and from-the-heart grace that has been as much a Paxton trademark as his humorous, sometimes biting political songs, his Scandinavian fisherman’s cap, and the twinkle in his eyes. CD will be signed by Tom. [ read review ]
[ Order Directly from Tom ]

Live In The U.K.

Live In The UK, received a 2006 Grammy® nomination in the Traditional Folk category. Subtitled Souvenir, the CD is just that. Recorded live on mini-disc during a 10-city tour of England and Scotland in 2003, the CD celebrates Tom's 40-year relationship with his British fans.
Live In The UK features Tom's typical 'short shelf-life' musical commentaries on the current scene, as well as including most of the British audience's favorites: Ramblin' Boy, The Last Thing On My Mind and Bottle Of Wine. CD will be signed by Tom.
[ Order Directly from Tom ]

Your Shoes, My Shoes

Your Shoes, My Shoes (Grammy®-nominated !) was recorded at Bias Studios in Springfield, VA, in 2001, produced by Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, who have been Grammy nominees four times for their wonderful children’s recordings. Joined by children on this album, Tom sperforms such classics as "Barney Ate My Homework","It's Time Out Again", and the title song "Your Shoes, My Shoes." CD will be signed by Tom.
[ Order Directly from Tom ]

The Honor of Your Company

In the book, Tom Paxton: The Honor of Your Company, he tells his story as only he can, from his early days in Oklahoma through the exciting '60s in Greenwich Village and London, up to the present, including his long interest in creating and performing children's music. Lavishly illustrated with photos and anecdotes throughout, this wonderful collection features music and lyrics to 89 beloved standards and songs of protest, love, humor and childhood. Includes: My Dog's Bigger Than Your Dog · My Ramblin' Boy · The Marvelous Toy · The Last Thing on My Mind · and many more. Book will be signed by Tom.
[ Order Directly from Tom ]





WFMA ANNOUNCES TRIBUTE TO TOM PAXTON

The World Folk Music Association will honor folk performer and songwriter, Tom Paxton, with a special lifetime tribute and concert, Saturday, May 3, 2008. The 7 PM event will be held at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center at Northern Virginia Community College, Alexandria Campus, Alexandria, VA.

In addition to live on-stage performances, a large television screen will be utilized to present performers unable to attend but wanting to be included in the tribute. One of the featured groups will be the first group to ever record a Tom Paxton song, The Chad Mitchell Trio. (shown above with Tom) Information and Tickets

TOM WILL JOIN CHAD MITCHELL TRIO FOR CRUISE TO ALASKA

Traveling Troubadour Cruises & Tours will present folk music legends Tom Paxton and The Chad Mitchell Trio together for a voyage into the great land of Alaska in June, 2008! You can join them for this adventure!

The cruise will include 7 breath-taking days of spectacular scenery, as it makes its way through the inside passage on the voyage to Alaska. Onboard Holland America's MS Volendam the tour's group will enjoy 2 private receptions and 2 private concerts with the Chad Mitchell Trio and Tom Paxton in addition to all the amenities and pampering that cruising is known for. This truly will be the trip of a lifetime!

For more information or to reserve a place on the trip, go to http://www.travelingtroubadour.com/CMT-Tom_Paxton_2008_Alaska.htm

Live at McCabes Guitar Shop

Live at McCabes Guitar Shop was recorded in 1991 at the popular Santa Monica folk institution. Accompanied only by his own guitar, Tom sings many of the songs that have enthralled his listeners since Bottle of Wineto the more contemporary One Million Lawyers and The Ballad of Gary Hart, and shows Tom to be be an endearing entertainer.
[ Order from Amazon.com] [ sample or download from iTunes ]

Looking For The Moon

Looking for the Moon was released in late 2002 and was nominated for a 2003 Grammy® Award.
This is a reunion with one of Tom's favorite producers, ever: Jim Rooney. He persuaded Jim to come down from Vermont and assemble a tremendous group of musicians. They all met at Jack's Tracks in Nashville, along with Nanci Griffith and Anne Hills, who added some great harmonies. The sessions were pure joy and with Jim's confident chivvying, they moved right along. Tom finally had the chance to record some songs he had been doing for a few years, but hadn't yet recorded, like the title track, and some brand new ones, as well.
[ Order from CD Baby ] [ sample or download from iTunes ]