Tom VandenAvond | Folk Singer | Muddy Roots Festival 2010

Tom VandenAvond has the vocal range of a alabama blue tick hound on a warm summer night, and that's good! His guitar sounds like a young lady I was courting in the bayou after midnight...and that's really friggin good! latest release on Hillgrass Bluebilly Records "You Oughta Know Me By Now" proves just how far he's willing to go to do his part for country and other roots-related forms of music. This soft-spoken, cool-mannered, scruffy-faced Texan is all trucker caps and flannel shirts, and his songs somehow sound the way he looks.




At present, stepping forth from the vast shadows of the old country greats and into the light of today's country, we have bands and singer/songwriters such as Austin Lucas, The Sixtyniners, Slim Cessna's Auto Club, Hank III (the very grandson of Hank Williams, Sr. himself), Possessed by Paul James, The Devil Makes Three, and of course Tom VandenAvond. Hell, even in the place of sub-categorical country artists whose styles strayed more into the realms of bluegrass, Appalachian folk and Americana, like Earl Scruggs and Dock Boggs, we now have Phillip Roebuck, One Man Banjo, Royer, and The Dad Horse Experience. As such, it is important that we celebrate these artists; after all, it is because of them that important, meaningful and worthwhile country music and other roots styles didn't perish along with their originators. So, even more than an album review, that's what this piece is: a celebration of Tom VandenAvond and his contribution to country and roots music so far.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• folk music
• one man band
• alternative music
• blues
• deep blues
• guitar
• harmonica
• live music